With many businesses looking to understand and reduce their carbon footprint, being able to effectively calculate the carbon emissions involved in the design and manufacture of products is key. While these calculations can be achieved fairly simply at a site level, gaining a full understanding of the carbon profile of products can be challenging for many businesses, particularly those with complex manufacturing operations and supply chains.
At Vendigital, we work with clients to gain a clear picture of the carbon emissions of their products by leveraging our cost and value engineers’ extensive operational experience, combined with our digital platform. We take an in-depth look at the carbon profile of products and their parts, to identify those with the highest emissions. We also work alongside your teams to model different scenarios, from changes in product design to material selection and manufacturing locations, to understand the impact these will have on carbon output, before recommending, and if required executing, specific actions to help reduce the overall emissions.
Our solution is fully compliant with the ISO 14067 standard and, combined with our other cost and value engineering services, allows our clients to make accurate, data-based cost decisions with a full view of the carbon emissions produced.
Vendigital Approach
Having accurate and reliable carbon data is key to measuring emissions. This may come from a mix of internal data, as well as secondary data needed to complete calculations. We work with clients to gather all the relevant data and variables, from extraction of raw material and emissions generated by suppliers through to reviews of processes and build materials. Spend data may also be gathered to help weigh up decisions between product or unit cost versus carbon output. A data cleanse is performed to make sure the data is ready to use in calculations and ensure the accuracy of calculations.
The functional unit for measurement may be different depending on the end goal of the carbon profiling project, the type of business or the industry. For example, this could mean calculating carbon emissions for a single unit of a product or calculating for the weight. We work with clients to establish a functional unit that will allow comparison to similar parts or products as well as driving value internally by making data, dashboards and reports easy to understand.
With the data prepared and the functional units established, our cost and value engineers perform hundreds of calculations to understand the carbon output of products and parts, while also creating a carbon baseline to be used in further analysis and comparison. Additional analysis is also performed on other areas such as the manufacturing stage or logistics involved in producing a product, providing a truer picture of the total carbon footprint.
With the calculations complete, our consultants work with clients to model scenarios and develop clear action plans to reduce carbon emissions. This may involve replacing materials for less carbon intensive options, sourcing materials from different locations, adapting the design of a product, exploring alternative sites for production, or reviewing logistics and how parts are supplied. By combining our consultants’ expertise with data and our digital platform we are able to produce dashboards displaying a range of bespoke metrics from the carbon intensity of production processes though to site utility usage.
At Vendigital, we go beyond producing reports to work alongside our clients to implement the recommendations made as well as supporting process reviews, cultural change and team training to ensure that carbon emissions are considered on an ongoing basis in future decision-making. Through bespoke dashboards we leave businesses with increased visibility which can be used to further analyse the carbon footprint as designs evolve and changes to supply chains or production processes are made.
Reduce your environmental impact
Getting carbon footprint calculation right can have a huge impact on a business as it strives to reduce emissions and contribute to reaching net-zero. With a data-led, holistic view of carbon emissions a business can make accurate and informed decisions about production, procurement and supply chain design while balancing carbon reduction and cost efficiency.
By having a clear view of the carbon footprint our clients are in a better position to make key strategic decisions affecting procurement, operations, manufacturing and the supply chain. It also supports the creation of robust policies and procedures, embedding emissions as a factor in every decision.
Analysis of the carbon footprint of products and their parts allows our clients to understand and view their product portfolio from the perspective of their carbon footprint. From this, clients can take carbon emissions into account when managing the end-to-end product lifecycle.
Having an accurate data-led carbon calculation allows our clients to make design decisions based on a product’s carbon profile before it enters production. This is often more cost effective than changing a design, materials and production process at a later stage.
Client Story
Marshall Land Systems
A forensic, data-led approach to inform an ambitious carbon reduction strategy, focused on Scope 3 emissions.
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