Engineering for Sustainability
Engineering as a key factor in achieving sustainability goals
contact usWhat is Engineering for Sustainability?
Our definition of Engineering for Sustainability
Engineering for Sustainability is an interdisciplinary approach to the development, design and implementation of technologies, infrastructures and IT systems that are environmentally sustainable and economically viable. The focus is on reducing pollution, optimizing the use of natural resources and creating social justice by developing technologies that are sustainable in the long term.
Why is a focus on sustainability in engineering also relevant for your company?
Company sustainability and economic success are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually beneficial. The achievement of company-wide sustainability goals finds a reciprocal lever in the company’s own product development, as decisions about the environmental impact of a product are made within engineering.
“We need the relevant data where the decisions are made. In addition to indications of price, weight and delivery times, this will increasingly include sustainability information in the future.”
As a result, engineering plays a key role in achieving these goals and is (co-)responsible for the implementation of the following topics, among others:
- Compliance with EU regulations, such as the EU Green Deal, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), EU Data Act
- Reduction of CO2 emissions
- Minimizing energy and material consumption to improve the efficiency of overall operations by reducing costs
- Deciding on the use of materials based on sustainability criteria
- Reuse of components and end products
- Ensuring market access and competitiveness in markets with strict environmental, health and safety regulations
- Expanding your competitive advantage to strengthen your brand and build public trust
- Implementing R strategies to support the circular economy
- Promote corporate culture, employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
The implementation of sustainability in development is closely linked to the digitalization of the product creation process and relies on holistic PLM, a consistent digital twin, uniform semantics, easy access to linked data and a high level of transparency.
What added value does our Engineering for Sustainability consulting offer you?
Transparency and traceability for sustainability data along the entire product life cycle with reference processes and a semantic data model
Cost savings through automation of your data provision in your heterogeneous system landscape
Data-driven decisions and reliable reporting to handle the increasing complexity resulting from regulation
Realize your own Digital Sustainability Thread with :em AG’s expertise
In order to successfully contribute to the implementation of company-wide sustainability goals from within the engineering department, a deep understanding of the company’s own products, their components and the corresponding development processes is necessary. In addition, a consistent traceability of material and component information along the entire product life cycle is necessary, which requires a consistent engineering IT landscape.
By implementing a holistic and data-driven PLM approach, companies can measure, analyze and optimize the impact of their product design, production methods and supply chain processes on the environment.
Create a consistent and transparent management of your sustainability data!
Engineering for Sustainability – our consulting services
We develop a sustainability roadmap for your engineering!
We work with you to create a deep understanding of your products, their components and the corresponding development processes and define your specific sustainability goals, identify potential benefits and determine specific fields of action.
In addition, we look at your IT landscape and pay particular attention to end-to-end digital and cross-divisional traceability of the resources used (materials, components, etc.) and the associated environmental impact in a holistic semantic data model.
Based on the IT and data concepts, we develop the IT capabilities (architecture modules) required for implementation and support you in the selection and implementation of an Eco IT architecture and an ecosystem for implementing your digital twins for product types and product instances.
We use our proven MBITA® (Model Based IT Architecture) methodology for this modular and scalable range of services.
Find more information about our Engineering for Sustainability services in the PDF flyer
Please download our brochure on Engineering for Sustainability by clicking the button.
FAQ – frequently asked questions about Engineering for Sustainability
A sustainable orientation can be beneficial for companies in many ways:
From a business perspective, the company can achieve efficiency gains by minimizing energy and material consumption or by reusing materials. This recycling optimizes the profit and loss account.
Furthermore, the implementation of company-wide sustainability goals enables competitiveness in markets with strict environmental, health and safety regulations. Sustainability also promotes a company’s own competitiveness, strengthens the corporate brand and creates public trust.
The influence of sustainability in the area of human resources should also not be neglected, namely the change in corporate culture and the associated increase in employee loyalty and satisfaction as well as better opportunities when recruiting junior staff.
In addition, the company reduces its CO2 emissions.
The achievement of company-wide sustainability goals has a two-way lever in the company’s own product development, as decisions about the environmental impact of a product are made in engineering. Engineering therefore plays a key role in achieving these goals.
The implementation of sustainability in development is closely linked to the digitalization of the product creation process and relies on end-to-end PLM, a consistent digital twin, uniform semantics, easy access to linked data and a high level of transparency.
In order to meet the EU’s verification requirements, it is crucial that you first create transparency about the necessary data in your company. The data is typically already available in various systems, but may not be well maintained or linked to each other. This leads to high costs for data preparation, usually with Excel, and a loss of traceability.
In our approach, we first create a semantic data model taking into account all domains (development, production, logistics, usage, purchasing, etc.). Based on this approach, we can describe both the necessary IT requirements and the interfaces that enable the creation of automated reports in the subsequent implementation of verification obligations.
Proof of the carbon footprint and the Digital Product Passport (DPP) are becoming increasingly mandatory. In addition to achieving internal company sustainability targets, it is also about ensuring market access within the EU.
The aim of the DPP is to provide life cycle data in a transparent and comprehensible manner. Sustainability information, in particular on the materials used, energy consumption and emissions released, plays an important role in this regard.
The creation of a standardized database forms the foundation for fulfilling legal requirements in the context of sustainability and for the Digital Product Passport.
