Sustainability Data for Sheet Metal

The Sheet Metal cost model provides Sustainability data for the following processes:

Note: aPriori does not calculate carbon data for hard tooling.

2 Axis Router

Note: The 2 Axis Router process uses the standard Sustainability calculations described in the Sustainability Cost Model Overview and the key Material Carbon and Process Carbon calculations are detailed below. As most other Sheet Metal processes use the same calculations as 2 Axis Router, to avoid duplication, the descriptions of other processes link to the 2 Axis Router description where appropriate. The exceptions are some processes to which the Material Carbon or Process Carbon calculations do not apply, the Fiber Laser Cut Direct Machine Energy Consumption calculation which behaves slightly differently when Cycle Time is overridden, and the OxyFuel Cut process which uses secondary sources of process carbon.

The 2-Axis Router cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Material Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router

Material Carbon = (Rough Mass * Primary Material Carbon Factor) / Final Yield

  • Rough Mass: the mass of the workpiece prior to production (shown on the Part Summary tab). For details, see Material Cost and Utilization.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a given mass of the selected material for the utilization process in the routing. By default, this is specified by the selected material’s Carbon Emissions Factor as specified in the Material Selection table. If you select a baseline material stock from your Digital Factory, aPriori uses the property Material Stock Carbon Emissions Factor. If virtual stock is used, aPriori uses the material property Carbon Emissions Factor. You can override this in Formula Dependencies; this can help you to evaluate the impact of switching suppliers.

  • Final Yield: the number of acceptable parts at the end of the entire part routing divided by the number of this process’ starting pieces including scrap. For details, see Yields for Sheet Metal.

Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router

Process Carbon = Electricity Process Carbon + Other Process Carbon

  • Electricity Process Carbon: the primary source of process carbon based on energy factors and energy consumption. Calculated as (Energy Carbon Factor * Energy Consumption ) / Final Yield:

    • Energy Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a unit of energy consumed. Specified by the top-level Digital Factory variable Electricity Carbon Factor (data provided by Ecoinvent). You can update the value in the Formula Dependencies or the Digital Factory if you have a factor that you think is more representative of your selected location.

    • Energy Consumption: the energy consumption of the machine for the process, including direct and indirect energy consumption. See formula below.

    • Final Yield: the number of acceptable parts at the end of the entire part routing divided by the number of this process’s starting pieces, including scrap. See Yields for Sheet Metal.

  • Other Process Carbon: (if applicable) any source of process carbon, including additional sources of carbon not related to electricity. If not applicable, this will have a value of 0.00.

Energy Consumption = (Direct Machine Energy Consumption + Indirect Machine Energy Consumption)

  • Direct Machine Energy Consumption: the direct energy consumption of the machine. By default, aPriori calculates this using the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation. However, if you override Cycle Time or an element of Cycle Time that is not in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori uses the Cycle Time Energy Consumption calculation. (If you override an element of Cycle Time that is in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori continues to use the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation.)

  • Indirect Machine Energy Consumption: the indirect energy consumption of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. Calculated as (Indirect Machine Power * Cycle Time):

  • Indirect Machine Power: the indirect power of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. The calculations are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process.

Calculated Energy Consumption

This is the calculated energy consumption of the machine based on cycle time stages and specific power profile factors. aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table, calculates (Machine Power * Power Factor * Process Step Time * Cycle Time Adjustment Factor) for each cycle stage in the process, sums the results, and displays the total energy consumption for each stage of the process (Process Step Energy Consumption):

  • Machine Power: the power requirement of the work center. This is specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Power Factor: the Power Factor for each cycle stage in the powerProfileFactors table. This is a researched value that is applied to the Machine Power to reduce it to the power requirement of the particular stage of the cycle.

  • Process Step Time: the time to complete each step of the Cycle Time calculation (specified by the Formula Name in the powerProfileFactors table).

  • Cycle Time Adjustment Factor: the value of the cost model variable cycleTimeAdjustmentFactor. This is set to 1 in starting point Digital Factories.

Cycle Time Energy Consumption

This is the energy consumption based on the cycle time and the maximum power profile factor. Calculated as: (Machine Power * Applied Power Factor) * Cycle Time:

  • Machine Power: specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Applied Power Factor: aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and selects the maximum Power Factor for the process.

  • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process.

2 Roll Bending

The 2 Roll Bending cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: same as for Material Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the 2 Roll Bending process.

3 Roll Bending

The 3 Roll Bending cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: same as for Material Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the 3 Roll Bending process.

3D Laser

The 3D Laser cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the 3D Laser process.

4 Roll Bending

The 4 Roll Bending cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: same as for Material Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the 4 Roll Bending process.

Bend Brake

The Bend Brake cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the Bend Brake process.

Note: The machine property Machine Type Info specifies which Bend Brake machines are hydraulic and which are hybrid. Hybrid machines are much more energy efficient than hydraulic machines. When hybrid machines are idle, they draw almost no power, whereas hydraulic machines draw power even when idle. This is reflected in the powerProfileFactors table where hydraulic machines have positive Power Factor values for both the bending time and idle time stages of cycle time, whereas hybrid machines have a positive Power Factor value only for bending time (the Power Factor is 0 for idle time). Accordingly, if you change from a hydraulic machine to a hybrid machine, the Process Carbon value will decrease.

Cut to Length (CTL)

The Cut-to-Length (CTL) cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the CTL process.

Deslag

The Deslag cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the Deslag process.

Fiber Laser Cut

The Fiber Laser Cut cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor, Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: same as for Material Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the following exceptions for the Energy Consumption calculation:

    1. In the Fiber Laser Cut routing, unlike other Sheet Metal processes, aPriori only uses the Cycle Time Energy Consumption calculation if you override Cycle Time. Therefore, even if you override an element of Cycle Time that is not in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori continues to use the default Calculated Energy Consumption calculation.

    2. aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the Fiber Laser Cut process.

Note: The cost model considers any change to bevel cutting configuration. If you change the setup option Enable Fiber Laser Bevel Cutting from its default setting of false to true, you will notice a very slight increase in the Process Carbon value and the Annual Carbon value will increase accordingly. Also see Bevel Cutting Options.

Generic Press

The Generic Press cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Note: Currently, aPriori does not show Sustainability data for the individual pressing operations.

Laser Cut

The Laser Cut cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Laser Punch

The Laser Punch cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Note: Currently, aPriori does not show Sustainability data for the individual Laser Punch operations (Perforating, Punching, Tapping, Countersinking, Flanging, Forming, Lancing, or Nibbling).

Material Stock

The Material Stock cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Process Carbon value to zero. The Material Stock process has no cycle time associated with it in aPriori and is used primarily for Sustainability error handling purposes.

OxyFuel Cut

The OxyFuel Cut cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Process Carbon Calculation

Process Carbon = Electricity Process Carbon + Other Process Carbon

  • Electricity Process Carbon: the primary source of process carbon based on energy factors and energy consumption. Calculated as (Energy Carbon Factor * Energy Consumption ) / Final Yield:

    • Energy Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a unit of energy consumed. Specified by the top-level Digital Factory variable Electricity Carbon Factor (data provided by Ecoinvent). You can update the value in the Formula Dependencies or the Digital Factory if you have a factor that you think is more representative of your selected location.

    • Energy Consumption: the energy consumption of the machine for the process, including direct and indirect energy consumption. See formula below.

    • Final Yield: see Yields for Sheet Metal.

  • Other Process Carbon: the process carbon from additional sources of carbon not related to electricity. For the OxyFuel Cut process, propane and oxygen are used. The calculation is: (Assist Gas Mass * Assist Gas Carbon Factor + Assist Oxygen Mass * Assist Oxygen Carbon Factor) / Final Yield:

    • Assist Gas Mass: see formula below.

    • Assist Gas Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for gas mass. aPriori performs a lookup in the processConsumables table and returns the Carbon Emissions Factor corresponding to the Propane consumable.

    • Assist Oxygen Mass: see formula below.

    • Assist Oxygen Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for oxygen mass. aPriori performs a lookup in the processConsumables table and returns the Carbon Emissions Factor corresponding to the Oxygen consumable.

    • Final Yield: the number of acceptable parts at the end of the entire part routing divided by the number of this process’ starting pieces including scrap. For more details, see Yields for Sheet Metal.

Assist Gas Mass = Assist Gas Density * Assist Gas Volume Rate * Oxy Fuel Cut Time Per Part

  • Assist Gas Density: aPriori performs a lookup in the processConsumables table and returns the Density corresponding to the Propane consumable.

  • Assist Gas Volume Rate: aPriori performs a lookup in the oxyFuelCutGasRate table and returns the Gas Rate for the table entry where the part thickness is less than or equal to the Part Thickness row in the table.

  • Oxy Fuel Cut Time Per Part: the time per part for all cutting operations (including time to cut perimeter scrap from stock sheet) considering the number of heads operating simultaneously. aPriori calculates this as Operation Cycle Time Per Part + Scrap Cutting Time Part:

    • Operation Cycle Time Per Part: the time per part for all cutting operations considering the number of heads operating simultaneously.

    • Scrap Cutting Time Part: the time per part to cut perimeter scrap from the stock sheet considering the number of heads operating simultaneously. aPriori calculates this as: Scrap Cutting Time Per Part / Number Of Heads:

      • Scrap Cutting Time Per Part: the time required per sheet for part scrap cutting of a fully utilized sheet.

      • Number Of Heads: specified by the machine property Number of Heads.

Assist Oxygen Mass = Oxygen Density * Assist Oxygen Volume Rate * Oxy Fuel Cut Time Per Part

  • Oxygen Density: aPriori performs a lookup in the processConsumables table and returns the Density corresponding to the Oxygen consumable.

  • Assist Oxygen Volume Rate: aPriori performs a lookup in the oxyFuelCutGasRate table and returns the Oxygen Rate for the table entry where the part thickness is less than or equal to the Part Thickness row in the table.

  • Oxy Fuel Cut Time Per Part: as described above.

Energy Consumption = (Direct Machine Energy Consumption + Indirect Machine Energy Consumption)

  • Direct Machine Energy Consumption: the direct energy consumption of the machine. By default, aPriori calculates this using the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation. However, if you override Cycle Time or an element of Cycle Time that is not in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori uses the Cycle Time Energy Consumption calculation. (If you override an element of Cycle Time that is in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori continues to use the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation.)

  • Indirect Machine Energy Consumption: the indirect energy consumption of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. Calculated as (Indirect Machine Power * Cycle Time):

    • Indirect Machine Power: the indirect power of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. See formula below. The calculations are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

    • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process.

Calculated Energy Consumption

This is the calculated energy consumption of the machine based on cycle time stages and specific power profile factors. aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table, calculates (Machine Power * Power Factor * Process Step Time * Cycle Time Adjustment Factor) for each cycle stage in the process, sums the results, and displays the total energy consumption for each stage of the process (Process Step Energy Consumption):

  • Machine Power: the power requirement of the work center. This is specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Power Factor: the Power Factor for each cycle stage in the powerProfileFactors table. This is a researched value that is applied to the Machine Power to reduce it to the power requirement of the particular stage of the cycle.

  • Process Step Time: the time to complete each step of the Cycle Time calculation (specified by the Formula Name in the powerProfileFactors table).

  • Cycle Time Adjustment Factor: the value of the cost model variable cycleTimeAdjustmentFactor. This is set to 1 in starting point Digital Factories.

Cycle Time Energy Consumption

This is the energy consumption based on the cycle time and the maximum power profile factor. Calculated as: (Machine Power * Applied Power Factor) * Cycle Time:

  • Machine Power: specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Applied Power Factor: aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and selects the maximum Power Factor for the process.

  • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process.

Plasma Cut

The Plasma Cut cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Plasma Punch

The Plasma Punch cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Note: Currently, aPriori does not show Sustainability data for the individual Plasma Punch operations (Perforating, Punching, Tapping, Countersinking, Flanging, Forming, Lancing, or Nibbling).

Progressive Die

The Progressive Die cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Note: Currently, aPriori does not show Sustainability data for the individual Die Stations.

Shear

The Shear cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: not applicable. aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as for Process Carbon Calculation for 2 Axis Router with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the Shear process.

Std Press

The Std Press cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Tandem Press

The Tandem Press cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Turret Press

The Turret Press cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Note: Currently, aPriori does not show Sustainability data for the individual Turret Press operations (Perforating, Punching, Nibbling, Tapping, Countersinking, Flanging, Forming, or Lancing).

Waterjet Cut

The Waterjet Cut cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori: