Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT DESIGN AND

MANUFACTURING

MMFU 5013 Assigment 1

Life Cycle Assessment

LUQMAN NUL HAKIM BIN JUWARA

M051420015

Prepared For

PM DR HAMBALI BIN AREP

Master of Manufacturing Engineering (Manufacturing System Engineering)

2015

LIFE CYCLE ASSESMENT AND IMPLIMENTATION ON LEVI

STRAUSS JEANS PRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION1.1 Purpose

This research report will cover on product life cycle assessment (LCA)

implementation and demonstrate it with an example of LCA implementation on a

pair of LEVI’S 501 jeans production.

1.2 Background

LCA is known as a tool to analyze the impact of the product to the environment. LCA

is a technique used to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts as-

sociated with a product, process, or service (Thron et al. 2011).

According to Stellman (2011), the objectives of LCA are:

i. To provide a complete a picture as possible of the interactions of an activity

with the environment.

ii. To contribute to the understanding of the overall and interdependent nature of

the environmental consequences of human activities.

iii. To provide decision makers with information which defines the environmental

effects of these activities and identifies opportunities for environmental

improvements

LCA analyze and evalutes the life-cycle environmental impacts from each of five

major life-cycle stages: raw materials extraction, materials processing, product

manufacture, product use, and final disposition or end-of-life. LCA also can be consider

as a systematic set of procedures for compiling and examining the inputs and outputs

of materials and energy consumed within a process, and the associated environmental

impacts directly attributable to the functioning of a product or service throughout its

life cycle (Louis 2012)

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LCA provides information to manufacturers, suppliers, customers, policy makers and

other stakeholders, it can be used for general information purposes, but also for

specific production and consumption oriented improvements such as process

optimization, product comparison, product policies and eco-labelling (Schepelmann,

2013).

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) conducted the apparel industry’s first lifecycle

assessment (LCA) study in 2007 to assess the entire lifecycle impact of a core set of

products The study focused primarily on the company’s U.S. operations and

uncovered that the greatest water and energy impact was in two areas: cotton

cultivation and consumer care. The new study, initiated in 2013, looked at three

LS&Co. products: a pair of Levi’s® 501® jeans, a pair of Levi’s® Women’s jeans,

and a pair of Dockers® Signature Khakis (Levi Strauss & CO. 2015).

2.0 LITERATURE FINDINGS

2.1 LCA in Brief

An LCA is a structured way of identifying the total environmental impact of a product

during the different phases in life-cycle. The structured LCA includes of goal

definition and scoping, inventory analysis, impact assessment and improvement

analysis. The purposes of LCA are in general to compare different product concepts

and to find out where in the life-cycle the greatest impact of a product is created

(Ritzén et al., 1996). The concept of LCA is to evaluate the environmental effect

associated with any activity from the initial gathering of raw material from the earth

until the residual are return back to the earth, this concept also refered as cradle to

grave assesment(Ryding 2011)

LCA is not a one-time effort; it is an iterative or repetitive procedure. Each phase may

be revisited several times. After each iteration, the uncertainty is reduced, and the

assessment is completed when the results are sufficiently certain to adequately answer

the questions that were posed at in the goal and scope definition (G&S) at the

beginning (Jeswiet, 2007).

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Figure 1: Repetitive Procedure in LCA (Jeswiet, 2007).

2.2 LCA in Product Development

LCA is a useful tool in product development. LCA results provide support in the

choice of materials and processes as they facilitate comparison between different

solutions representing different environmental impacts. The use of LCA results in

lasting value: it gives a comprehensive view and a better understanding of the

connection between product features and environmental impact. The assessment

includes the entire life cycle of the process, product, activity or service system,

encompassing extracting and processing raw materials, manu-facturing, transportation

and distribution, use, reuse, maint-enance, recycling and final disposal (Ryding 2011).

In Swedish Industries, the impact assessment have been systemised by the

development of the Environmental Priority Strategies (EPS) system. Its purpose is to

enable a person without a specialized competence to perform the impact assessment.

In order for the designer to use the EPS system (EPS), a PC tool has been developed.

With the PC tool it should be possible for a designer to choose between materials and

processes in regular design work. Thus, EPS is an easy and quickly used tool (Ritzén

et al., 1996).

2.3 The Use of LCA in Companies

According to Ritzén et al. (1996), LCA groups had been formed by specialists from

Swedish Industry. They perform specific LCAs, collecting data from databases and

participating in LCA development. The companies integrate LCA into on-going

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Product Development (PD) projects. LCA has mainly been performed for already

existing products and also for separated materials or processes.

Experiences from the use of LCA in PD projects show that LCA is applied during

conceptual and detailed design phases (Figure 2). The product developers claim that

this is too late in the PD process as material and processes choices are often decided

by that time. A suggestion is that LCA should be performed during the feasibility

study instead. Objections against this, that data is both difficult to find and less

reliable early in the process and too many assumptions must be made.

Figure 2: PD-process and integration phases of LCA today and due to recommendations from product

developers (Ritzén et al., 1996).

Use of LCA will have a learning effect of lasting value for product developers. LCA

provides life-cycle thinking which is useful in other situations and also gives a better

understanding of cause and effect between the technical performance of the product

and environmental impact. Table 1 shows the advantages and disadvantages of LCA.

Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages of LCA (Ritzén et al., 1996).

Advantages of LCA Disadvantages of LCAComprehensive view of environmental problems.

Time consuming, inventory analysis explicitly.

Provides comparison of environmental performance.

Apparent exactness with answers in figures.

Learning of lasting value. Assumptions are necessary.Tool for communication. Lack of data and quality of data.

As revealed by Newcomb et al. (2003), Many of the complaints about LCA focus on

the intensive amount of time, data, money and effort required to perform a detailed

LCA. Although implementing the ISO 14040-14043 LCA standards costs between

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$15,000 to $30,000 per product, it also can cost from tens to hundreds of thousands of

dollars to perform just one LCA. Many efforts are aimed at improving the individual

stages of LCA. Some LCA researchers suggest using a hybrid LCA. The hybrid

LCA uses both process and input-output analysis to develop the life cycle inventory.

The hybrid approach has the advantage of eliminating the need to define strict

production system boundaries, an often controversial task.

Newcomb et al. (2003) counts life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) problems as one

of the two biggest problems with LCA. In 1998, a conference of LCA practitioners

and methodologists convened in Brussels to discuss the issues with LCIA. There was

great concern about the appropriate level of sophistication used in LCIA.

Sophistication is defined as, “… the ability of the model to accurately reflect the

potential impact of stressors”.

2.4 LCA Within the Context of International Organization for

Standardization (ISO )

With the passage of time LCA became an important tool for environmental policy,

and even for industry. The LCA approach described in ISO 14040-14043 is

essentially the same as the one promoted by the Society of Environmental Toxicology

and Chemistry (SETAC). A conventional LCA consists of the following steps (Table

2), which are outlined in the ISO 14040 - ISO 14043 standards and in SETAC’s

‘Code of Practice’.

Table 2: Four steps of LCA within the context of ISO

ISO Codes Scopes / AreaISO 14040 Goal definition and scopingISO 14041 Inventory analysisISO 14042 Impact assessmentISO 14043 Improvement Assessment (SETAC term) /Interpretation (ISO term)

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2.5 Quick LCA Tools

Although the traditional LCA study provides detailed assessment of the system under

study, typical limitations include long lead times in data collection and analysis.

Quick LCA tools are examples of potential ‘acceleration’ aids. Some quick LCA tools

have used as online check points for greenhouse gas emissions, attracting thousands

of visitors, while others have been the subject of considerable investment in

development but with limited uptake upon completion (Horne & Verghese, 2009).

The development and use of quick LCA tools would fast-track the integration of

environmental design aspects into the product development process. Table 3 shows

several Quick LCA tools that have been used in the packaging industry.

Table 3: Quick LCA Tools (Horne & Verghese, 2009)

Name of tool Features of toolPackaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET)

Evaluates all stages of the life cycle for the complete packaging system and all its packaging components per pallet. Reports against key environmental indicators and packaging specific indicators. Delivered as a web-based tool.

Tool for environmental optimization of Packaging design (TOP)

Evaluates packaging in conjunction with the product in light of the essential requirements of the EU directive. Indicators considered: product-packaging combination, added value, logistics efficiency, heavy metals, reuse and recovery, material consumption, environmental impact. Delivered in a spreadsheet format.

MERGE™ (also known as COMPASS) tool by Environmental Defense (also referred to as TheSustainable Packaging Coalition) in the USA now has an exclusive license for the packaging design aspect of this tool.

Focuses on formulating goods such as personal care items and household/professional cleaning and maintenance products. Metrics for packaging include: resource consumption, energy consumption, virgin material content, non-recyclable material content, ‘bad-actor’ packaging, greenhouse gases and pallet inefficiency.

Wal-Mart Scorecard The aim is to increase the percentage of packaging made from renewable

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resources by replacing non-recoverable materials. The tool calculates raw scores of packaging based on: packaging material, production, transportation. Other factors considered include: recycled content, renewable energy resources. Limitations are that the tool gives raw score, rank and weight, which are not readily transparent.

3.0 Methodologies

Full LCA methodologies are codified in the ISO standard series 14040 (ISO 1996). Carrying out an LCA consists of four main phases (Schepelmann , 2013):

3.1 Goal and Scope

Clearly defining the goal and scope of an LCA is of crucial importance in order not to

provide confusing results and misleading interpretations. Thus, the following

questions should be considered:

i. What is the purpose of the LCA?

ii. What is the spatial and temporal scope of the LCA?

iii. What are the functional units to be assessed?

iv. Who is the target group?

v. Which decisions must the LCA support?

vi. What is the extent of these decisions?

vii. Which product/solution is to be assessed, and which alternatives to be

compared?

3.2 Inventory Analysis

The inventory analysis phase accounts for input and output flows of materials, energy,

water and pollutants. This phase’s reliability affects the complete assessment.

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Therefore it is necessary to follow the precise standards for data collecting,

calculation procedures, allocation rules such as SETAC (1993) and ISO (1996).

Impact Analysis

The impact assessment phase implies the selection of impact categories, classification

and characterization of environmental impacts based on the inventory analysis,

regarding goal and scope. The impacts assessment procedure is codified in ISO

standard 14042, though the impacts are often context−specific and can thus hardly be

generalized. The identification of impact categories depends on the goal of the

particular LCA. General impact categories are resource depletion, human health as

well as ecological and global impacts. These impacts are operationalized by specific

impacts such as global warming, ozone depletion, acidification or eutrophication. In

the characterization phase, the impacts are analyzed, quantified and calculated,

requiring scientific knowledge about load−response relationships. For that purpose,

the inventory data needs to be analyzed by modelling approaches, like the use of

equivalence factors or toxicological data.

3.3 Interpretation

The interpretation phase organizes the results of the inventory analysis and impact assessment in a comprehensible way in order to handle them by decision makers. The findings allow a global view on the lifecycle of products and processes. With respect to the goal and scope of the study conclusions and recommendations may be formulated.As a basis for a decision−making processes considering environmental aspects, the LCA results point out the various options for improvements and supports other environmental concepts, tools and systems such as eco-labelling, environmental management system.To interpret the results of LCAs ‘confidence limits’ are indispensable from an ecological and an economic perspective. If these limits show a wide range of uncertainty the ecological benefits of an investment become questionable. In this case the results can lead to misjudgments.

4.0 Example of Product or Industry

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An example implementation of LCA in the denim jeans industry as written in The life

Cycle Of A Jean (Levi Strauss & CO. 2015). This analysis will be performed

according to LCA methodologies including goal and scope, life cycle inventory

analysis, impact analysis and interpretation.

Life Cycle of a denim jeans

Figure 2 Life Cycle of Levi’s 501 denim jean (Levi Strauss & CO. 2015)

4.1 Goal and scope

i. Product: Denim Jean

Denim jean is mainly made from cotton fibre. Cotton is a natural fiber

material obtained from Cotton plant ( Gossypium) . The natural fiber is widely

used in production of garments and textiles.

ii. Goal

Examining the environmental effect of denim jeans life cycle.

iii. Scope

Involve all the process in denim jeans production from cradle to grave, from

raw material to disposal.

4.2 Life Cycle Inventory analysis

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Figure 3 shows the flow chart of the process, requirement and waste in the jeans LCA.

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Figure 3: Process, Requirement and Waste Flowchart

1. Raw material process 1

The raw material process 1 consist metal mining, petroleum refinery and cotton

plantation

a. Petroleum refinary

Material: Crude oil

Resource use:

a. Land

b. Electricity

c. Water for refinery cooling

d. Fuel for lorry, other vehicle and equipment

Waste:

Boilers, process heaters, and other process equipment are responsible for the

emission of particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur

oxides (SOx), and carbon dioxide. Catalyst changeovers and cokers release

particulates. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene,

and xylene are released from storage, product loading and handling facilities,

and oil-water separation systems and as fugitive emissions from flanges,

valves, seals, and drains. Petroleum refineries use relatively large volumes of

water, especially for cooling systems. Surface water runoff and sanitary

wastewaters are also generated (World Bank Group 2007).

Figure 4: Petroluem refinery

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b. Metal mining

Material: copper ore

Resource use:

a) Land for mining and building

b) Fuel for tractor use in mining, collecting and transportation

c) Building material

d) Electricity for mining process and equipment

e) Water for saperating copper ore from dirt, rock and other material.

Waste:

Rock and soil produce from digging to acsess the copper ore. Sometimes there

are radioactive materials such as uranium, thorium and radium. Poisonoius

Water runoff that damage fish habitat.

Figure 5: Copper Mine

c. Cotton Plantation

Material: Cotton

Resource use:

a) Land for cultivating

b) Fertilizer for crop growth

c) Water for cultivating and cleaning

d) Fuel for farm equipment (harvesting) and transportation (delivery)

e) Electricity for processing plant and storage.

f) Pesticide and herbicide

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Waste :

Waste water from cultivation, dried leaf and plant.

Figure 6: Cotton Plantation

d. Nylon And polyester manufacturer

Material: vegetable and fruit example soybean hulls and peanut hulls

Resource use:

a) Fuel for transportation and machinery

b) Electricity for factory equipment and building

c) Land for building and storage.

d) Water for cooling and cleaning

Waste :

Made from petrochemicals, these synthetics are non-biodegradable as well, so

they are inherently unsustainable on two counts. Nylon manufacture creates

nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Making polyester uses large amounts of water for cooling, along with

lubricants which can become a source of contamination. Both processes are

also very energy-hungry.

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Figure 7: Nylon And Polyester

e. Copper ore smelter

Materials : Copper

Resources:

a) Electricity for running the construction tools and building

lighting

b) Water for cooling and cleaning

c) Fuel for transportation

d) Land for building

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling , copper slag.

f. Transportation

Resources:

a) Fuel

b) Water for cooling

c) Land for road

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling , copper slag.

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g. Zipper manufacturing

Materials : polyester and nylon

Resources:

a) Electricity for running the factory equipment and building

lighting

b) Water for cooling and cleaning

c) Fuel for transportation

d) Land for building

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling , poisonous gas due to heating and

melting the materials.

h. Rivet manufacturing plan

Materials : Copper

Resources:

a) Electricity for running the construction tools and building

lighting

b) Water for cooling and cleaning

c) Fuel for transportation

d) Land for building

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling,

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i. Denim and cotton thread manufacturing

Materials : Cotton thread and fabrics.

Resources:

a) Electricity for running the construction tools and building lighting

b) Water for cooling and cleaning

c) Fuel for transportation

d) Land for building

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling and fabric dye.

j. Denim jeans manufacturing

Materials : zipper, cotton fabric, copper rivet

Resources:

e) Electricity for running the construction tools and building

lighting

f) Water for cooling, cleaning and dying

g) Fuel for transportation

h) Land for building

Waste:

Poisonous waste water from cooling, cleaning and washing.

5. Marketing

The finish jeans arrive at the marketing shop lot where will be on display.

Resouses use are electricity for lighting, water for air cool tower and sanitary

and land for building shop lot.

6. Used phase

The used phase contain caring for the jeans and use of water, detergent and

electricity.

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7. End of life

The end of life the jeans either when to landfill, reuse or recycled ro the

copper rivet.

The finish jeans arrive at the marketing shop lot where will be on display.

Resouses use are electricity for lighting, water for air cool tower and sanitary

and land for building shop lot.

4.3 Life Cycle Impact Assessment

i. Impact categories

Impact categories are divided into type which is Endpoint and Midpoint. Endpoint

categories seek to represent the environmental damage to the Area Protection such as

natural environment or human health and Midpoint cover between the inventory and

the End point.

a. Endpoint

Massive land is needed for all of the activity from cultivating food for the sheep,

raising the sheep and set up the factory. The cleared land before is a forest that full

of trees. Even though for pasture the tree cut down then replace with grass it still

not enough to replace what is lost. The use of excessive pesticide and fertilizer

made the soil less biodiversity and the run off pollute the water system.

b. Midpoint

All of the activity in the inventory required transportation that relies on diesel fuel.

The electricity use in the activity of producing cotton generated by coal and both

of them is a fossil fuel. Fossil fuel is the main contributor of emission that the root

causes of global warming and air pollution.

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4.4 Life cycle interpretation

There are three major environmental issues that are soil, water and air pollution. The

most significant is the air pollution that cause by the long term and repeating usage of

fossil fuel, followed by the soil contamination by the excessive use of pesticide and

fertilizer. Currently the industries use a biodegrade able detergent in cleaning the

wool. The biodegrade detergent helps in maintaining the ecosystem and human

health.

A solution is needed in order to stop the environmental issue majorly cause by fossil

fuel. And it is estimated that the fossil fuel is going to run out. A new method or fuel

for powering the transportation that is safe to the environment is needed.

5.0 Discussion & Conclusion

5.1 Discussion

In doing the LCA the information gathered might be not 100% accurate because of

the author is not actually doing the research on the site. It is based on assumption and

previous research. It is quite hard to find data that can be represented in volume form.

There a lot of methods in conducting an LCA for a product, and the assessment keeps

on getting updated day by day.

5.2 Conclusion

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful method in determining the impact of a

product to the environment or human well being. During this report writing both

authors gain vast knowledge regarding LCA. Both authors find that the LCA has been

updated and refined to become a powerful tool in helping designer design a better

product.

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6.0 References

Horne, R.E. & Verghese, K.L., 2009. Accelerating life cycle assessment uptake : life

cycle management and “ quick ” LCA tools. In R. Horne, T. Grant, & K. Verghese,

eds. Life Cycle Assessment: Principles, Practice and Prospects. Australia: Csiro

Publishing, pp. 141–159.

Jeswiet, J., 2007. CHAPTER DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. In M. Kutz, ed.

Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. New Jersey, Canada.: John Wiley &

Sons, pp. 29–44.

Levi Strauss & CO., 2015. The Life Cycle Of A Jean,

Louis, C.J., 2012. Life Cycle Analysis. In Dictionary of Chemical Engineering.

Reap, J. et al., 2003. Improving Life Cycle Assessment by Including Spatial, Dynamic

and Place Based Modeling. In Proceedings of ASME 2003 Design and Engineering

Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference.

USA: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, pp. 1–7. Available at:

http://www.srl.gatech.edu/Members/jreap/ASME-DfM-48140.pdf.

Ritzén, S., Hakelius, C. & Norell, M., 1996. Life-Cycle Assessment , implementation

and use in Swedish industry. In Proceedings of NordDesign ’96, August 28-30,

Helsinki, Finland. pp. 125–132.

Ryding, S., 2011. Life-Cycle Assessment (Cradle-To-Grave). Encyclopedia of

Occupational Health and Safety, p.54.

Schepelmann, P., 2013. Lifecycle assessment (LCA). VU University Amsterdam.

Thron, M.J., Kraus, J.L. & Parker, D.R., 2011. Sustainable engineering.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, 49(4), pp.16–18.

World Bank Group, 2007. Petroleum Refining. , pp.377–381.

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