LCA alliance for INDA

Nonwovens body INDA has become a member of the industry sponsor programme of Sustainable Minds (SM) – the global leader in cloud-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software enabling companies in a wide range of industries to design more environmentally-friendly  products.

The goal of the relationship is to enable manufacturers across the nonwovens value chain to credibly, efficiently and cost-effectively evaluate the environmental performance of nonwovens to design better products.

The SM nonwovens solution will include a continually expanding dataset, example products, knowledge sharing, training and a platform for showcasing greener materials and products, their uses and applications.

The first offering, the expanded nonwovens lifecycle dataset, will be available in Version 3.0 of SM software due for release in May 2013. The 3.0 Release will include publicly-available data for materials and processes and focus initially on several product categories. On an ongoing basis, to expand these and to add new categories, SM will create new data through its custom data creation programme and publish existing data provided by nonwoven manufacturers and other industry sources.

To enable the rapid adoption of this solution, SM will be offering nonwovens manufacturers discounted access to the software. Additionally, it has teamed with nonwovens industry expert Chapas & Chinai Associates to provide expert nonwovens benchmarking and innovation services.

“We have had a dialogue with Sustainable Minds for some time and unlike other LCA software providers, they recognise the importance of expanding the nonwovens dataset for use by manufacturers globally,” says Dave Rousse, INDA president. “Designing greener products is becoming increasingly important in all industries. It is critical for raw material suppliers, roll goods suppliers, end product and process equipment manufacturers within the nonwoven industry to keep up with this trend to develop and showcase their products’ environmental performance. Operating with sustainable principles can also save costs. This relationship is yet another example of INDA’s commitment to advancing nonwovens globally by providing members access to the information and tools to better plan and execute their product development and sustainability strategy.”

“The nonwoven fabrics industry is growing worldwide and with the push for developing greener products, there is demand for knowledge and data from companies in other industries as well,” adds Terry Swack, CEO at Sustainable Minds. “This relationship with INDA aligns our mission to help companies drive revenue and growth through greener product innovation. At the start, this will help companies speed up the development process by giving them a dynamic tool to rapidly evaluate, compare and improve their products’ environmental performance”.

For more information about the Sustainable Minds nonwovens solutions visit www.sustainableminds.com/nonwovens.