CEN/TC 406 - Project Committee - Mechanical products - Ecodesign methodology

This document provides general environmental data relevant for mechanical products. It can apply to all parts of a mechanical product.
The aim is to provide design offices in companies guidance values allowing them to:
- guide design (or redesign) choices for their products (e.g.: to compare technical solutions) by providing a complementary environmental criterion in a multicriteria approach;
- improve the knowledge on products with the environmental perspective (simplified environmental performance assessment).
These data concern the most relevant items for the mechanical field: material, processes, energy, transportation and end of life of products. They provide an order of magnitude of impacts and cannot be considered as absolute values because many parameters can influence the obtained results (geographical and technical perimeters, use scenarios, hypothesis and method of calculation, etc.).
They are not aimed to replace specific data obtained or used by companies in the framework of individual projects.
They are not aimed to be used as such for:
- quantification of environmental impacts within a life cycle analysis (LCA) according to EN ISO 14040/EN ISO 14044,
- environmental communication as defined in EN ISO 14025 (Type III environmental declaration),
- evidence of regulatory compliance.

This document describes a methodology for reducing the overall environmental impact through product design and development that is tailored to mechanical products as defined in 3.1.
This methodology is particularly well suited to the redesign of an existing product; it can also be applied for the design of a new product provided the necessary assumptions regarding a (virtual) reference product are taken.
It addresses companies which have decided to integrate an ecodesign approach to optimise environmental impacts within the product life cycle, in relation to the other product aspects, such as functionality, quality, costs, etc.
It also helps to meet some requirements of ISO 14001:2015 on the integration of environmental aspects in the design of products.
NOTE 1   This document targets persons who are directly involved in the design and development of mechanical products, as well as managers responsible for defining corporate policies, and decision-makers. The proposed methodology is intended to kick-start ecodesign initiatives within companies as part of a teaching and continuous improvement approach.
This document also includes a template that companies can use as part of the communication on their environmental approach.
This document is neither intended nor suitable to compare products (even similar) of different suppliers.
This document is neither intended nor suitable for product certification purposes.
NOTE 2   An example of implementation of the methodology is given in Annex D; the basic principles for the establishment of this method are given in Annex E.

This Technical Report provides guidance on how to apply existing communication models regarding environmental concerns to mechanical products.
Carrying out communication models for environmental performances of mechanical products can be relevant for several entities, e.g. single companies, enterprises, collective bodies (trade associations, standardization committees, etc.) and others.
On the one hand side, mechanical products represent a large variety of non-uniform items. They can be characterized by several properties distinguishing them from each other. On the other hand side, various generic standards/standard-series are existent addressing on how to communicate environmental issues.
This Technical Report provides a consistent approach on how to match a particular mechanical product with an appropriate generic standard.
In order to do so, this Technical Report contains criteria to cluster the great variety of mechanical products into categories. Based on this categorization, existing standards concerning environmental performance communication are evaluated with regards to their suitability.

This Technical Specification describes a methodology for reducing the overall environmental impact through product design and development that is tailored to mechanical products as defined in 2.1.
This methodology is particularly well suited to the redesign of an existing product; it can also be applied for the design of a new product provided the necessary assumptions regarding a (virtual) reference product are taken.
It addresses enterprises which have decided to integrate an eco-design approach to optimise environmental impacts within the product life cycle, in relation to the other product aspects, such as functionality, quality, costs, etc.
NOTE 1   This document targets persons who are directly involved in the design and development of mechanical products, as well as managers responsible for defining corporate policies, and decision-makers. The proposed methodology is intended to kick-start eco-design initiatives within companies as part of a teaching and continuous improvement approach.
This document also includes a template that enterprises may use as part of the communication on their environmental approach.
This document is neither intended nor suitable to compare products (even similar) of other suppliers.
This document is neither intended nor suitable for certification purposes.
NOTE 2   An example of implementation of the methodology is given in Annex D; the basic principles for the establishment of this method are given in Annex E.