The PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) announces that a new focus theme on Product Life Cycle Assessment has been established to be led by PLM Green founding moderator Klaus Brettschneider.
PLM Green’s mission is to educate, advocate, and collaborate across the boundaries of technical disciplines, different industries, and international borders to advance the use of Product Lifecycle Management strategies and technologies in the transition to a sustainable decarbonized circular economy. There are many applications of PLM that can contribute to this transition which PGGA has begun to study as referenced in PLM Green Examples.
Due to the wide variety of these PLM use cases, the PGGA originally created four core topical themes on examining the application of PLM within Sustainability, Green Energy, Circular Economy, and Climate Change. Each special interest group is led by one or more volunteer moderators that presently includes Jos Voskuil from TacitIT, Klaus Brettschneider from LinxAS, Mark Reisig from CIMdata, Patrice Quencez from CIMPA PLM Services, and Richard McFall from PLM Alliances. The PGGA also acknowledges theme contributions from Ilan Madjar of XLM Solutions, Hannes Lindfred from TrusTrace, Bjorn Fidjeland from PLM Partners, and Lionel Grealou from XlifeCycle.
On the new PLM & Life Cycle Assessment website page, Klaus writes “PLM strategies, software, processes, and data act as the foundation for performing effective Product Life Cycle Assessments, enabling businesses to align environmental considerations with product development and management best practices. PLM involves systematically managing a product’s entire lifecycle, from conception and design to manufacturing, use, and disposal.”
“When integrated with PLCAs, PLM strategies enable a more efficient and accurate assessment of environmental impacts. PLM systems help capture and centralize relevant data at each stage of a product’s lifecycle, making evaluating factors such as materials used, energy consumption, and waste generation easier. This integration promotes sustainability by facilitating informed decision-making, allowing businesses to optimize processes, reduce environmental footprints, and design products with a more comprehensive understanding of their lifecycle impacts.”
The PGGA was established in 2020 in the U.S. by Richard McFall and in the E.U. by Jos Voskuil. Their motivation as PLM industry veterans was to create a non-commercial international community and collaborative network comprised of working professionals, educators, consultants, researchers, analysts, students, and retirees who shared a common interest in both PLM and leaving behind a sustainable economy and planet for future generations. As a collaborative open group with no cost to participate, we welcome the ideas, insights, and participation of volunteer contributors, as it will take all of our actions, large or small, to manifest a more sustainable ecology and economy.
Richard commented “While the daily news about the impact of climate change due to rising greenhouse gas emissions can be distressing, there is rapidly growing good news from many organizations that are making sustainability and decarbonization a business priority. The contributors to the PLM Green movement expect that the use of PLM in performing Life Cycle Assessments may very well prove to be the most important use case of PLM we will see in our careers.”
Klaus, along with the other PGGA theme moderators, will soon be sharing 2024 plans when we can expect to hear about panel discussion forums, case study examples, SME interviews, conference presentations, and collaborative events.
