aPriori’s Product Sustainability Software is Now Live

Key Takeaways:

• Manufacturers face rising stakeholder pressure to minimize their environmental impact
• aPriori’s product sustainability software allows manufacturers to reduce their CO₂e
• aPriori integrates ecoinvent’s respected life cycle inventory database into its simulation engine

The Full Article:

aPriori released its Sustainability Insights solution this quarter for manufacturers to evaluate and reduce their carbon emissions during product design and production. Now equipped with carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) data, aPriori provides the only manufacturing insights platform to optimize products for cost, manufacturability, and sustainability.

aPriori’s new product sustainability software gives manufacturers the transparency to reduce cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the supply chain (Scope 3). aPriori’s granular, real-time GHG insights allow organizations to make informed decisions in sourcing alternate materials and vetting and collaborating with global suppliers.

Industry Need and Momentum for Product Sustainability Software

Consumers, investors, and regulators are pressuring global manufacturers to develop “green” products and bring more sustainability into their internal operations. For instance, 85% of investors today consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in all their near-future investment opportunities.

Unfortunately, manufacturers often need help implementing sustainability programs to satisfy stakeholders, achieve ESG targets, and pave the way toward net zero. Without the right guidance and insights, incorporating sustainability into manufacturing becomes a complex and time-consuming endeavor for global organizations.

Due to these factors, there is a growing industry need for automation-driven product sustainability software with highly precise, granular, real-time data. Powerhouses like Grundfos, the world’s largest pump manufacturer, are now considering aPriori’s sustainability solution as central to achieving product cost and carbon targets.

“How will we bring sustainability insights into our design process? The same way we bring the cost perspective into engineering,” said Tonni Rasmussen, Global Manager of Cost & Value Engineering for Grundfos. “aPriori makes it fact-based. We’re calculating on the same methodology. Now carbon footprint, alongside cost, becomes a new kind of currency.”

Alongside Grundfos, leading manufacturers, including Carrier, participate in aPriori’s Sustainability Insights Early Adopter Program to minimize their product CO₂e. “Since signing up for aPriori’s Early Adoption Sustainability Program, we at Carrier have used it to determine not only how carbon affects some of our die-cast and plastic parts but help us to see the best ways to remove it in design,” said Tristan Abend, Manager of Value Engineering for Carrier Corporation. “We plan to eventually have this as part of our aPriori-PLM integration so that each part will have a carbon footprint in our PLM system.”

aPriori Sustainability Insights Features and Capabilities

Manufacturing companies already using aPriori for product cost and manufacturability analysis can leverage Sustainability Insights without additional user inputs or integrations. This enables manufacturers to seamlessly design, iterate, and bring their sustainable product innovations to market rapidly and profitably.

Here’s how aPriori’s new product sustainability software helps global manufacturers reduce their supply chain environmental footprint and gain a competitive advantage:

Analyzing the CO₂e Impact of Popular Manufacturing Processes

Product teams can calculate the emissions associated with plastic injection molding, pressure die casting, machining, sheet metal, and post processes: surface and heat treatments. aPriori will continuously add further manufacturing process model groups to its product sustainability software solution.

Complementing Existing Product Life Cycle Assessment Tools

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software gives product manufacturers a powerful cradle-to-grave report on their innovations’ overall carbon and environmental impact. However, LCA software does not provide the real-time sustainability data that product development teams require to make early and influential design-stage iterations.

aPriori’s product sustainability software closes the gap by integrating with ecoinvent, a leading third-party LCA and inventory database tool. aPriori leverages ecoinvent’s extensive database to provide a baseline of environmental data and real-time visibility into embodied carbon, cost, and manufacturing impacts. Companies can now quickly assess alternate materials and manufacturing processes to reduce their Scope 3 cradle-to-gate carbon footprint.

Primary Users of aPriori’s Product Sustainability Software

Four primary manufacturing groups leverage aPriori’s advanced product sustainability software, including designers, cost value engineers, sustainability specialists, and sourcing professionals. With Sustainability Insights, teams must only collaborate on a single automated platform to evaluate trade-offs and make data-driven design, manufacturing, and sourcing decisions.

By digitalizing cross-team collaboration, manufacturers can break down silos, streamline environmental initiatives, and achieve sustainability performance excellence for a greener future.

Invest in the Planet and Achieve Sustainability Goals With aPriori

Manufacturers investing in aPriori Sustainability Insights gain the automated means to estimate, assess, and reduce cradle-to-gate GHG emissions in real-time. That way, companies can continuously design and bring their sustainable, high-quality, cost-effective innovations to market faster and position themselves for greater profitability.