Sustainable Products

The manufacturing industry faces the challenge of reducing the ecological footprint throughout the entire product life cycle – even where no direct influence is possible. ROI-EFESO helps companies to holistically analyze the sustainability footprint of physical products, software, and services and to develop and implement improvement approaches.

Sustainable Product Development

• Transparency: evaluation of the product design regarding repairability and upgradeability, useful life and recyclability; use of life cycle engineering (LCE) methods to evaluate the ecological product footprint from procurement and production to consumption, recycling and reuse.
• Organization: integration of sustainability and EHS (environment, health, safety) functions into the development and industrialization of products.
• Sustainability by product design: aligning product design on the development of products that are low in emissions and consumption and allow for sustainable use – for example by using renewable and biodegradable materials, developing products for dismantling and repair, and reducing the use of harmful materials.
• Digitalization of product development: use of digital "sustainability twins"; simulation and virtualization of prototyping to reduce physical waste.
• Material selection & consumption: reduction of the proportion of critical and non-recyclable materials in products and packaging in favor of renewable and biodegradable materials as well as the use of standard, carry-over or recycled parts and components (frugal development).
• Compliance Management: ensuring technical and ecological compliance (REACH, digital product passport, etc.), certification of products and development processes and consideration of material compliance criteria.

Sustainable Product Use and Recycling

• Life cycle analysis: recording of life cycle costs, environmental impact, and customer price elasticity in order to be able to take economic KPIs into account in a targeted manner.
• Scope 3 decarbonization: consideration and optimization of the entire process chain from the selection of sustainable materials to their purchase and processing to efficient product use and portfolio optimization.
• Predictive maintenance & refit: identification and integration of sustainability potential for predictive maintenance and environmentally friendly upgradability of products.
• Circular economy: development of a strategy for the circular economy; identification of suitable business cases and business models. Selection of suitable components / products and identification of the key drivers for successful implementation of the strategy.
• Upgradability of products: improving products through updates or modifications so that they can be used for longer. Consideration of key drivers such as “Design for Adaptability”.
• Cross-generational product design: creation of a product design strategy in which products of different generations are designed to be compatible with each other. Reuse of components, accessories, or modules across different product generations.
• Product lifespan: extending the period of use, e.g. through effective and cost-efficient approaches for repairing, refurbishing and reusing products or components.