Case Studies - Automotive Sector

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Experiences with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the
Japanese Automotive Industry and the author"s thoughts on how
to apply LCA for automobiles are described. In this paper, LCA
applications are categorized into three types:
1. LCA that is strictly based on ISO 14040 series standards 
In Japan, this type of LCA studies is used commonly by in-dustry-
wide or nation-wide research work,
2. LCA that is somehow not consistent with the ISO standards
This type is internally utilized by individual business com-panies
for the purpose of development of environmentally
conscious products with discussions about their own subjec-tive
judgement and choices, and
3. LCA that is completely streamlined in regard to the ISO stan-dards
This type is limited to internal improvement activi-ties
for each process or shop in a factory, based on Life Cycle
considerations.
The idea of the above mentioned categorization and distinc-tions
of LCA applications may also be useful for assembly-based
industries other than the automotive industry.