CAX/PLM/ERP-LCA integration to support product life cycle engineering: a conceptual framework

Abstract

Life cycle engineering (LCE) targets product development and manufacturing activities from a life cycle perspective, with the aim to create more sustainable solutions. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which systematically and quantitatively evaluates the environmental impacts associated with the product, is recognized as an essential tool for LCE. However, the complexity of inventory analysis and data structure can discourage the use of LCA by engineers. Most computer-aided engineering and computer integrated manufacturing tools do not effectively support LCA. This paper proposed the conceptual framework of CAX/PLM/ERP-LCA integration for an information environment to address the challenge. The general product life cycle representation is analyzed by tangible product and intangible process perspectives. A multi-view life cycle model is proposed for linking product and process engineering with LCA and life cycle data integration. Following the life cycle model, the integrated CAX/PLM/ERP-LCA system’s conceptual architecture is presented, the challenges to the data flows among system components identified and the critical functional requirements of the system to support sustainable product and process engineering proposed. The framework serves as the stepping stone for next-stage work on software engineering.