Sustainability in welding, coating and additive manufacturing

We improve the life cycle assessment of welding processes and derive recommendations for action for companies.

Life Cycle Assessment of your manufacturing processes

© Fraunhofer IPK / Larissa Klassen

Life Cycle Assessment of welding processes, coating processes and additive manufacturing processes

Welding processes require vast amounts of energy and resources, which is critical from an environmental perspective.

Eco-balancing of the buildup welding process
© Fraunhofer IPK / Christian Brunner-Schwer
The life cycle assessment of deposition welding for coating or additive manufacturing can vary widely depending on the material.
Life Cycle Assessment
© Fraunhofer IPK / Christian Brunner-Schwer
Especially in the automotive industry, a life cycle assessment of all production steps is becoming increasingly important.
Flowchart of life cycle assessment for welding processes
Basic flow chart of work steps for the life cycle assessment of welding processes

Sustainability and resource efficiency in production have become important topics for industry and research.

 

New legal requirements, such as the EU's Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC), have a direct impact on your processes. Currently, ecological and social aspects are often insufficiently considered in welding. The negative effects on the environment and people accumulate – sometimes irreversibly.

 

Fraunhofer IPK has many years of expertise in joining and coating technology as well as additive manufacturing. This expertise is used to create individual sustainability assessments for production processes. To this end, we develop life cycle assessments (LCA), social life cycle assessments (SLCA) and critical reviews according to ISO 14040/44 and DIN/TS 35235 for production processes. 

Life cycle assessment is an ISO-standardized method used to estimate the potential environmental impact of products over their entire life cycle. It is the most advanced and established method for measuring environmental impact at the process or product level. Environmental and social impacts of a process or product are evaluated in different life cycle stages.

The results will help you to:

  • decide on investments,
  • comply with legal requirements,
  • improve workplace health and safety, as well as
  • continuously optimize processes from an ecological and economic point of view.

Contact us for a non-binding consultation. You will receive a free initial evaluation for your life cycle assessment.

The solution is interesting for these industries:

 
  • Transportation
  • Steel 
  • Container Construction
  • Household Goods 
  • Electrical Appliances

Life Cycle Assessment

Get in touch!

We would be happy to talk to you about your challenges. Let us advise you without any obligation and learn more about our solutions.