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EPES White paper: Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and

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 EPES White paper: Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and Sustainability Assessment with
(EPES) Eco Process Engineering System

EPES WHITE PAPER

Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and

Sustainability Assessment with (EPES) Eco Process
Engineering System
Juhani Heilala1, Reino Ruusu1, Jari Montonen1, Saija Vatanen1, Pablo Bermell-Garcia2,
Simon Astwood2, Conroy Iwhiwhu2, Carlos Kavka3, Fabio Asnicar3, Laura Ricco3
Sebastian Scholze4, Cristina Grama4, Oliver Kotte4, Alberto Armijo5
Corresponding author; juhani.heilala@vtt.fi

1
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
2
EADS Innovation Works UK,
3
ESTECO
4
ATB
5
Tecnalia

Acknowledgement
The research presented in the paper has been carried out within the frame of the EPES, “Eco-
Process Engineering System for Composition of Services to Optimize Product Life-Cycle”
collaboration project co-funded by the European Commission under FoF-ICT-2011.7.3-285093
contract. The authors wish to express the acknowledgement to EC for the support and to all project
partners for their contributions during the development presented in this paper.

More info: www.epes-project.eu

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 EPES White paper: Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and Sustainability Assessment with
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Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and Sustainability

Assessment with (EPES) Eco Process Engineering System

Abstract

The focus of engineering design on achieving a superior product, processes or services from
functional and economic factors is now shifting towards sustainable design which considers
environmental, economic and social aspects. This can be achieved by integrating the sustainable
aspects into the engineering design and analysis tasks throughout the product’s lifecycle. Life
Cycle Thinking (LCT), Design for Environment (DfE), eco-efficiency and eco innovation should be
part of collaborative product development.
New tools are needed in the development of products, processes and related services, e.g.
Product Service Systems (PSS), which provide customer and business value but significantly
decrease environmental impacts. Eco-Process Engineering System (EPES) is the methodology
and provides related ICT tools as a service for the development of PSS. The goal is to improve
customer value and eco-efficiency, i.e. reduce energy and resource consumption, emissions, and
the use of hazardous substances through the holistic analysis of PSS and its life cycle. The EPES
project carries out research and development to improve the sustainability performance of end-
users operations, products and services. EPES project integrates existing tools, enhances further
and provides them as configurable services for non-ICT experts.
This white paper shows a case study for conceptual product assessment using EPES system.
The EPES system support design and manufacturing engineers to make informed decisions on the
performance of design concepts from the manufacturing and sustainability perspective and
enables the validation of production scenarios, e.g. future factories, at the early stages of design.
Improved decision making for an optimal manufacturing facility will also be supported.
The EPES system provides new supporting services for sustainability assessment in Design for
Manufacturing and Assembly using traditional manufacturing KPIs such as resource utilization, and
production rate, and sustainability aspects of the production processes. In the case study shown,
the analysis is based on Discrete Event Simulation (DES), Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) and
Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) calculation techniques.
The essential questions answered through this assessment are:
• Productivity KPIs: What is the level of production rate and resource utilization for a product
design using a given set of processes and resources? Or what is the optimal number of
resources and tooling to achieve desired capacity?
• Sustainability KPIs: What are the energy consumption, the emissions and the hazardous
material waste resulting from the manufacturing for a design using a given set of processes
and resources?

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Sustainable development, manufacturing and eco‐efficiency
The definition of sustainability in the Report of the Brundtland Commission report 1987 [1] is
well known: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Sustainability is built on
three pillars: economic, environmental, and social sustainability. As sustainability covers a broad
area of different aspects, it is very difficult to make it measurable (note Fig. 1.). Sustainable
innovation wants to achieve improvements by the integration of economic (Profit, Prosperity),
environmental (Planet) and social (People) concerns.

Figure 1. Three pillars of sustainability and related indicators [2]

Sustainable Manufacturing has been defined by the U.S. Department of Commerce [3] as: “The
creation of manufactured products that use processes that are non-polluting, conserve energy and
natural resources, and are economically sound and safe for employees, communities, and
consumers.”
Eco-efficiency has been defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD) [4]: "eco-efficiency is achieved by the delivery of competitively priced goods and
services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological
impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level at least in line with the Earth’s
estimated carrying capacity."
WBCSD pointed out that high eco-efficiency products or services can be achieved through
improving seven key eco-efficient elements as shown here (REDUCES, in short) [4].
1. Reduce material intensity;
2. Energy intensity minimized;
3. Dispersion of toxic substances is reduced;
4. Undertake recycling;
5. Capitalize on use of renewable resources;
6. Extend product durability, and
7. Service intensity is increased.

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To summarise those definitions; sustainable development, sustainable manufacturing and eco-

efficiency: “Creating more value with less environmental impact” – doing more with less. Eco-
efficiency indicators in the business sector are commonly based on the ratio of product, process
and service (PPS) value/environmental impact (see Fig. 2.).

Figure 2. Eco-efficiency

Thus engineers and managers need to identify possible improvements to products, processes
and services with lower environmental impacts across all life cycle stages. The first step is to
identify what to measure and monitor. Most environmental aspect indicators focus on the
consumption of energy, materials and waters, in general resource efficiency, and the emissions of
greenhouse gases (GHG) as shown in the following chapter.

1.2 Enterprise reporting on sustainability and eco‐efficiency objectives

Enterprise level reporting is typically based on Sustainability Reporting Framework developed
by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI, https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx). The
Global Reporting Initiative is a leading organization in the sustainability reporting field. GRI
promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organizations to become more
sustainable and contribute to sustainable development.
Typical sustainability targets, or eco-efficiency objectives, often self-reported by manufacturing
enterprises [5, 6, 7], are:
 Energy-savings, (electricity and fossil fuels), including increased use of renewable energy
sources
 Reduced carbon dioxide emissions (CO2); other emissions, like volatile organic compounds
(VOC)
 Reduced the fresh water usage
 Reduced raw material consumption
 Reduced amount of waste
 Workplace safety, zero work-related accidents

GRI based reporting is on enterprise level, reporting period is one year, and these reports does
not show efficiency of operations, e.g. input output ratio. Naturally the enterprise has more detail
data available, since report is aggregated from factory or production unit level. Reporting of GRI
based values need to be normalised, with for example production output. This normalisation
enables benchmarking on efficiency.
The enterprise level reported indicators and strategic objectives should also drive the
development efforts. Similar and compatible indicators should be used in decision making, in the
comparison of design alternatives.
For the manufacturing industries and manufacturing processes, the OECD Sustainable
Manufacturing Toolkit, Seven Steps To Environmental Excellence, (OECD,
http://www.oecd.org/innovation/green/toolkit/) gives useful tips: How to improve the efficiency of

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production processes and products, in the way to contribute to sustainable development and green
growth. Some other useful links, on eco-efficiency are listed in the Appendix.

1.3 Life Cycle Management and Thinking

Life Cycle Management (LCM) aims to minimize the environmental and socio-economic
burdens associated with product or product portfolio throughout its entire life cycle and value chain.
LCM makes life cycle thinking and product sustainability operational for businesses through
continuous improvements of product systems, as well as, supporting business assimilation of, for
example, integrated product policies. LCM is not a single tool or methodology but a management
system collecting, structuring and disseminating product-related information from various
programs, concepts and tools. It incorporates environmental, economic, and social aspects of
products, which are applied throughout a product’s life cycle. [8]
Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is one essential approach to sustainable development. It is about
going beyond the traditional focus on production site and manufacturing processes to include the
environmental, social, and economic impact of a product over its entire life cycle. The main goals
of life cycle thinking are to reduce a product’s resource use and emissions to the environment as
well as improve its socio-economic performance throughout its life cycle [8]. Life Cycle Thinking
has been adapted to European Commission policies [9]. With LCT, shifting of potential
environmental burdens between different life cycle stages can be recognized. This helps to avoid
local optimizations that simply transfer burdens to other stages. Life cycle thinking should be
integrated as a part of any new material or product development already at the early stage of the
development. LCT can be applied without going into details of a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
study [10].

Figure 3. Four Phases of LCA (based on ISO 14040 standard series)

LCA is used in assisting the engineer in the product design but it possesses drawbacks.
Conducting LCA according to ISO 14040 standard series (see Fig. 3.) requires special expertise
and large amounts of data, and is usually time-consuming. To conquer these challenges,
simplified, automated and understandable tools and methods are needed in order to guide the
designer in developing sustainable products, processes and services. The goal of the EPES
project is to create such an integrated tool. [11].

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1.4 Standardization landscape is evolving

The ISO has published in 2012 an International Standard (ISO 14045:2012) of eco-efficiency.
The object of eco-efficiency assessment standardization was to make an environmental
management tool to companies where environmental impacts are evaluated alongside with
product value. Eco-efficiency assessment is a quantitative management tool which enables the
study of life-cycle environmental impacts of a product system along with its system value for a
stakeholder. Eco-efficiency assessment is a tool to develop more economical and environmental
aware product systems (Fig. 4.). Evaluation of eco-efficiency is to maximize the value of the
performance of these systems products to improve their ability to do more with less. The eco-
efficiency assessment shares with LCA (ISO 14040:2006) many principles such as life cycle
perspective, comprehensiveness, functional unit approach, iterative nature, transparency and
priority of scientific approach.

Figure 4. Eco-efficiency assessment (ISO 14045)

Here are listed some environmental and eco-efficiency related standardization.

 ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and
framework.
 ISO 14044:2006 Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Requirements and
guidelines.
 ISO 14045:2012 Environmental management - Eco-efficiency assessment of product
systems - Principles, requirements and guidelines.
 ISO/DIS 14046.2 Environmental management - Water footprint - Principles, requirements
and guidelines (under development).
 ISO/TS 14067:2013 Greenhouse gases - Carbon footprint of products - Requirements and
guidelines for quantification and communication.
 ISO/TR 14069:2013 Greenhouse gases -- Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas
emissions for organizations -- Guidance for the application of ISO 14064-1.
 ISO 14064-1:2006 Greenhouse gases -- Part 1: Specification with guidance at the
organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and
removals.
 ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on social responsibility
 ISO 50001:2011 Energy management systems -- Requirements with guidance for use

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There are also other new standards, here is listed few examples related to machine tools and
automation systems:
 ISO/FDIS 14955-1 Machine tools -- Environmental evaluation of machine tools -- Part 1:
Design methodology for energy-efficient machine tools. Under development.
 ISO 20140-1 Automation systems and integration -- Evaluating energy efficiency and other
factors of manufacturing systems that influence the environment -- Part 1: Overview and
general principles. Accepted 2013.

2. METHODS FOR COLLABORATIVE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Virtual collaboration network
Virtual factories, e.g. extended enterprises with multiple stakeholders and actors, are the
current way of working in the development of technical Product Service Systems (PSS). Creation
of customer value by integrating products and services in a distributed organization creates new
challenges in communication, process management and knowledge management. Service-
oriented ICT tools are one enabler for efficient networking and the PSS development. Due to
increased system complexity, distributed multidisciplinary engineering is often required. Easy-to-
use tools are needed to enhance the efficiency, transparency and traceability of such
multidisciplinary optimisation and decision-making processes. Business process management
(BPM) of the multiple engineering processes is also required to orchestrate the activities carried by
the various actors.
The design phases of most products, processes or services are often determinant for the
sustainability and environmental performance throughout their life cycle. The majority of
environmental impacts will be determined during the design phase. The environmental impacts of
products can be significantly reduced through optimised design. Another issue is how the well the
product or process is operated, managed and maintained, but this is not covered in detail in this
paper, even though the functionalities of the EPES system [11] cover some of these product
aspects as well.

2.2 Product development with eco‐efficiency aspects

The focus of engineering design on achieving a superior product, process or service, from the
currently prevalent point-of-view of functional and economic factors, is now shifting towards
sustainable design. Sustainability-related issues are increasingly important in business decision-
making. Examples of the drivers of this development are:
 Cost savings, resource efficiency
 Society-set regulations, directives, standards, etc.
 Customer requirements and communication, business reputation

The number of regulations that are related to sustainability has been steadily growing,
presenting new legal obligations to industry. Enterprises are also becoming increasingly aware of
the importance of being able to credibly present facts about the sustainability of their performance
to the public, which is increasingly aware of its importance. The aim of the EPES system [11] is to
move from typical goals, i.e. functionality and cost, to several simultaneous goals, i.e. sustainability
and life cycle aspects.
In addition to the drivers presented in chapter 1.2 and here, there are many more objectives,
parameters and key performance indicators (KPI) used in industrial decision-making. EPES

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system and methodology applies life cycle thinking and the existing eco-standards as presented in
chapters 1.3 and 1.4.

2.3 Decision making with advanced modelling and simulation

As most decisions that affect sustainability need to be made in the design stage, at which
actual measurements cannot yet be made, simulation is a crucial tool for evaluating the
forthcoming effects of the design decisions in the following life-cycle stages. Advanced modelling
and simulation requires special expertise, and multi-disciplinary modelling is often necessary in
order to take into account all the various aspects of sustainability. This creates a need for efficient
co-operation between analysts of various backgrounds.
Traditionally, engineering processes are affected by manufacturing knowledge and product
performance-oriented factors. However, nowadays this traditional concept of performance needs to
be extended into a wider meaning, with sustainability being one of the main factors. The
contribution is not only at the level of the end product, but also applies to the manufacturing
systems that are used for producing the product. Eco-constraints need to become a part of the
wider assessment of the overall product feasibility analysis. This analysis needs to consider not
only traditional cost and productivity-oriented parameters, but also eco-constrains that are derived
from all the relevant stages in the product’s whole life cycle.

Figure 5. Connecting eco-KPI calculation to simulation, based on [12]

Manufacturing and production system simulation can be enhanced by taking into account
sustainability aspects. Some commercial DES (discrete event simulation) software applications
already support energy consumption and related CO2 emissions modelling, for example as
presented by Heilala et al [12]. Sustainability KPIs can be calculated by combining the simulation
results with product, process, resource and related environmental data (see Fig. 5). The results
typically consist of sustainability accounting data, i.e. environmental inventory data, which can be
used for the calculation of predictions of sustainability KPIs. For the full life cycle environmental
analysis, proper LCA tools and experts are required.

2.4 Multi‐objective and multidisciplinary optimisation

Selection of the best design among a set of alternatives is a very important task in the
development stage of a product or process. Introduction of multiple criteria and constraints to be
considered increases the complexity of a decision-making process. As sustainability cannot be
limited to a single stage of the life-cycle of an industrial product, it is always a very complex issue,
and presents a need for complex multi-objective decision-making, in which compromises need to
be made between mutually exclusive criteria. This also greatly increases the quantity of good-
quality data that is needed to be presented to decision-makers.

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3. EPES SYSTEM – A NEW WAY OF WORKING

The EPES project is developing a comprehensive software platform that allows engineering
issues to be addressed from the point-of-view of sustainability. The EPES system is an integrated
process-management platform that provides general advantages as an engineering and/or
decision-making platform. Its focus is on efficient inter-disciplinary co-operation, communication,
data collection and management. It also serves as a tool for communicating information from the
engineering community to the strategic decision-makers, allowing them to make informed
decisions at the earliest stages of the product, process or service development.
The EPES platform combines both data and procedures—both human and computer—into a
package that allows its users to both codify and automate the various tasks that are necessary for
addressing complex issues like sustainability. By using business process management and
simulation automation techniques, the platform streamlines analysis processes by reducing
repetition, especially in set-up tasks. Automating simulation and numeric optimization tasks also
help to ensure that the outputs from a set of similar analysis tasks are consistent and thus easily
comparable.
Instead of directly addressing sustainability, the main focus of the platform is on streamlining
the processes that are necessary for addressing it. In practice, by reducing the amount of required
effort, the application of the solution also results in more sustainable outcomes, by allowing the
enterprise to more efficiently use the available engineering resources, both human and
computational.
EPES project objective is to develop a novel eco process engineering system based on the
Business Process Management (BPM) approach, which will constitute a comprehensive process-
oriented platform, enabling dynamic composition of services, so called EPES Services, that are
adaptable to different products and operating conditions (see Fig. 6.). The EPES solution will also
support continuous improvement of processes and products in operation along the life cycle,
applying optimization and simulation strategies for the operating phases and for improving future
product designs.
In EPES project the core eco-efficiency objectives are:
 Increasing product or service value
 Optimizing the use of resources
 Reducing environmental impact

The EPES platform makes use of many existing solutions as parts of its integrated
comprehensive platform. Additional software components have been developed in order to
facilitate the integration of these existing solutions. These solutions include:
 Alfresco: An Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system
 Activiti: A business process modelling and execution framework
 SOMO by ESTECO: An optimization and simulation integration platform
 Pentaho: A business intelligence platform

3.1 EPES System components

The key software modules of the EPES solution are (see also Fig. 6.):
• Virtual Collaborative Network (VCN): A collaborative Enterprise Content Management and
communication platform, which allows the tracking of business optimization opportunities and
the discovery of eco-constraints and objectives through a networked business infrastructure. It

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also provides collaborative web content, document content management capabilities and
business process workflows execution capabilities, enabling human interaction.
• Service Generator (SGM): A tool for configuring EPES Services, deploying them, to provide
a web-based UI cockpit to access to the EPES solution, and capabilities to connect the EPES
Services to the VCN workflow, bridging the gap between business and IT layers.
• Decision Making Module (DMM): Support and guide the user in the process of analysis and
processing of information gathered from the life cycle of the product, allowing its comparison
with the “should be” performance metrics which are the output of the simulation. DMM can also
help the expert to identify the “best” solution from among a set of reasonable alternatives,
which are the output of the optimization.
• Simulation Module (SM): A tool to facilitate the set-up and execution of external simulation
tools in order to provide data for calculation of to-be key performance indicators (KPI). The
simulation module is integrated with the DMM optimization features and provides services for
automating the management of simulation workflows and optimization plan definitions. The SM
enables the integration of a wide variety of simulation software tools that can be executed
without user intervention.

Figure 6. General scheme of EPES solution

3.2 EPES Methodology

The EPES methodology presents how to use the EPES software platform and software
components. The main steps in the EPES methodology (see Fig. 7.) are:
1. Collaborative Space definition
2. Collaborative project planning
3. Business Process management cycle, PDCA

The EPES system is a collaborative work environment, comprised of Collaborative Spaces,

and a portal to a product service system (PSS) based ecosystem. This work environment can be
extended beyond the group of people who directly participate in the development processes. This

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enables, for example, a more direct form of feedback from the users to the engineers. It also
connects varies engineering disciplines, group of engineers.
Each of the actors in the defined Collaborative Spaces system has a role. The role could be, for
example, an owner of the product, a user of the product, a service provider, a manufacturing or
product-related engineer, a sales representative or a business decision-maker. Using the
collaborative parts of the EPES system, any group of actors in the product service system
community can distribute knowledge, collaborate, pin-point eco-constraints, bottlenecks and solve
problems.

Figure 7. EPES Methodology main steps

4 CONCEPTUAL PHASE PRODUCT DFMA AND SUSTAINABILITY

ASSESSMENT
For an assessment of the sustainability of a product design, the overall product sustainability
performance is the ultimate criteria. The process or manufacturing system assessments are only
its sub-elements. To be specific, the sustainability assessment of a manufacturing process would
not cover the other phases of the life-cycle of a manufactured product. An optimized manufacturing
process does not necessarily mean that the product itself is optimal, considering its sustainability
performance. On the other hand, to achieve an optimal overall sustainability performance while
designing a product, the corresponding manufacturing processes and resources need to be
optimized based on some sustainability criteria.

4.1 EPES case study

In one of the industrial demonstrators of the EPES project, the aim is to create a simulation and
optimisation service for non-ICT experts dedicated to the early product and manufacturing system
design phase. The aim is to compare design concepts for aircraft wings and to optimise both the
product and its manufacturing system (i.e. future factory concept). The targeted users are people
from multiple engineering disciplines: product architect, aeronautics, materials, structural, load,
cost, manufacturing, environmental engineering etc.

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The EPES system will support users to make informed decisions on the performance of design
concepts from the eco-efficient manufacturing perspective using manufacturing simulation and
optimisation. The EPES system has been set-up to integrate the assessment of traditional
manufacturing KPIs such as production rate, resource utilization, waiting times, work in progress,
with those related to the sustainability of the production processes, e.g. energy consumption, CO2
emission etc. The engineers are doing sustainability and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly
(DFMA) assessment. The essential questions answered through this assessment are:
 Productivity KPIs: What production rate, resource utilisation can be achieved for a design
using a given set of processes and resources? Or what is the optimal number of resources
and tooling to achieve desired capacity?
 Sustainability KPIs: What are the energy consumption, the emissions and the hazardous
material waste resulting from the manufacturing for a design using a given set of processes
and resources?

Simulation parameters include the list and number of resources and processes, product routing
and cycle times, factory calendar and work shifts, required tooling etc. The EPES system provides
optimization services to find out optimum value of any of the parameters while some other
parameters are set constant and some results are set as defined objects, i.e. optimum number of
resources to reach defined capacity. The optimisation engine is based on the SOMO solution from
ESTECO and the simulation engine used in the demonstrator is GeSim from VTT.
The SOMO platform has been developed for automating simulation tasks that have a relatively
small and static set of parameters. In order to expand the possible uses of SOMO, the EPES
platform includes tools that automate some of the manual tasks that are involved in setting up an
optimization task (see Fig. 8.). These tools allow the configuration of an optimization task to be
performed automatically for a set of similar models that include a variable number of objects, each
with its own set of associated input and output parameters.

Figure 8. A high-dimensional automated simulation workflow in SOMO, created by tools in the

EPES platform without user intervention.

This combination of tools allows the users to perform an optimization of any manufacturing
concept on a powerful server, using a browser-based user interface or as an automated task in an
executable business process flowchart model, without any of additional manual tasks that are
usually required for such analysis tasks. No input or output data for the simulation needs to be
downloaded from the ECM system. Instead, it is directly accessed from the repository by the

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optimization and simulation tools. The simulation results are automatically stored in a human- and
machine-readable form in the ECM system.
Benefits and challenges found during EPES early prototype testing are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Estimated benefits and challenges in the case study based on early prototype
Benefit Challenge
Integration of engineering disciplines and Data harmonisation and integration of existing
methods, traditional productivity and legacy systems. Tool and data interoperability to
sustainability assessment for early DFMA orchestrate heterogeneous methods and
(Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) systems to support the business case
analysis
To predict the performance of a The accuracy of data in the early design phase.
manufacturing system considering both Integration of environmental and productivity
productivity and ecologic performance indicators in a single environment
Automation of engineering task, fast analysis Development of service oriented analysis for
cycles. To transform ad-hoc simulation studies non-simulation experts. Fast and adaptive
into service oriented capability by exploiting decision support implemented and usable to
EPES architecture industrial practitioners

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Ensuring the sustainability of manufacturing requires an integrated systems approach and
spans technical, economic, ecological, and societal issues. Interactions within and across these
issues are critical to the fundamental understanding of sustainable manufacturing, because
focusing on any single issue alone could result in a suboptimal solution or other unidentified
consequences. Industry recognizes that (1) sustainability challenges in manufacturing can only be
addressed through multi-disciplinary methodologies and (2) implementing these methodologies
can have significant economic benefits for sustainability in general, and sustainable manufacturing
in particular [13].
In order to reduce the environmental impact of a product under development, designers must
have suitable information made available with a reasonable effort. If they do not feel that the
information is suitable or can be utilized with a reasonable effort, they will not make use the
information, nor the method for deriving it [14]. When developing products, designers have to
consider the consequences of their decisions in a number of fields ranging from economy,
reliability and ease of change to the environmental impact. In most engineering environments,
designers need to be encouraged to integrate environmental aspects by increasing the availability
of suitable tools and knowledge. In short, the main requirements should include: A simple and easy
to use method; Availability of appropriate data; Clear and easily communicable results; and
Traceable conclusions. Above all, any tools or information deployed as part of Design for
Environment (DfE) should be fully integrated in an existing design process, procedures and
manuals. Environment should become a new key parameter to consider in decision-making,
alongside technical performance, safety and cost [14].
The connections between products, processes and manufacturing systems are becoming more
complex. Sustainability-related issues are important and they are adding heavily to the complexity
of the design process. The amount of data that is needed for decision-making is growing and
multiple parameters and constraints must be considered simultaneously. Digital Manufacturing
methods, i.e. simulation & modelling are useful for analysing the product and production system
both from the point-of-view of traditional performance measures such as productivity, efficiency,

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cost etc. and the point-of-view of sustainability-related performance measures (see Fig. 5).
Because multiple engineering disciplines and multiple life cycle stages are involved in the goal of
sustainability, multidisciplinary optimisation (MDO) and multi-objective optimisation (MOO)
techniques can seldom be avoided. When these techniques and tools are provided as services,
the transparency and traceability of the decision making processes can be improved.
Provision of engineering analyses, optimisation and simulation as services, e.g. automation of
an engineering analysis processes using cloud computing, is one of the advantage of the EPES
platform. When combined with knowledge management, communication and collaboration,
business intelligence, and business process modelling and execution, a comprehensive platform is
created for tackling the comprehensive problems of sustainability.
The EPES project is still an on-going work. A prototype of the EPES system has been built.
The integration, assessment and demonstration phases start in 2014. The assessment of a PSS
with the EPES System can guide the development towards more sustainable solutions and provide
information on the aspects that require further study. Instead of several desktop applications,
engineering islands of analysis, the EPES system provides both integration and automation of the
assessment methods that are necessary for tackling sustainability.
EPES system can cover whole product service system lifecycle, eco-efficient solutions:
 Optimized performance by design
 Dissemination of best environment practices within the supply chain, virtual collaboration
network
 Sustainable, cleaner manufacturing processes
 Supporting efficient product operations
 Recycling and re-use at end-of-life

The methods used in the case study (chapter 4) are generic and useful also other branches of
manufacturing industries.

DISCLAIMER. This document does not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the
European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of its content. Mention of
commercial products or services in this report does not imply approval or endorsement by authors,
nor does it imply that such products or services are necessarily the best available for the purpose.

References
[1] Brundtland Comission Report (1987), “Our Common Future”, the United Nations World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) 1987.
[2] Dr. Ram Sriram (2009). Sustainable and Lifecycle Information-based Manufacturing.
Presentation at Tampere Manufacturing Summit. June 2009
[3] U.S. Department of Commerce, http://www.commerce.gov/ accessed 7.1.2014
[4] World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD),
http://www.wbcsd.org/home.aspx Accessed 7.1.2014
[5] Metso Sustainability report 2012
[6] Sandvik Sustainability report 2012
[7] EADS Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2012
[8] UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme (2007). Life Cycle Management. A Business
Guide to Sustainability. ISBN: 978-92-807-2772-2, DTI/0889/PA.
http://www.unep.org/pdf/dtie/DTI0889PA.pdf Accessed 23.3.2014

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 EPES White paper: Product Concept Collaborative Manufacturability and Sustainability Assessment with
(EPES) Eco Process Engineering System

[9] European commission. Life cycle thinking. Available at: http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ Accessed
7.1.2014
[10] Baumann, H. & Tillman, A-M. 2004. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to LCA. An orientation in life
cycle assessment methodology and application. Studentlitteratur AB. ISBN 91- 44-02364-2.
[11] EPES Concept. 2013. Public project deliverable D100.3. http://www.epes-project.eu/
accessed 7.1.2014
[12] Heilala, J., Vatanen, S., Montonen, J., Tonteri, H., Johansson, B., Stahre, J. & Lind, S.
2008. Simulation-Based Sustainable Manufacturing System Design. Proceedings of the 2008
Winter Simulation Conference. Mason, S. J., Hill, R. R., Mönch, L., Rose, O., Jefferson, T. &
Fowler J. W. (Eds.). IEEE, pp. 1922–1930. http://www.informs-sim.org/wsc08papers/237.pdf.
[13] SMART 2020 report SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information
age. Available at http://www.smart2020.org/_assets/files/02_Smart2020Report.pdf .
[14] Design for Environment, Airbus Corporate Answer to Disseminate integrated
Environmental Management sYstem (ACADEMY), ISSUE N°1 ACADEMY. available at
http://www.airbus.com/company/environment/documentation

More details on EPES also in project public deliverables available at web www.epes-project.eu and
in following conference presentations:
 J. Heilala, M. Paju, J. Montonen, R. Ruusu, M., Sorli, A. Armijo, P. Bermell-Garcia, S.
Astwood, S. Quintana. (2012). Discrete Part Manufacturing Energy Efficiency
Improvements with Modelling and Simulation. Conference Proceeding of APMS 2012.
International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems (APMS).
"Competitive Manufacturing for Innovative Products and Services", Rhodes, Greece, 24-26
September 2012. Athena Research and Innovation Center.
 J. Heilala, M. Paju, J. Kiirikki, R. Ruusu, J. Montonen, P. Bermell-Garcia, S. Astwood, K.
Krishnamurthy, S. Quintana-Amate (2012). Simulation with Sustainability Aspects in the
Manufacturing System Concept Phase. Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation
Conference (editors S. Jain, R. Creasey, J. Himmelspach, K. P. White, and M.C. Fu),
December 9-12, 2012, Berlin, Germany. http://informs-
sim.org/wsc12papers/includes/files/pos154.pdf
 M. Sorli, A. Armijo (2013). EPES: Engineering System for Optimization of Product Life-
cycle through Adapted Eco-services. Procedia Engineering. Volume 63, 2013, Pages 310–
317. The Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference, MESIC 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2013.08.177.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705813013908
 S. Scholze, J. Barata, O. Kotte (2013) Context Awareness for Self-adaptive and Highly
Available Production Systems. Technological Innovation for the Internet of Things, Springer
Berlin Heidelberg, p210-217, 2013
 S. Scholze, O. Kotte, D. Stokic, C. Grama, (2013) Context-sensitive decision support for
improved sustainability of product lifecycle, KES IDT 2013, 5th International Conference on
Intelligent Decision Technologies, Sesimbra Portugal, 2013
 S. Scholze, C. Grama, O. Kotte (2014). “Eco Process Engineering System for highly
customized industrial products, processes and services..
 J. Heilala, R. Ruusu, J. Montonen, S. Vatanen, P. Bermell-Garcia, S. Astwood, C. Iwhiwhu,
C. Kavka, F. Asnicar, L. Ricco (2014). “Product Concept Manufacturability and
Sustainability Assessment with Eco Process Engineering System”. Accepted for
presentation to SDM'2014. International Conference on Sustainable Design and
Manufacturing. 28-30 April 2014 Cardiff, Wales, UK

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APPENDIX. Eco-efficiency guidelines

There are public guidelines on eco-efficiency available in the internet, here are listed few
examples.

WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable Development

(http://www.wbcsd.org/home.aspx
WBCSD Tool Box, http://www.wbcsd.org/publications-and-tools.aspx,
WBCSD, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Eco-efficiency learning module.
http://www.wbcsd.org/pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=13593&NoSearchContextKe
y=true
WBCSD, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, June 2000.Measuring eco-
efficiency. a guide to reporting company performance. ISBN 2-940240-14-0.
http://www.wbcsd.org/web/publications/measuring_eco_efficiency.pdf

UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme (http://www.unep.org/)

UNEP has guidance document available (http://www.unep.org/publications/, specifically
http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/
http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Publications/tabid/55588/Default.aspx
http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Assessment/LifeCycleApproachesandIndicators/tabid/5553
1/Default.aspx
http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Home/Assessment/LifeCycleApproachesandIndicators/Pub
lications/UNEPPublications/tabid/101299/Default.aspx ),
UNEP (2011). Global Guidance Principles for Life Cycle Assessment Databases. A basis for
greener processes and products, United Nations Environment Programme, 2011. ISBN: 978-92-
807-3174-3. DTI/1410/PA. (http://www.unep.org/pdf/Global-Guidance-Principles-for-LCA.pdf).
UNEP (2011). Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment - Making informed choices on
products ISBN: 978-92-807-3175-0, Job Number: DTI/1412/PA
http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/pdf/DTIx1412xPA-
Towards%20a%20LCSAMakingInformedChoice.pdf

OECD, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,

http://www.oecd.org/
OECD (2011). Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit, Seven Steps to Environmental Excellence,
(http://www.oecd.org/innovation/green/toolkit/)
OECD (2009). Sustainable Manufacturing And Eco-Innovation. Framework, Practices and
Measurement. http://www.oecd.org/innovation/inno/43423689.pdf

EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency. (http://www.epa.gov/ )

Lean Manufacturing and the Environment, http://www.epa.gov/lean/environment/
http://www.epa.gov/lean/environment/toolkits/environment/index.htm

European Commission. Life cycle thinking. Available at: http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

And many more which are not listed here.

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