The Manufacturer’s James Devonshire speaks with Autodesk’s Matt Oosthuizen to find out more about how an add-on for Autodesk Fusion enables manufacturers to quickly and intuitively see the carbon impact of their design decisions, allowing them to create products that are inherently sustainable by design from the outset.
Towards the end of last year, I had the opportunity to attend Autodesk University 2024 in sunny San Diego, where one of the big takeaways was how AI-powered solutions are driving real manufacturing efficiency gains.
In addition to its insightful keynotes and inspiring expo, Autodesk University also boasted a range of panel discussions covering a plethora of topics. While I attended around half a dozen such sessions, the subject matter of one in particular stuck out as having tremendous relevance to our audience: how manufacturers can reduce emissions and improve profitability.
With our own original research showing how manufacturers continue to prioritise environmental sustainability, and improved profitability undoubtedly the holy grail for every business, the discussion sounded like it was ticking a lot of boxes.
Improved profitability should be the carrot to counteract the stick of increased legislation
The session was kicked off by Autodesk’s Zoé Bezpalko, an environmental engineer and designer, who highlighted how cost pressures, customer influence and the likelihood of looming regulation meant that manufacturers could no longer ignore sustainable initiatives.
With the manufacturing industry accounting for around 20% of the world’s carbon emissions and around 54% of energy usage, the topic of sustainability is a pertinent one. But the reality is that less waste and reduced energy consumption have a direct impact on manufacturers’ bottom lines.
And when you consider that large companies are already required by law to report on their energy use and carbon emissions under the UK government’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) policy, it seems increasingly likely that we’ll see more legislation introduced moving forwards — possibly that encompasses SMEs too.
The biggest revelation for me, however, was that 80% of a product’s total carbon emissions are determined during the design phase. In other words, the decisions made right at the start can dictate a product’s environmental impact from cradle to gate and beyond.
Data-driven sustainability
Zoé then introduced Michael Serunian, lead for business development at Gravity Climate; Greg Paulsen, Advanced manufacturing expert, 3D printing advocate and application engineer at Xometry; and Matt Oosthuizen, Sustainable Manufacturing Specialist within Autodesk’s Impact & ESG Organisation.
Michael explained how Gravity Climate, via its API, enables companies to take advantage of real-time, up-to-date sustainability data to drive business impact. Two companies that are doing just that are Xometry and Autodesk.
Xometry — a global manufacturing marketplace that connects customers with suppliers of manufacturing services — harnesses Gravity Climate data so its users can make informed decisions to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains.
Meanwhile, Autodesk (no introductions needed) is utilising Gravity Climate’s API for an add-on for Autodesk Fusion, known as Manufacturing Sustainability Insights (MSI), which enables designers to quickly and intuitively see how different design decisions subsequently increase or decrease a product’s carbon emissions.
After the session I was intrigued to find out more about MSI and delve a little more into what it can do. I was fortunate enough to secure some time with Autodesk’s Matt Oosthuizen to find out more.
Sustainable by design
JD: Please introduce yourself Matt and tell us a bit about your background
MW: I’m Matt Oosthuizen and I’m based in London. I’ve been with Autodesk for four years now, having joined the company on a graduate programme after I completed a manufacturing and mechanical engineering degree at Warwick University.
I did a rotation among various teams, including Fusion and research before becoming part of our sustainability team, where we focus on helping our manufacturing customers meet their environmental goals by developing new technologies for Autodesk products.
Please give us the lowdown on MSI
MSI is an add-on for Autodesk Fusion that enables designers to build greener products. It works by providing embodied carbon data directly within Fusion, enabling designers to see how their choice of raw material, manufacturing process and/or geographical location influence a product’s associated emissions.
MSI calculations are provided in real-time by the Gravity Climate API, which uses the latest climate science and the most granular, transparent data available.
Take, for example, something like additive laser melting, which uses multiple lasers to melt and fuse metallic powders into solid parts. Obviously, it uses a relatively high amount of electricity compared to other manufacturing techniques. And so if you were to employ this method in a country that has high electricity grid carbon emissions, the overall carbon footprint is going to be higher than if you manufactured in a country that has lower electricity grid carbon emissions.
MSI takes into consideration the process, material and manufacturing location to determine a product’s carbon emissions, allowing designers to make conscious decisions early on.
Image credit: Autodesk
Something we hear from manufacturers quite often, particularly smaller firms, is about the challenges associated with tracking scope 3 emissions. Can MSI help with that?
With scope three, we see carbon enforcers (usually the big dogs in manufacturing) telling their suppliers down the chain that they need to provide information relating to a product’s sustainability credentials. For SMEs, this can be difficult to track and provide.
But MSI could make this more intuitive.
Let’s say you’re having a custom design manufactured by another company, and even though they might be black boxing you and not saying exactly what they’re doing, MSI could provide a rough understanding. For example, you know that it’s being CNC machined and you know the supplier is in China somewhere, or in in Europe. MSI will be able to give you a carbon impact value. And while it’s not going to be 100% accurate, it’s definitely a good starting point.
Do you think the manufacturing sector is moving fast enough towards net zero, or are we seeing more talk than action?
With the threat of more regulations on the horizon, I don’t think manufacturers have a choice anymore. Plus, if you ask anyone if they’d like to be more sustainable in the way they live, or for a company, the way they manufacture products, you aren’t going to find many that will flat out say “no”.
So there’s definitely intent where people want to be more sustainable. But I think there’s a cost factor holding many back, one that could lead to increased costs for customers. However, research has shown that many people are often willing to pay more for items that have been manufactured in a more sustainable way, so that’s definitely worth considering too.
The plus point for manufacturing as an industry is that it’s already ahead of many others when it comes to digital transformation. And let’s face it, sustainability is predominantly a data issue, or at least a problem that can be significantly improved with data. So there’s definitely a big opportunity there for manufacturers to take advantage. With tools like MSI, every day engineers can have a positive impact on a manufacturing organisation’s sustainability right off the bat.
Net zero initiatives often involve upfront costs and significant operational changes. How can manufacturers justify those investments to their stakeholders?
I guess the low hanging fruit is understanding where you using a lot of energy and how you can reduce that, which is going to lead to the benefit of lower energy bills. And I think that’s why companies like Gravity and a lot of those carbon management and decarbonising businesses are useful because they can track that and help you figure out where’s the easiest place to make changes.
So while it might not necessarily be cheaper to produce something more sustainably, there are a number of benefits to doing so, another of which is the boosted brand recognition that comes with being seen to be sustainable.
And finally… what are your three top tips for manufacturers who are still on the fence about beginning genuine sustainability journeys?
First, you can’t optimise what you can’t see or track. So if you enable your facility to understand your energy consumption, where the hotspots are, that’s a really good starting point. It allows you to carry out further optimisation later and make tangible improvements going forwards.
I’m a big champion for onshoring manufacturing. I think people need to produce more in the UK again, which can have a huge impact in terms of carbon emissions. Not only does the UK have a decent electricity grid mix, manufacturing there also negates the need for international shipping, which is a huge contributor to carbon emissions.
Furthermore, if you produce stuff in house, you have complete control over what you’re doing. So things like waste and recycling policies.
Sustainability isn’t that complicated. A lot of it is about using less materials, better materials, less energy and better energy.
If you’re an Autodesk Fusion customer and you’re intrigued by MSI, download the add-on from the Autodesk App Store.
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