Sustainable Product Development Through Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Computer Aided Design : An Exploratory Study of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the integration between Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Computer-Aided Design (CAD). The project has been carried out as a degree project at Karlstad University in the spring of 2023 on behalf of the company TECHNIA. The project was a master's thesis of 22.5 higher education credits for the higher education engineering program in Innovation Technology and Design. The project has been structured to achieve the purpose and goals of the assignment. The work consisted of investigating the capacity and user-friendliness of an integrated LCA and CAD system by using literature as support and investigating and analysing the system and performing case studies. To achieve the purpose and goal, Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE has been used as support. The issue of sustainability today has great weight, and companies increasingly choose sustainable solutions, which is partly due to pressure from external stakeholders. This project highlights the most important trends in sustainability. It is an attractive factor on the market which is relevant for all types of industries. Surveys have also been carried out to map facts about the LCA and CAD integration. Through theoretical investigations, a comprehensive understanding of the integration between LCA and CAD as well as its importance for sustainable development has been highlighted. The case studies carried out were conducted as interviews at two companies, EDAG and Mölnlycke Health Care, where the interviews were crucial in creating an approach to the use of an integrated system. Use of the integrated system then contributed to a deeper understanding of the functions. By combining the methods used, the project was able to meet its goals. The methods generated results describing advantages, disadvantages, practices, tools, and approaches when using integrated LCA and CAD. The conclusion is that an integration between LCA and CAD has many advantages compared to a traditional LCA tool. An integrated system is more efficient and easier to use.