This is part of our series recapping sessions from the 2024 Hybrid IMDS, Product Compliance & Sustainability Conference.
How important does the quality of the data need to be in order to meet the requirements of the Product Passports, PCF, and the Digital Twin? The 2024 Hybrid IMDS, Product Compliance & Sustainability Conference session “IMDS, Product Carbon Footprint, and Quality” gave an informative overview. Here are highlights from presenter Michael Wurzman, president and founder of RSJ Technical Consulting.
The Big Picture: European Union Green Deal and the Circular Economy
“We have a ton of regulations globally that we’re going to have to report on and address,” Wurzman said. “We must understand where it is heading to implement correctly and not repeat past mistakes.”
Data Requirements for the Future
We’ll need to know the toxicology on all the materials we use and account for everything that occurs during that process and what comes out of it — including the things we create intentionally, unintentionally, and what human exposure occurs at every step of the process, Wurzman explained. Plus, we’re going to have to evaluate it, as is legislated, going forward using a life cycle assessment process.
Integration of Data for Intelligent Decision Making
The goal is to create a process of moving and integrating complex data from multiple, often unrelated sources into a simple, understandable format for decision-making. “We have to figure out how we can select suppliers that help our customers meet their environmental commitments without needing an advanced degree to understand,” Wurzman said.
Digital Data is a Manufacturing Process
When it comes to product manufacturing, materials are purchased, staged/processed, and assembled, and the product is shipped. Quality processes are followed. Product digital data follows a similar path: Data is collected, extracted, analyzed, assembled, and reported/sent. However, quality processes need to be established.
IMDS is the core for building a Digital Twin. IMDS, PCF, and all other data need to be part of the process, and all data must be integrated to be usable. “We need to do it right, and we know the legislation will evolve to require it to be used right,” Wurzman said.
Basic IMDS Data Tree Structure
IMDS is an excellent framework for data integration, and IMDS data quality and structure will be critical for this industry to be successful, Wurzman noted.
Issues We Face — This Data is Not Trivial
How do we train our deep international supply chains quickly? How do we get good quality and comparable data from competing suppliers? And the big question for Wurzman — how do we evaluate the carbon tradeoff with Substances of Very High Concern content? These questions are drivers for a quality initiative to address these and other issues.
AIAG Digital Data Quality Initiative
“It’s up to us to come to a solution, and right now I believe the answer is we need an AIAG digital data quality initiative,” Wurzman said.
This would be an extension of the Manufacturing Quality Process to address Digital Twin data. The process must be auditable using the International Automotive Task Force 16949 and must be compatible with ISO standards, developing global support for the automotive industry.
“We’re asking for support from JAPIA and CLEPA and especially from all the companies in the U.S. automotive industry, from OEMs down to the smallest of manufacturers,” Wurzman said. “We need to do this together if we want to do it in a reasonable period of time and with the quality we need, and so we can address the core issues of sustainability, climate change, toxic exposure, and the rest that we are facing.”
SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
AIAG is looking to create an auditable process to improve sustainability data. We are starting from scratch, so we need volunteers who want to improve sustainability in IMDS including PCF to help us create this new process. If you are interested, please contact Lecedra Welch-Jones at lwelch@aiag.org.
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2025 IMDS CONFERENCE
This topic and more will be covered at the 2025 AIAG IMDS, Product Compliance & Sustainability Conference October 8–10, 2025, at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan. Registration is now open, so don’t miss the early registration discount.
