Product Lifecycle-Oriented Optimization
Manufacturers of precision tools are currently facing a shortage of critical raw materials. Furthermore, companies are mandated by the European Union to document and evaluate measures to improve the environmental impact of the manufactured products in sustainability reports. As part of the societal transformation to a circular economy, the costs and environmental impacts brought about by precision tools need to be reduced.
It is not currently possible to perform knowledge-based life-cycle assessments of the manufacturing processes to be used when planning process sequences. Up to now, a subjective weighting of costs and environmental impacts has been required in order to perform an environmental-economic evaluation of process sequences. There is no evaluation model that makes it possible to evaluate costs and environmental impacts based on a common unit. There is also no systematic procedure for designing process sequences in terms of environmentally-economically optimized production.
The project therefore aims to research the interrelationships between the required changes to precision tools and their environmentally-economically optimized implementation through the adaptation of existing process sequences. To this end, a methodology is being developed to allow process sequences to be designed in line with economic and environmental criteria, taking into account the impact of the manufacturing phase on the use phase of the manufactured tools. This methodology allows technology planners to improve the environmental impacts of the tools by adapting process sequences for the production of redesigned precision tools without adversely affecting economic efficiency. A newly developed environmental-economic evaluation model makes it possible to evaluate process sequences with regard to their costs and environmental impacts. This means that the methodology will, for the first time, make it possible to derive generally applicable design rules for environmentally-economically optimized process sequences.