Cycle inventory case studies

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool to assess impacts of cradle-to-grave chains of products/services. In the Riskcycle framework, the focus is on additives. Additives are usually minor constituents of products, but depending on their specific properties they can be important in the total scope of impacts of such products. In the LCA literature, additives are hardly visible. Most case studies of products containing additives do not mention them. The reasons for this are unclear, but are at least partly due to the fact that information on additives is not included in standard LCA databases. This is true for both life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) databases. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude whether or not additives indeed are important contributors to environmental impacts over the life cycle. 

Peereboom, E., R. Kleijn, S. Lemkowitz, et al. 1998. Influence of inventory data sets on life-cycle assessment results A case study on PVC. J. Ind. Ecol. 2 109-130. 

Wolf M-A, Baitz M, Kupfer T (2002) Process-level life cycle working time (LCWT) inventories as basis for the social extension of LCA/LCE. Poster presentation at 12th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting, Congress Centre Vienna, Austria, 12-16 May 2002 Shibasaki M, Kupfer T, Wolf M-A, Eyerer P (2004) Recycling concept for contaminated plastic materials - a LCA case study. 6th international conference on ecobalance, Tsukuba, 2004... 

Activity-based inventory assessment, 531 Activity-based management (ABM), 2317-2329 case study of, 2319-2329 definition of, 2317 Activity cycle diagram (ACD), 506 Activity databases, 1260 Actual dollar analysis ... 

Integration of Process Modelling and Life Cycle Inventory. Case Study i-Pentane Purification Process from Naphtha... 

The life cycle interpretation is the final step of the LCA where conclusions are drawn from both the life cycle inventory analysis and the life cycle impact assessment or, in the case of life cycle inventory studies, from the inventory analysis only. As an outcome of the interpretation stage, recommendations can be formulated which, for example, may be directed to producers or policy makers. 

In this study there are six non-parameterised strategies which are applied and evaluated in the SC model using simulation, including (1) JIT (lot-for-lot) (2) JIT (lot-for-lot) with safety stock (3) Kanban (fixed WIP) (4) Kanban (fixed WIP) + safety stock (5) VMl (based-stock policy) and (6) VMl (based-stock policy) with safety stock. The case company B s original strategy will also be evaluated and used as a base reference point. There are two fixed safety stock levels 20% and 30%. The reason for their choice is based on the consideration of inventory capacity, the raw material product cycle time and the financial flow information (from the interview discussions). 

---