SustainabilityXpress Available NOW from SolidWorks Labs

SustainabilityXpress is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool for SolidWorks 2009.   When determining the environmental impact of a product, LCA looks at everything that happens in the production, use, and final disposal of the product. This even includes all the transportation that occurs between the stages. Decisions on the material used, how it is manufactured, … can result in vastly different effects on the environment. SustainabilityXpress shows you these impacts and helps you to improve your design.

SustainabilityXpress is the first fruit of a technology partnership between SolidWorks and PE International, a global expert in sustainability and materials science.  The Xpress version if free and is limited to evaluating single parts.  A full-fledged assembly analysis tool will be introduced along with SolidWorks 2010 later this month.

SustainabilityXpress prompts the user for information about materials used, manufacturing method, where it will be manufactured and where it will be used.  Once the information has been gathered, SustainabilityXpress interrogates PE’s huge database and provides four to five pages of data on teh environmental impace of sourcing the material, processing it, shipping it, using it and then disposing it at the end of its life.  Finally, the system will help you evaluate alternative materials that may have a lesser environmental impact. 

SustainabilityXpress requires SolidWorks 2009.  Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.  For more information and to download the software, please visit http://labs.solidworks.com/

While the “Everything Goes Green” bandwagon rolls, it is important to distinguish the environmental impact of specific industries. Going green is often overused these days, however what could be better for the manufacturing industry than a tool that predicts environmental impact PRIOR to production?

SolidWorks Project Sage refers to the development of a new add-on product for the SolidWorks software that will allow designers to quantify in real time the projected environmental impacts of the parts and assemblies that they create.

Here are links to various press releases, articles, etc:

http://www.tenlinks.com/NEWS/PR/solidworks/021209_sage.htm

http://www.pe-international.com/gabi/gabi-inside-tools/solidworks-sage/

http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=165

http://www.designnews.com/blog/CAD_CAM_Corner/11141-SolidWorks_Gets_Sage_About_Environmental_Impact.php

 A preview of Sage will be made available through SolidWorks Labs this summer.