Case Study Based Comparison of Life Cycle Analyses within Metal Manufacturing in the Automotive Industry

In a world with increasing importance of global competitiveness due to saturated as well as emerging markets, especially the orientation towards energy and resource efficiency is a key driver for future competitive advantages. By reason of rising energy and material prices, state-of-the-art manufacturing processes have to be improved regarding efficiency in order to remain profitable. Therefore actual consumptions have to be transparent for the deduction of saving potentials. This paper presents a clear methodology to evaluate the ecological impacts of process chains in manufacturing caused by energy and material consumptions. Due to the complexity of these consumptions throughout the life cycle of products it is necessary to assess the ecological impacts from a life cycle perspective. Therefore the procedure is aligned to the methodology of a life cycle assessment. Additionally the evaluation of the ecological outcome has to be adapted to the industrial environment. Not all the impact categories of life cycle assessments are suitable for the direct evaluation of manufacturing processes and chains. Companies need a detailed overview about the actual energy and material flows and their origins within manufacturing which is not yet available. With this knowledge main consumers can be identified and specific strategies for the reduction of resource consumption can be derived. Moreover, the paper presents industrial case studies which demonstrate the explained methodology and its benefit.