How do you…
implement a digital product passport successfully?
Take the right steps to provide your product data.
The resources on our planet are limited. The European Commission is therefore taking measures to make products more sustainable. Through environmentally friendly materials and manufacturing conditions as well as a better circular economy. In the future, all products manufactured in the European Union are to document the entire product cycle – from production to recycling – in a digital product passport.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) comments on its website:
“The digital product passport is a data set that summarises the components, materials and chemical substances as well as information on repairability, spare parts or proper disposal for a product. The data originates from all phases of the product life cycle and can be used in all these phases for different purposes (design, production, use, disposal).”
Source: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) (date: 06.12.2022)
What does this digital product passport look like?
At the moment, no exact date and implementation details have been set for the EU Commission’s proposal. There is no final technical and strategic implementation concept yet. Companies can participate in the design. As before, there are only product-specific regulations for certain phases of the life cycle (e.g. batteries & household appliances). These will then be expanded under the Digital Product Passport. However, companies can expect a universal solution to be introduced in the midterm.
What is known for certain:
In future, customers should be able to access transparent information on the product they have purchased at any time. The product passport should be made available to consumers digitally in a document. It could be accessed via a QR code on the product. In practice, this means that the manufacturers of all products – food, textiles, components or electronics – must consolidate, aggregate and then provide user-centred data from various source systems (including suppliers) in order to realise the digital product passport. In order to document the entire life cycle, it is necessary to link IT systems across different companies and industries. Moving away from isolated solutions and data silos. The answer is transparency across all product phases.
If you improve the circular economy of your products, reduce CO2 emissions or strive for a more sustainable economy, then this will also be documented in the future. This not only helps the common EU effort to be more climate neutral, but also the value of your products. Today’s customers want to know how the products they buy were made, what substances they contain and whether expired or broken goods are returned to the circular economy. Make your efforts visible and show your buyers that your product lives up to the promised quality. Extend product cycles. Create new approaches to recycling in mechanical engineering. And create trust in your brand and in your company.
How do you easily implement the digital product passport?
Companies associate the term Digital Twin with many approaches and hopes for the implementation of a digital product passport. The necessary systems are connected with each other and all master and transaction data, e.g. of machines and plants, measurement data and material information, are brought together in one place. This virtual image provides the basis for the digital product passport.
Every device in the factory can become an intelligent object with an integrated sensor. If every sensor is connected to the internet, all data and information flow into the digital twin. External data from suppliers, weather conditions or delivery conditions also flow into it.
“From a technical point of view, all necessary internal and external systems are connected via one central point. All data and information converge here: Product components, materials, (chemical) substances, sustainability (lifecycle CO2 emissions) as well as after-sales information (disposal/recycling, disassembly instructions, reparability). Subsequently, the desired information is made visible and accessible to the respective target group via a digital interface.”
A practical example:
A highly specialised company manufactures high-quality parts for aerospace and robotics. The custom-made products with special dimensions are later used under extreme temperature conditions and high speeds. The company has to “prove” that the desired quality of the products also corresponds to reality. The B2B customers want to be able to see all the information about the articles they have ordered at any time. For this purpose, the TRANSCONNECT® team has created an integration platform that intelligently links the necessary systems such as ERP, MES or databases in the company via standardised interfaces. Here, all master and transaction data of the products such as measurement data and information on production, weight, tolerances or standard deviations at the individual measuring points and plants now come together in one place. The information is qualified and mapped in a digital directory. This virtual image of the real data and production processes forms the digital twin of production.
Subsequently, these data sheets, production and quality information as well as measurement curves were made transparently visible in an information and service portal. All B2B customers have access to all product and manufacturing information.
Your benefits:
By structuring data from all stakeholders along the value and supply chain, the aim is to…
- promote eco-design,
- realise customer transparency (reliable consumer information for consumption decisions),
- enable the foundations of a circular economy &
- altogether lead to resource efficiency.
Every device in the factory can become an intelligent object with an integrated sensor. If each sensor is connected to the internet, all data and information flows into the digital twin. External data from suppliers, weather conditions or delivery conditions also flow into it.
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