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Revolutionizing Sustainability with the Makersite Application on Autodesk Platform Services
Client Name
PRé Sustainability
PRé Sustainability, based in the Netherlands, is a global leader in sustainability consulting, training, and software solutions. Their flagship product, SimaPro, is a life cycle assessment (LCA) software empowering product designers, manufacturers, and sustainability experts with science-backed data. This tool aids in making informed decisions about environmental impacts, from material choices to emissions.
ProtoTech Solutions partnered with PRé Sustainability to build the Makersite application using Autodesk Platform Services. This innovative application bridges the gap between LCA data and product design, integrating SimaPro’s powerful LCA service into the Fusion environment. Designers now gain instant access to sustainability computations within their design workflows.
Product designers often make critical decisions about materials, dimensions, and weights during the early stages of development—when 80% of environmental impacts are determined. However, the fragmented and complex nature of LCA data creates barriers:
- Data silos: LCA insights reside in SimaPro, while design decisions are made in separate CAD tools.
- Disconnected workflows: Designers lack visibility into sustainability data when it matters most.
- Delays in assessment: Sustainability insights typically come too late, once designs are finalized.
PRé Sustainability envisioned a seamless connection between SimaPro’s LCA calculations and the tools designers use daily. Partnering with ProtoTech Solutions, they brought this vision to life by developing a Fusion web application with real-time LCA integration.
Key Features:
- Live Model Viewer: Fusion models are loaded directly into the application interface.
- BOM Integration: The Model Derivative API extracts the bill of materials (BOM) and sends it to SimaPro’s cloud engine for instant analysis.
- Background Processing: Sustainability calculations run seamlessly in the background, delivering results without disrupting the designer’s workflow.
With this system, designers receive real-time feedback on questions like:
- What’s the environmental impact of this design?
- Can we use lighter-weight materials without compromising performance?
- Is steel necessary, or can we opt for a more sustainable alternative?
- Informed Decision-Making: Designers now make environmentally responsible choices during the design phase.
- Streamlined Workflows: The integration reduces friction between design and performance assessments, saving time.
- Reduced Design Revisions: Real-time insights minimize rework, accelerating sustainability-led product innovation.