Making better use of resources during welding thanks to a life cycle assessment (LCA)

We share knowledge

We are absolutely convinced that close cooperation between various stakeholders is the only path towards sustainability in welding, and that measurable improvements can only be achieved by working together.

We wanted to know how sustainable Fronius welding machines really are throughout their life and use cycle, so our product sustainability team conducted a life cycle assessment and had it certified by the highly regarded Fraunhofer Institute. In the interests of creating a transparent knowledge base, we want to make the groundbreaking findings of this assessment available to everyone who recognizes and is serious about harnessing the carbon savings potential that manufacturing has to offer.

The experts at Fronius would be happy to help you identify potential areas of your manufacturing landscape where you could save CO2.

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We are driven by innovations

As the innovation leader in arc welding and global market leader in robot-assisted welding, we are dedicated to driving breakthrough technologies and are establishing new standards in welding technology.

Fronius is taking a revolutionary step in terms of sustainability and its use of resources by carrying out a certified life cycle assessment (LCA) for welding applications.

Taking a holistic view of welding, from device manufacturing through customer use to end of life, gives us insights into the key areas where we can reduce the carbon footprint. As pioneers in the industry, we want to address these areas in cooperation with our customers.

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Debates around sustainability are often emotionally charged, and we are countering this with a rational, evidence-based approach. The first step is setting out the facts:

» We examined two of our customers’ real, typical welding applications for steel and aluminum, and had the analysis certified by the highly regarded Fraunhofer Institute. «

David Schoenmayr, Team Leader for Product Sustainability at Fronius International

Taking the standardized methodology of a life cycle analysis as their basis, experts at Fronius teamed up with partner to4to (Together for tomorrow) to meticulously assess the environmental effects of influencing factors such as material, energy, gas, and emissions.

We live sustainability

Responsible business practices mean exploiting potential for saving energy, materials, and time to the fullest extent in order to conserve resources. The certified LCA for the TPS 320i and TPS 400i welding systems now makes this possible in the welding technology sector as well.

As a result, we now have a detailed picture of the analyzed welding applications with the TPS/i. The comprehensive cradle-to-grave approach applied in an LCA offers an in-depth look at our welding machine’s life cycle—starting with raw materials procurement, continuing through production, transport, and many years of use across shifts in an industrial setting, including wear parts, and concluding with recycling at the end of the machine’s service life.

We wanted to be able to compare the results, so we translated the calculated carbon footprint over to one meter of weld. Every component and every welding application is individual and influenced by many factors, such as the base material, the seam geometry, and the welding parameters used. We chose this framework for the analysis so the results could be presented clearly and would be easy to understand.

Breakdown of the CO2 proportion, translated to a 1-m weld:

We also have solutions that are easy to implement, such as the OPT/i Gas digital gas controller, which reduces shielding gas use by an average of 40%. In the case of short welds, the savings potential is even higher.

Our experts would be happy to show you how much shielding gas your company stands to save. Make an appointment—there’s no obligation!

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» We translated the CO2 proportion of the relevant parameters over to one meter of weld so we could quickly identify areas of action. For the CO2 proportion in use, we’ve based our calculations on the welds of robot series production with a typical duty cycle of eight years. We did this using real customer data from an automotive supplier with the robot configuration for steel welding with the TPS 400i, and a vehicle manufacturer that welds aluminum using the TPS 320i CMT. «

David Schoenmayr, Team Leader for Product Sustainability at Fronius International

We focus on customers

We work closely with our customers to develop solutions at the cutting edge of technology. As a supplier, we help to ensure that current and future obligations for sustainability reporting are properly met.

We want to work as a team with our customers to directly address the areas where CO2 can be reduced. We regularly share tips on ways our technology can be used to save on shielding gas, filler wire, and energy while still delivering high quality welding results.

After all, making efficient use of resources is the most effective way to leverage carbon savings. Just 0.5% or so of the entire CO2 equivalents in the life cycle of a Fronius TPS/i welding system can be attributed to its manufacture. A CO2 equivalent refers to the unit of measurement that is used to compare the climate impact of the various greenhouse gases with that of carbon dioxide in one value. In other words, the manufacture, repair, and disposal of a welding system doesn’t even contribute 1% of its CO2 equivalents, with the overwhelming share resulting from filler metals, shielding gas, and energy consumption. This demonstrates that these resources need to be used particularly efficiently—and that the biggest lever lies in conserving resources during use.

» The good news is that Fronius has been minimizing material and energy consumption in welding for many years. With nearly 75 years of experience in the industry, we have developed groundbreaking technologies such as the first inverter welding machines, digitally controlled TPS /i systems, and the CMT welding process. We also see digitalization as offering significant potential to boost efficiency. «

Harald Scherleitner, Global Director Sales and Marketing

Many Fronius customers have already optimized their production methods thanks to the welding data management and analysistool WeldCube Premium. High welding quality plays a central role here to ensure the materials are used as efficiently as possible, or in other words by avoiding wasting resources with rejects or rework. Reproducible, high-quality welded joints offer economic and environmental benefits in equal measure, which is why taking a holistic view of production at component level, so the total cost of production, can have a huge impact.

» Sustainability in joining is at the top of our agenda. Our ‘Sustainability by Design’ approach in research and development is creating environmentally friendly innovations that tackle the challenges our customers face. Saving material, time, and costs while reducing the carbon footprint is our common goal. Our LCA is the starting point for a range of tips that we will be sharing with our customers. «

We share knowledge

The experts at Fronius would be happy to help you identify potential areas of your manufacturing landscape where you could save CO2—by using the Opt/i Gas digital gas controller or WeldCube Premium monitoring and analysis tool, for example.

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