Process Optimization

Increasing sustainability and efficiency

In the context of a circular economy, the manufacturie, use and recycling of a product build a complex system and business concepts. In order to increase sustainability and efficiency, the various life cycle phases of a product must be understood and supplemented by new technologies, materials and concepts. For this purpose, Fraunhofer IWKS describes product systems with different process types and details on all levels in digital models.

This includes material properties, technical process parameters, application characteristics and supply chains, so new business models can be derived. For this purpose Fraunhofer IWKS has developed the flexible Multi-property Lifecycle Analysis Tool, which evaluates and optimizes a system according to criteria of sustainability, product design and process efficiency. New technologies, such as those first developed for recycling, can be integrated and evaluated in terms of practicability.

Criteria of sustainability, product design and process efficiency

An analysis of the process chains and parameters in the model are the basis for quantitative optimization. This results in technical improvements that optimize the product life cycle in terms of a circular economy (preservation of function, design for recycling, infrastructure, new technologies). By considering abstract processes and backgrounds, new business models can also be derived for building long-term profitability (increased efficiency, new partners, digital services).