Canadian Aviation Industry Collaborative Efforts in Life

Stream: Aircraft Design & Development Background: This GARDN research and development project was aimed at developing the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in- house expertise, the internal LCA databases and the eco-design... [ view full abstract ]

Stream: Aircraft Design & Development

Background: This GARDN research and development project was aimed at developing the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in- house expertise, the internal LCA databases and the eco-design capabilities of each of the OEM partners (Bell Helicopter, Bombardier Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney).

To this end the overall project comprised of three main themes:

1. Preliminary Screening LCA / Eco-design Diagnostic

2. Detailed Product LCA (Development of aeronautical product life cycle database for the partners)

3. Ecodesign methodologies, tools and management

At the start of the project the partners did not all have the same level of capability with LCA techniques therefore, for each OEM partner, aspects of the above 3 themes were developed/adapted during the course of the project to suit the individual OEM’s needs using the facilitation and expertise of the environmental life-cycle consultants drawn from CIRAIG and Quantis, as appropriate.

This project presentation will explain the technical outcomes of this GARDN LCA project as they affected each OEM partner.

Results achieved: The conference presentation will present the results achieved by each of the 3 OEMs from this project. In summary the results achieved were:




Bombardier Aerospace

For BA, the main conclusions of this GARDN project were the following (and these will be discussed in the conference presentation):

– Significant progress was made in BA’s “Product LCA” capability, specifically in end-of-aircraft-life modelization and in the development of a “Life Cycle Costing” model to enable the novel combination of environmental and financial information results in the LCA decision-making process;

– The project also enabled BA to further develop its “Eco-
design toolbox and strategies”.

P&WC

For P&WC, the main conclusions of this GARDN project were the following (and these will be discussed in the conference presentation):

– As part of the GARDN 1 LCA project, P&WC successfully developed the framework for its corporate sustainability “2028 vision”. This was subsequently presented to all employees, and later to the P&WC Supply Chain and also to the general public.

– The life cycle impact assessments for two engine models were developed to higher TRL levels as a result of the project




Bell Helicopter

For Bell Helicopter, the main conclusions of this GARDN project were the following (and these will be discussed in the conference presentation):

• Bell achieved a much improved literacy regarding “Sustainability” issues, and LCA modeling techniques in particular:

• A product LCA was carried out on one of Bell’s
contemporary commercial helicopter models

• New practice: embracing the use of LCA techniques

• Using the analytical results to understand/improve our processes: the LCA results gave great insight into sustainability “hot spots” in the product’s design

• Applying LCA thinking to new product designs

• New practice: familiarity with use of ecodesign metrics

• New process: revealed the need to establish dedicated in- house LCA expertise

• New process: identified a knowledge gap in the sub-tier supply chain associated with “Greener Supplier Specifications”

• Develop the process using Quantis-sponsored GARDN II
project

• New methods & tools:

• Standards: Familiarity with PCRs and EPDs and their significance

• Tools: planning to acquire LCA software




For All the OEM Partners

The shared expertise of the collaborative aspects of the GARDN project has provided new insights on sustainability that directly relates to the OEMs’ products (new and existing).

Fostered close sustainability collaboration among all the team members outside of the GARDN network.




Future research plans:

As a direct result of this “GARDN 1” project the partners agreed that there is a definite need to conduct further collaborative work under “GARDN 2” with the aim of defining a Green Supply Chain Management framework (i.e. methodologies and tools) adapted specifically to the Canadian aerospace sector.

Consequently a follow-on project will be carried out tackling this theme.

This “Green Specification” follow-on project aims at defining, from a life cycle perspective, what is an environmentally favourable product or service. To be able to design and manufacture a sustainable air transportation system, OEMs and Tier 1s companies must define appropriate green specifications and in turn work with their sub-tier suppliers to lower the environmental footprint of the overall aerospace supply chain.



In order to achieve this the team aims to broaden the participation in this follow-on project to include representatives of the “Voice of the Canadian Aviation Supply Chain” in order to develop a supply chain framework which will equip the OEMs/Tier 1s with the collective knowledge and capacity to:

i. prioritize their green purchasing actions,

ii. define green specifications for materials and technologies,

iii. efficiently collect, manage and assess environmental information in their supply chain,

iv. enable communication and collaboration to and from suppliers to facilitate ecodesign across the supply chain.