Designing for Sustainability with Material Intelligence

Materials are central to any company’s journey to net zero. Products are being developed by teams that need to consider materials that meet performance, cost and environmental considerations as well as shifting customer attitudes. But many of these engineers are unaware of the sustainability impact of their material selection. These considerations need to be made at the beginning, not the end of the design process to avoid costly re-design and delays to product launch.

Using a material management framework, reference data and analysis tools it is feasible to make proactive data-driven decisions on materials at the earliest stages of design. This includes rapid, detailed analysis of products, identifying alternative materials and publishing preferred materials lists that include sustainability indicators.

By having a single authoritative source of materials truth across a business and value chain, engineers (who may not have the authority or knowledge to introduce new materials) can select from a list of preferred materials. They have real-time visibility of the impact of their material choices for a product at all stages of the product lifecycle, and all within their native CAD/PLM/Simulation environment.