Information Modeling for Digitalized Sustainability Assessment in Manufacturing

Amid growing pressures for sustainable operations, the manufacturing industry faces methodological, knowledge-related, and organizational challenges in employing existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools effectively. Addressing LCA’s limitations related to static data and complex system boundaries, this paper presents an information modeling framework designed to enhance LCA applications. The study adopts a systematic approach using Unified Modeling Language (UML) to organize and visualize LCA data efficiently, based on the ecoinvent database. This framework is prototypically implemented and tested in an industrial use case involving the assembly of video surveillance cameras, demonstrating its capability to support dynamical assessments of sustainability performance. Aiming at bridging LCA with advanced digital technologies that are based on information models and interfaces, this framework proposes a concept for more accurate and adaptive sustainability evaluations in manufacturing, offering a pathway towards more informed and responsive environmental management.