Iconic Luxury Sports Automaker Turns to aPriori for Carbon Reduction

Why a New Solution Was Needed

Based in Europe, this renowned sports and luxury vehicle manufacturer prioritizes continuous innovation and sustainability. The automaker has invested nearly $5 billion in green initiatives to cut upstream and downstream carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030.

Despite its commitment to sustainability, the manufacturer encountered various obstacles in its efforts to slash auto carbon emissions and combat climate change, including:

• Inability to assess new vehicle emissions early in the design process: Product designers did not have access to advanced digital manufacturing technology to evaluate the real-time carbon impact of different designs, materials, production alternatives, and location/electricity mixes. This constraint made it challenging to meet stringent emissions standards and comply with environmental regulations during new car development.
• Insufficient company resources for CO₂ emissions analysis: The automaker lacked the personnel and bandwidth to conduct multiple life cycle assessments (LCAs) for thousands of critical components. Consequently, this impacted the automaker’s carbon reporting performance and hindered its ability to control greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) effectively.

These challenges made it difficult for the company to baseline its carbon emissions from manufacturing before getting started on reduction goals. This situation potentially lowered shareholder confidence and negatively impacted Management by Objectives (MBO) compensation. To address these issues, the automotive company turned to aPriori’s AI-Powered Design & Sourcing Insights platform.

Key Decision Criteria for Choosing aPriori

The automaker selected aPriori’s automation-driven technology based on several key capabilities for sustainable manufacturing, such as:

Integration With Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Systems

The manufacturer adopted aPriori’s user-friendly solution for its out-of-the-box (OOTB) integration with popular PLM tools, especially PTC Windchill. This integration allows for a fully automated evaluation of 3D CAD models with automatic feedback on embodied carbon and manufacturability.

“The aPriori integration with Windchill was a mandatory point,” said the company’s Digital & Data Partner for R&D and Design. “We were looking for software that can be used by the engineering guys. The usability of the software was really important to us. These two aspects drove us to choose aPriori’s integration with PLM.”*

Accurate Carbon Dioxide Emissions Footprint Calculation

Even novice design engineers can leverage aPriori’s sustainability insights to measure and assess the carbon footprint of thousands of components without requiring expert knowledge. Moreover, teams can review early design-stage carbon equivalent emissions (CO₂e) and look to mitigate them to reduce the environmental impact of vehicle production.

Identifying Priority Components for Carbon Management

Product design teams utilize aPriori to obtain an accurate carbon figure for all their designs, which is then stored in the PLM system.

By implementing aPriori, the automaker boosts its ability to increase profitability and sales revenue, commanding higher premiums for more eco-friendly, high-quality vehicles.

 

*quote edited for brevity.