LCA Project Update

Using Bill of Materials imports and dynamic EPD templates to minimize the costs of Type III Environmental Product Declarations Brittney S McIntosh - Lexmark International, Inc. Christoph Koffler, PhD - PE INTERNATIONAL, Inc.

LCA XIV Conference October 2014

Overview  Lexmark and LCAs  Lexmark Goal and Scope  Conducting LCAs  Addressing the Issue  BOM Imports

 Software Solution  GaBi DfX  Modeling  Product Model

 Results

© 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lexmark and LCAs  “As an employer and global community member, Lexmark continually promotes sustainability in its business practices.”1  Lexmark has conducted Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) on 29 of its product models as part of Lexmark’s commitment to sustainable products.  “Lexmark is committed to performing LCAs on all future product models as well as incorporating the knowledge gained from the LCAs into our product design process”. 1


Goal and Scope of LCA Goal

Scope

 The goal of LCAs are to calculate the life cycle inventory and impact assessment results required for the creation of one Type III Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Lexmark SFPs and MFPs.

 Specifies the products to be assessed, the functional unit, the system boundary, allocation procedures, cutoff criteria, etc.

 Follows the criteria set forth by ULE Product Category Rules (PCR) on Printers and Multi-Function Printing Units in accordance with ISO 14025.


Conducting LCAs  Life cycle assessments in accordance with ISO 14040/44 provide a way to quantify the potential environmental impacts of products over their life cycle.  Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) in accordance with ISO 14025 offer a standardized and internationally accepted vehicle to communicate LCA results in B2B and B2C settings.  Key Challenges:  Complexity of technical products in terms of structure and materials  High effort to translate this information into an LCA model for analysis


Addressing the Issue Method #1

Method #2 (Chosen)

 Modular approach with a parameterized LCA model

 Automated import of full Bills of Materials (BOMs) into the LCA software  Spearheaded by the automotive industry (Volkswagen, Daimler, etc.)  Eliminates the need to create and maintain a preconfigured model for the production phase of the product.


BOM Imports  Provide maximum flexibility towards changes in the product structures and material choices.  The modeling exercise starts with a blank slate every time.  By reusing and maintaining standardized mappings of BOM information to material and process background datasets, the BOM import yields fully comparable and reproducible results.

 Key Challenge:  The BOM information from the source system(s) need to be as

complete, error-free, and consistent as possible under given constraints, and then converted into a format that is readable by the BOM import software.


BOM Imports  After the import of the printer BOM into the LCA software, the manufacturing phase can be combined with PCRconformant, parameterized use phase and End-of-Life (EoL) models.  The final LCA model is then loaded into an EPD template that automatically updates all results charts and tables to the printer under study.  An EPD that is ready for verification can be exported to *.pdf or *.rtf.  The template GUI further allows for quick and easy analyses to test the sensitivity of print speeds, electricity consumption, toner yields, and other parameters on the results.


Software Solution

Software Solutions GaBi Software

GaBi Dfx Module

 Professional LCA Modeling Software

 Provides importing and mapping capabilities that automate material and process selections.

 Contains all elements that are essential for LCAs  Flows

 Processes  Plans

 Maximizes consistency and comparability between LCA product models.

 Balances & dashboards


GaBi BOM Import Process Overview


Dataset Mapping The Process  During the import, the BOM structure is recreated in the LCI model.  The materials and its processes are mapped to LCI datasets specified in the mapping file.  This mapping file ensures consistency and comparability of all future products mapped.


Completing the Life Cycle  Use Phase  Paper use  Energy use  Toner & Cartridge Selection  Transportation & Distribution  Maintenance (replacement of FRUs such as imaging and fuser kits,

waste toner bottles)  Waste Treatment

 End of Life  Printers sent back to Lexmark recyclers 

Shipping distances from customer to recycler



Metal Recycling

 Landfill


* Actual Use Phase Model in GaBi


End-of-Life Model *Actual EOL Model in GaBi

*Actual EOL Model in GaBi © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

GaBi Product Model


GaBi EPD Creator

GaBi allows for impact results to be calculated based on different scenarios.


Final EPDs

*All Lexmark EPDs can be found at csr.lexmark.com. © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Conclusions Before DfX implementation

After DfX implementation

 External LCA consultant company conducted LCAs.

 Internal ability to conduct LCA studies on all product models.

 Very few product models were chosen for LCA studies.

 Typically took 8 months to a year to complete a full LCA study on 1 product model.

 Ability to run the import, calculate results, and create the model-specific EPD document within 15 minutes.  Conducted 29 LCA studies on current Lexmark product models within 6-8 months.  Up to 80% savings in time and a lot more in costs. © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Resulting Lexmark EPDs Color Laser Single-Function

Color Laser MultiFunction

Mono Laser Single-Function

Mono Laser MultiFunction

CS310DN

CX310DN

MS310DN

MX310DN

CS410DN

CX410DE

MS312DN

MX410DE

CS510DE

CX510DE

MS315DN

MX511DE

MS410DN

MX611DE

MS415DN

MX710DE

MS510DN

MX711DE

MS610DN

MX810DFE

MS610DE

MX811DFE

MS810DN

MX812DFE

MS810DE M5163 MS811DN MS812DN MS812DE © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

References  1. Lexmark International, Inc. (2014, August). Lexmark 2013 CSR Report. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from Lexmark: csr.lexmark.com  2. Koffler C, Krinke S, Schebek L and Buchgeister J (2008): Volkswagen slimLCI: a procedure for streamlined inventory modeling within life cycle assessment of vehicles. Int J Vehicle Design, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp.172–188.  3. ISO (2006): ISO 14025 - Environmental labels and declarations – Type III environmental declarations – Principles and procedures. International Organization for Standardization. Geneva.  4. ISO (2006b): ISO 14040 - Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework. International Organization for Standardization. Geneva.  5. ISO (2006c): ISO 14044 - Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines. Organization for Standardization. Geneva.  6. ULE (2012): Product Category Rules for preparing an environmental product declaration (EPD) for Printers and Multi-Function Printing Units. UL Environment. Marietta.

