Abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique for quantifying environmental impacts throughout a product life cycle. We analyzed LCA applications in industries from the viewpoint of supply chain. Downstream industries such as assembly company can carry out LCA with reliable data including use and disposal stages of products. In some large enterprises, LCA is incorporated in their business systematically constructing a LCA system. In contrast, midstream and upstream industries, such as parts and materials companies do not have detailed information of downstream stages of their products and they often evaluate environmental impact from resource acquisition to their own products manufacturing. However, there are many good practices performing LCA for ecodesign even in small and medium sized enterprises. Furthermore, collaborative LCA applications among companies along a supply chain can reduce not only environmental impacts from product life cycle but also production costs. Although LCA applications and levels may vary from company to company, LCA is extending into industries.
