=Paper= {{Paper |id=Vol-3812/paper3 |storemode=property |title=Prospective and retrospective approaches to integrate life cycle assessment in configurators: A multiple case study in the construction industry |pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3812/paper3.pdf |volume=Vol-3812 |authors=Irene Campo Gay,Lars Hvam,Johan Ernfors |dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/confws/GayHE24 }} ==Prospective and retrospective approaches to integrate life cycle assessment in configurators: A multiple case study in the construction industry== https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3812/paper3.pdf
                                                                                                                 ⋆


                                Irene Campo Gay1*, Lars Hvam11 and Johan Ernfors2
                                1
                                    Technical University of Denmark, Anker Engelunds Vej 101 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
                                2
                                    MOKO AB, Humlegårdsgatan 14 114 46 Stockholm, Sweden



                                                   Abstract
                                                   This study contributes to the evolving dialog on sustainable practices, emphasizing the strategic
                                                   integration of life cycle assessment (LCA) in configurators to comply with new regulatory standards
                                                   and achieve environmental objectives. We investigated the application of configurators integrating
                                                   LCA through a comparative analysis of two case studies in the construction industry: a prospective
                                                   approach applied during the early design stages, and a retrospective approach using post-design. Our
                                                   findings illustrate that prospective LCA configurators can significantly influence early design choices
                                                   and facilitate preliminary environmental impact assessment. Conversely, a retrospective LCA
                                                   configuration approach offers more precise and accurate assessments based on finalized designs,
                                                   enabling detailed LCA reporting and saving significant time and effort. The analysis underscores that
                                                   the application of these approaches is not mutually exclusive. This suggests that a combined strategy
                                                   could maximize the potential of these tools. Such a combination would facilitate a more dynamic
                                                   interaction between the early and later design stages, ensuring that the environmental assessment is
                                                   thorough and iterative. Additionally, it would help the company gain in-depth insights into the
                                                   environmental aspects of the design process.

                                                   Keywords
                                                   configurators, construction, environmental impact, life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainability 1



                                1. Introduction                                                      product customization [4]. They allow users to select
                                                                                                     from various options and configurations of a product,
                                Sustainability is widely recognized as a multifaceted                automatically adjusting components and features
                                concept        encompassing        three     dimensions:             according to user choices. This technology enhances the
                                environmental, social, and economic. Notably, the                    decision-making process by providing immediate
                                environmental dimension plays a foundational role                    feedback on potential configurations, thereby
                                given its direct influence on socioeconomic elements [1].            significantly improving speed, quality, and efficiency
                                In assessing environmental impact, particular attention              [5].
                                has been given to the environmental impact of products                    Additionally, configurators enhance efficiency by
                                and services. One of the most widespread methodologies               automating the creation of crucial documents, such as
                                for assessing environmental impact is life cycle                     quotes and bills of materials. This automation ensures
                                assessment (LCA) [2].                                                accuracy and consistency in documentation; it is
                                    In this context, the European Commission has                     particularly valuable in complex configurations, where
                                highlighted the urgency of making sustainable products               manual processes are prone to errors [6].
                                the norm across Europe by setting stricter product                        The integration of LCA with configurator
                                design and lifecycle standards [3]. As a result, the                 technology is quite promising for enhancing sustainable
                                increasing focus on assessing environmental                          product development. By embedding environmental
                                performance is evidence of the clear need for digital                assessment capabilities in configurators, companies can
                                tools to support this process.                                       provide real-time data on the environmental impacts of
                                    Configurators are a widespread technology that                   various product options. This integration can facilitate a
                                emerged in the late 1970s as decision support systems                more informed design, incorporating environmental
                                designed to streamline the specification process during              consequences alongside traditional factors, such as


                                ConfWS '24: 26th International Workshop on Configuration, Sep 2–3,                   © 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under
                                                                                                                     Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
                                2024, Girona, Spain
                                ∗
                                  Corresponding author.
                                   ircag@dtu.dk (I. Campo Gay)
                                    0000-0002-8962-5386 (I. Campo Gay); 0000-0002-7617-2971 (L.
                                Hvam)


CEUR
                  ceur-ws.org
Workshop      ISSN 1613-0073
Proceedings
pricing. Furthermore, configurators can enhance the             helps to understand and improve the environmental
communication of environmental assessment results, a            performance of current technologies [20, 21].
crucial aspect of LCA [7].                                          On the other hand, prospective LCA evaluates the
     Despite the significant potential of this technology,      potential environmental impacts of products before they
research on the integration of LCA into configurators is        are implemented. It is used to guide decision-making
still in its early stages. However, over the last five years,   during the development phase by predicting future
this topic has increasingly captured academic interest, as      impacts [20, 21].
reflected in numerous recent publications [8–19].
     Moreover, no research has examined the different           2.2. Configurators and sustainability
implications of LCA in either a prospective or
                                                                The increasing focus on environmental considerations
retrospective manner within the context of
                                                                in the use of configurators has become a significant area
configurators. This gap in the literature leads to the
                                                                of interest over the past five years. This trend is
following research question:
                                                                noticeable in the academic community and across
     RQ: What are the implications of a proactive and
                                                                various industries. For instance, standard product
retrospective of life cycle assessment through
                                                                configuration software applications such as Tacton CPQ
configurators?
                                                                are developing their environmental impact assessment
     We examined two different case studies of
                                                                capabilities by incorporating LCA features into their
companies that have successfully developed
                                                                applications [22].
configurators with LCA. The first case study involved
                                                                    Various researchers have also turned their attention
using this technology during the early design phase to
                                                                to this subject in the academic sector. Given the novelty
evaluate various design alternatives. The second case
                                                                of the topic, the range of issues discussed in these studies
study described how a configurator, used over finalized
                                                                regarding the integration of LCA and configurators is
designs, enables precise and accurate LCA. Both case
                                                                quite diverse, demonstrating the broad scope of the field.
studies pertain to the same sector: the construction
                                                                    Hankammer et al. [13] extensively reviewed over
industry.
                                                                900 configurators, providing valuable insights into
     We explored these case studies to assess and
                                                                enhancing sustainability features across sectors.
compare their impacts, thereby contributing to the
                                                                Responding to the need for streamlined LCA
research community’s understanding of how
                                                                assessments, Spreafico et al. [8] introduced I-Tree, a tool
configurators can be effectively employed to improve
                                                                that leverages real-time data for efficient eco-
environmental development.
                                                                assessment. Similarly, Rousseau et al. [10] explored the
     The structure of this paper is as follows. In Section
                                                                impact of environmental indicators in configurators,
2, we present the theoretical background of LCA
                                                                focusing mainly on sustainability enhancement in 3D
typologies in terms of application timing. and we review
                                                                printing.
the academic research conducted on configurators,
                                                                    To address the nexus between product variety and
integrating LCA considerations. In Section 3, we
                                                                sustainability, Medini et al. [9] proposed a
describe the methodology used for analyzing the
                                                                comprehensive framework, while Wiezorek and
comparative case studies, and we introduce both case
                                                                Christensen [14] focused on refining configurator
studies. In Section 4, we present the findings from the
                                                                architectures to enable better sustainability data
analysis, and in Section 5, we discuss the implications of
                                                                communication. In consumer electronics, Hankammer
the results. Finally, in Section 6, we summarize the key
                                                                et al. [11] found that default sustainable options
conclusions.
                                                                significantly influence consumption patterns. Campo
                                                                Gay et al. [18] analyzed the successful integration of
2. Theoretical background                                       LCA into configurators, guiding users toward
2.1. Prospective and retrospective LCA                          sustainable choices. Focusing on sustainability
                                                                integration, Christensen and Wiezorek [12] aligned
The use of LCA is subject to different contexts and can         configurators with ISO 14040 standards, while Campo
be driven by distinct aims and goals. In terms of the time      Gay and Hvam [17] demonstrated the transformative
perspective, LCA can be divided into two primary                impact     of     sustainability-focused     configurators,
categories [20, 21]. On the one hand, retrospective LCA         particularly in construction.
is aimed at assessing the effects of something that                 Regarding configurators’ development, Piroozfar et
occurred; on the other hand, prospective LCA is a               al. [16] discussed solutions tracking environmental
forward-looking approach [20, 21].                              impact, while Helo et al. [15] introduced software
    Retrospective LCA evaluates the environmental               streamlining environmental assessments in supply
impacts of existing products based on actual data. It           chains. Moreover, Jakobsen et al.’s [19] call to redesign
                                                                product configuration systems for better sustainability
integration tied these efforts together, portraying a              For the company described in the second case, we
concerted push toward deeper sustainability                    began with an initial semistructured interview based on
considerations in configuration processes across sectors.      the main research question. This was followed by six
    All of these efforts highlight a strong trend toward       semistructured interviews to understand the company’s
deepening sustainability        considerations within          working processes and configuration systems. We
configuration processes.                                       finalized our analysis with a review of the results by one
                                                               of the main configurator developers at the company.
3. Methods
                                                               3.2. Case company 1
Given that the advancement of configurators
incorporating LCA is still at an early stage, elucidating      The company is a subsidiary of a large international
their full potential and application is a notable challenge.   corporation that operates in Sweden and has
To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative case           approximately 350 employees. It specializes in
study analysis comparing two distinct applications of          developing, manufacturing, and marketing cement for
configurator systems within the construction industry.         infrastructure, such as roads, tunnels, bridges, and
Our objective was to delve deeply into their utilization       residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.
of LCA and compare their effectiveness to gain in-depth             Recognizing the upcoming regulations that will take
insights.                                                      effect in 2025, which impose limitations on new
    As highlighted by previous research [23,24], case          construction projects, the company saw the need for an
studies are essential for understanding the key variables,     early design tool to assist in this process. They
the connections between them, and the reasons behind           developed an LCA configuration to facilitate and
these relationships.                                           promote environmentally friendly design options in the
    We identified two case companies using                     initial stages of projects when decisions are more
configurators for environmental impact assessment,             flexible and have fewer resource implications. This tool
employing standard LCA methodology. These                      assists users in the educational process, encouraging the
companies operate within the construction sector in            consideration of less conventional options and more
Sweden.                                                        environmentally sustainable solutions.
    The main reasons are first, that, according to the              Given the high level of uncertainty in decision-
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the               making during the early design phase of projects, a
building and construction industry stands as the most          preliminary LCA was performed. In addition to serving
polluting industry sector, responsible for 38% of all          as a decision support tool to address the complexity of
energy-related CO2 -eq emissions [25]. Consequently,           environmental and technical requirements, the tool was
the construction sector has played a pioneering role in        modeled to quantify LCA to determine the margin of
shaping standards and regulations, as exemplified by the       safety concerning maximum statutory limits.
European standard EN 15804 for environmental product                The company has collaborated with external
declarations [26], aligned with international LCA              consultants over the past four years to develop this tool,
methodology standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 [7,27].          reaching the final testing phase in the first quarter of
    Second, Sweden has been a leading country in terms         2024. Ownership of the tool was transferred to the
of introducing new policies and regulations for the            company during the second quarter of 2024, with full
construction sector. Currently, it is compulsory to            integration into the company’s workflow scheduled for
declare an LCA on new buildings, and beginning in 2025,        completion by June 2024.
new projects must adhere to statutory limits on CO2-eq
emission per m2 per year across the life cycle [28].           3.3. Case company 2
    Consequently, all these factors motivate the               The company is a small enterprise that has been based
construction sector in Sweden to seek out new tools and        in Sweden since 2018 and employs 35 people. It
solutions to support their initiatives and make the            specializes in designing and planning the construction
studied companies ideal case studies.                          aspects of projects. The company uses a configuration
                                                               system approach to streamline its building design
3.1. Data gathering                                            process, which optimizes the overall process.
To analyze the first case company, we conducted a series           In response to new regulations requiring LCA
of systematic observations of the configuration process.       declarations for construction projects since 2022, the
We evaluated the experiences of the primary                    company has integrated LCA evaluation into its
configurator implementor involved in the project over a        established configurators. To facilitate this, the company
period of four years.                                          uses a commercial solution named One Click LCA, a
                                                               leading cloud-based software solution for
Table 1                                                    Table 2
Company Case 1: Early Design Stage Configurator            Company Case 2: Post-Design            Specification      of
Usage (Prospective)                                        Configurator Usage (Retrospective)
 Aspect                  Description                        Aspect               Description
 Stage of use            Used in the very early design      Stage of use         Used after the building design
                         stages for planning                                     is finalized
 Main purpose of the     To make environmentally            Main purpose of      To create detailed LCA reports
 LCA integration         conscious decisions and            the LCA
                         compare different solutions        integration
 LCA approach            Prospective, integrating LCA       LCA Approach         Retrospective, LCA applied to
                         from the start of a design                              finalized designs
 Output                  Overview of environmental          Output               Detailed environmental impact
                         impacts and technical                                   reports based on specific
                         aspects                                                 materials used and their
 Required                Preliminary technical                                   quantities
 configuration inputs    requirements and                   Required             High-level drawing
                         environmental priorities           configuration        specifications
 LCA integration         During the configuration.          input
 kind with the                                              LCA integration      After configuration, based on
 configurator                                               kind with the        the automatic generation of
 Impact on the           Significant influence over         configurator         specifications (i.e., a part list
 design process          the design approach                                     with quantities), the LCA is
 Environmental           Screening LCA, preliminary                              performed through an external
 focus                   impact assessments                                      tool (One Click LCA).
 Suitability for         New projects with undefined        Impact on the        No or minimal impact on the
 Projects                design parameters                  design process       design.
creating Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)          Environmental        Detailed LCA, focusing on the
and LCA reports for building materials and products.        Focus                quantifiable impacts of
    Consequently, the company has updated its                                    materials
configuration system to automatically generate a            Suitability for      Projects with set designs
comprehensive material list with detailed material          Projects             needing LCA reflection
quantities in kilograms. These data can then be                In contrast, Table 2 presents the case of Company 2,
seamlessly processed by One Click LCA and integrated       where the application is used after the design has been
into the company’s database to produce comprehensive       finalized, adhering to a retrospective approach.
EPDs.                                                          Subsequently, we examined the implications of
                                                           choosing either a prospective or a retrospective
4. Results                                                 approach to how a new company’s resources, design
                                                           process, and overall strategy for sustainability are
First, we characterized how each application on the        impacted. This should help in understanding the
configurator integrating LCA capabilities works and        strategic differences between these two approaches.
impacts the building design process, focusing on when      Table 3 outlines the considerations for a prospective
they are used, what outputs they produce, and their        approach, whereas Table 4 details the considerations for
ultimate influence on design decisions and                 a retrospective approach when LCA is integrated into
environmental assessments.                                 configurators. It is important to note that retrospective
    Table 1 illustrates the case of Company 1. The         design is considered viable only for companies that
application is employed during the early design stage of   have already implemented configurators. Implementing
the building process, representing a prospective           a retrospective approach without pre-existing
approach.                                                  configurators would be significantly costly and
                                                           inefficient.
Table 3                                               Table 4
Considerations for a Prospective    Approach     to   Considerations for a Retrospective Approach to
Configurators Integrating LCA                         Configurators Integrating LCA
 Feature          Evaluation    Explanation            Feature         Evaluation      Explanation
 Iterative        Yes           Facilitates            Iterative       No              The LCA
 design                         iterative design       design                          evaluation occurs
                                adjustments                                            once the
                                during early                                           configuration is
                                stages                                                 finalized
 Approach to      Prospective   Used to influence      Approach to     Retrospective   Used after design
 design                         initial design         design                          choices are made
                                choices and            Accuracy        High            Calculations are
                                integrate LCA                                          detailed, based on
 Accuracy         Low           Estimates are                                          precise
                                broad and based                                        information
                                on preliminary         Influence in    None or         The LCA is
                                data                   design          minimal         carried out to
 Influence in     High          Can significantly                                      reflect on the
 design                         alter design                                           design rather
                                outcomes                                               than modify it
 LCA is the       Yes           The primary aim        LCA is the      No              LCA is secondary
 main aim of                    is to guide            main aim of                     and happens
 the                            environmentally        the                             thanks to the
 configurator                   conscious design       configurator                    configuration
 Further          No            Standalone use         Further         Yes             Requires
 integrations                   for initial design     integrations                    integration with
                                stages                                                 One Click LCA
 Resource         High          Requires the           Resource        Low             Utilizes existing
 investment in                  development of a       investment in                   configurator
 developing the                 LCA focused            developing
 configurator                   configurator           the
 Cost             Medium/High   Licenses and           configurator
                                running cost of        Cost            Medium/High     While the
                                configurator tool                                      configurator is in
                                                                                       place, there are
                                                                                       costs for licenses
                                                                                       on external LCA
                                                                                       databases.
5. Discussion                                              practices. We explored the use of configurators
                                                           integrating LCA at different stages of the design process
A prospective approach in configurators integrating        through two contrasting case studies, a prospective and
LCA allows for the early detection and mitigation of       a retrospective LCA approach in the construction
environmental impacts. In contrast, a retrospective        industry.
approach ensures that these mitigations are based on           By employing prospective and retrospective LCA
precise, real-world data, ultimately enhancing the         tools, companies can achieve a more thorough
accuracy and reliability of environmental assessments.     understanding of environmental impacts at different
     Despite the benefits of a prospective configurator    project stages, leading to more informed decision-
integrating LCA, the higher cost and resource              making. This approach not only aids in achieving
requirements associated with developing and                compliance with evolving regulatory standards but also
maintaining configurators must be considered. The          aligns with broader corporate sustainability goals.
investment in licenses and running costs of                    Future research should continue to explore the
configuration applications can be substantial, but the     development and application of these tools across
long-term benefits of reduced environmental impacts        different sectors to fully realize their potential in driving
and alignment with policies and requirements can           sustainable development.
compensate for initial costs.
     On the other hand, a retrospective approach is        References
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