Industries
Carbon footprint in manufacturing from drawing to certificate.
The carbon footprint of an industrial product is calculated from its material, weight, manufacturing processes (including their energy) and transport. Xain starts from drawings, technical sheets and bills of materials, without waiting for each supplier to reply, and issues a traceable certificate for each reference.
How the result is built
- Material
- Process
- Transport
- Certificate with a registration number
Hotspots
What weighs most in an industrial product's footprint?
It depends on the product, but almost always three things weigh most. That is why the calculation is made on the process tree and not on the price.
The material and where it comes from
What the part is made of, how much it weighs and where the material comes from.
The process and the energy
Each operation that transforms the material and the energy it uses.
Transport
Inbound, to your plant, and outbound, to the customer.
In manufacturing, the request usually comes from a customer: they ask for the footprint of the part you sell them, or the Scope 3 of what they buy. Whoever answers needs a figure per reference, traceable and calculated with a recognised method, not a sector average.
Which industrial sectors have their own page?
- Plastics: injection moulding, extrusion, machining, thermoforming and 3D printing.
- Aluminium: extruded profiles and machining.
- Metal: metal products and their processes.
Xain calculates any material and process. The calculation adapts to the available data: without manufacturing detail it uses average physical factors in line with ISO 14067; with process data, the result is more precise.
Why does a spend-based factor not work here?
Because it multiplies the amount by a sector average: a more expensive part looks more polluting even when identical, and a supplier that cuts its energy does not see it reflected. We explain it in physical versus spend-based factors.
Who asks for it and why?
Purchasing needs to compare suppliers; quality and engineering want to see which material or process weighs most; sales leadership must answer customers and tenders. If your customer asks for it, start with carbon footprint for suppliers.
In this section
Plastics
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a plastic part: injection, extrusion, machining, thermoforming and 3D printing, from drawings and technical sheets.
Aluminium
How to calculate the carbon footprint of extruded or machined aluminium parts: primary or recycled metal, process energy, scrap and transport.
Metal
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a metal part: material, machining or forming, surface treatments, scrap and transport, starting from the drawing.
Frequently asked questions
What companies usually ask before getting started.
What documentation does an industrial part need?
Drawings or technical sheets with material and dimensions, the bill of materials if it is an assembly, and the manufacturing processes. If you have energy consumption figures from your plant, they are used as primary data.
What if several suppliers make the same part?
With physical factors, the same part gives the same baseline result. Each supplier's primary data, such as its energy, reflects real differences between plants.
Keep reading
Product footprint
Certify your product’s carbon footprint with an ISO 14067 method verified by LRQA, from your technical documentation, with registration and traceability.
For suppliers
If your customer asks for the carbon footprint of your product, Xain calculates it from your technical documentation, with no rollout and an ISO 14067 method.
ISO 14067
ISO 14067 is the standard that sets how to quantify and communicate a product carbon footprint. What it requires, what cradle-to-gate is and how Xain uses it.
Tell us what you want to measure
One product, a catalogue or your purchases. We reply with the next steps.
Contact Xain