Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Life cycle Assessment (LCA) and its impact on design and supply chains is becoming a matter of prime concern for corporate business strategies. The impact of products' environmental footprints (carbon) and to keep the risk of obsolescence low in case of fast moving products are critical. Lifecycle Experience thinking is evident in many of recent B to B and B to C exchanges & will take the form of regulation in time to come. Many companies particularly in developing economies face the brunt of environmental regulations impacting their routine business activities & in certain cases leading even to closure for non-compliance. Relying on our expertise in environmental management, system design and innovation, we assist corporations in evaluating and reducing their environmental impacts. Our solutions are designed to increase businesses' market stability and guarantee sustainable benefits. Additionally, we provide support in the gathering of internal and external data, and in identifying the scope of key issues to measure all operational impacts.
The Life Cycle Assessment of a product or system includes its cost over useful life & its cost to the environment. Life cycle cost of an engineering system is the total cost of all system components over their lifetime (typically 10 - 20 years). The life cycle cost of a system is summation of component costs as :
LCC = Cic + Cin + Ce + Co + Cm + Cs + Cenv + Cd
Where:
LCC = life cycle cost; Cic = initial costs, purchase price/ manufacturing cost
Cin = installation & commissioning costs; Ce = energy costs: Co = operating costs
Cm = repair & maintenance; Cs = downtime costs (loss of production)
Cen = environmental costs ( Pollution, waste, disposal, recyclable material, water usage etc.)
Cd = decommissioning/disposal costs
In case of a pumping system in an oil pipe line the initial cost could be just 3.5%, maintenance 1.5% & whereas energy consumption over useful life could take up as much as 95% high lighting the importance of efficiency & maintenance measures not only for break-down but to have high efficiency & keep it high throughout the systems life.
More & more fluid machinery manufacturers are increasingly focusing on the 'Life Cycle Assessment'. The importance of life cycle assessment is understood across the whole spectrum of products from engineering to medical & short life span products.
Life Cycle Experience is what the client gets, Life Cycle Analysis is what one does based on data whereas Life Cycle Assessment is like risk assessment, it is undertaken a prior