Sustainability assessment of aerospace manufacturing: an LCA-based framework

In this paper, a life cycle assessment (LCA)-based sustainability assessment framework is developed to estimate the environmental impact of production processes. The framework provides a methodical, context-independent, approach to carry out LCA studies. The framework sets guiding principles for products and key performance indicators (KPIs) selection and the associated data requirements in a reconfigurable manner that can be applied to any industrial setting. In order to validate and demonstrate the applicability of the framework, a cradle-to-gate case study pertaining to the manufacturing of a real aerospace metallic structural component is carried out. Results revealed that the complexity of aerospace components makes it difficult to improve the environmental impact from manufacturing operations as most of the impact comes from upstream activities that aerospace manufacturers, typically, have no control over, or access to.