Corporate Strategy Based Quantitative Assessment of Sustainability Indicators at the Example of a Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process

The definition of the sustainability of a product or a process depends on certain consideration. Frameworks for a methodological evaluation of environmental sustainability are proposed in ISO 14040/44 though a standardized assessment based on fixed parameters and standards is not suitable for every application. Here, an approach to define sustainability based on individually formulated corporate strategies using the example of the "cradle-to-grave" assessment using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) as an additive manufacturing process is presented. By means of this approach, components of corporate strategies are identified and analyzed regarding existing conflicting goals and correlated with previously defined sustainability potentials. The result of this correlation is strategy-specific influencing factors, indicators and quantifiable variables that relate to the process chain of the LPBF method under investigation. A method is presented which, based on the correlations determined, enables to quantitatively assess the sustainability of the product during its life cycle. The application of this method is shown and verified at the example of two literature-based corporate strategies. Finally, the challenges for future developments of sustainability-oriented quantification options are discussed on the basis of the results.