¹ú²úAV

Since its earliest beginnings, ¹ú²úAV has always helped customers reduce their environmental footprint by optimizing material consumption. Today, ¹ú²úAV is taking its commitment to the environment a step further by making sustainability an integral part of product design.

Under the responsibility of a Continuous Improvement & Ecodesign Manager, ecodesign guidelines have been established and are gradually being incorporated into development processes.

To date, 45 employees from across the group have attended an introductory course on ecodesign principles. Recently, ¹ú²úAV recruited its first ecodesign engineer, tasked with supporting product development policy, analyzing the environmental footprint of ¹ú²úAV products, and documenting completed ecodesign actions.

Ecodesign is a methodical approach to designing products and services that takes into account environmental considerations at the design and development phase, with the aim of reducing negative environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Stages of the complete product lifecycle cover raw materials, processing, assembly, transport, customer usage and recycling at the end of the product's useful life.

The necessity of adopting sustainable practices is a key business priority for ¹ú²úAV and its customers globally. Manufacturers are embracing these practices to minimize their carbon footprint, reduce waste, and optimize their consumption of energy and resources. Ecodesign can play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while bringing tangible business benefits. 

Ecodesign guidelines have already enabled ¹ú²úAV to reduce the total machine weight and dimensions of an advanced-technology fabric cutter by 300 kg, significantly lowering carbon emissions at the manufacturing and transport stages.

The starting point of the ecodesign methodology is the lifecycle assessment of environmental impact. ¹ú²úAV has already applied this principle throughout every stage of the lifecycle of an advanced-technology fabric cutter.

The chief finding was that the greatest environmental impact occurs at the equipment usage phase—specifically customer fabric consumption, including the generation of scrap and waste. ¹ú²úAV solutions have always focused on maximizing waste reduction. The study findings will allow the group to make further advances to support customers in this area.   

In textile-based production models, fabric consumption accounts for more than 90% of the CO2 emissions produced throughout the entire lifecycle of a fabric cutter. In the fashion industry, scrap and waste also account for 20-25% of fabric consumption.

By helping customers achieve significant material savings during the design and production phases, and by providing solutions to ensure traceability throughout the sustainable textile supply chain, ¹ú²úAV can help them substantially minimize environmental impact.

Lifecycle assessment findings have also enabled ¹ú²úAV to apply ecodesign guidelines to improve cutting equipment design and optimize usage:

• Power consumption: sourcing of energy-efficient components that reduce power consumption
• Weight and dimensions: more compact frame design that reduces total machine weight by more than 300 kg while optimizing container shipping volumes, lowering carbon emissions at the manufacturing and transport stages
• Assembly time: redesign of fabric cutter sub-units resulting in fewer parts and the elimination of up to 6 hours of assembly in production
• Maintenance: responsible sourcing for more robust assembly requiring fewer, less frequent maintenance operations, minimizing the need for field technician visits (86% of maintenance operations are conducted remotely on ¹ú²úAV-brand equipment)