Product Sustainability Index

Ford's European operations have been leading our efforts to incorporate the principles of designing for sustainability and the use of a life-cycle management approach. Ford began integrating Design for Environment principles into the product development process in the early 1990s. Initially we focused on designing our vehicles to facilitate end-of-life disassembly and recycling by taking into account the accessibility of parts to be disassembled, the type and number of different fasteners used and the marking of parts for easy identification. Based on several studies, however, it became clear that focusing on a single life-cycle phase (e.g., end of life) leads to sub-optimizations and potentially increased impacts in other life-cycle phases. Since then, we have shifted our focus to include a more comprehensive life-cycle approach to improving the sustainability of our vehicles. This focus incorporates the material and component production phase and the use phase, as well as effects on the end-of-life phase. In 2002, we began to use a holistic Design for Sustainability approach that incorporates social and economic aspects as well as environmental aspects1 into our life-cycle analysis and design approach.

In 2006, Ford of Europe introduced the Product Sustainability Index, or PSI, a tool that incorporates a life-cycle analysis of the environmental, social and economic aspects of its vehicles from the earliest stages of their development. Ford's PSI tracks eight product attributes identified as key sustainability elements of a vehicle. These are: life-cycle global warming potential (mainly carbon dioxide emissions); life-cycle air-quality potential (other air emissions); the use of sustainable materials (recycled and renewable materials); vehicle interior air quality (including allergy certification from TÜV Rheinland, a product testing organization); exterior noise impact (drive-by noise); safety (for occupants and pedestrians); mobility capability (seat and luggage capacity relative to vehicle size); and life-cycle ownership costs (full costs for the customer over the first three years).

This index was launched in the development of the 2006 Ford S-MAX and Galaxy, and was used to develop the 2007 Mondeo, 2008 Kuga and 2009 Fiesta. As a result of using the PSI assessment system, all of these models have shown improvements in environmental, social and/or economic performance when compared to the previous models. The chart below shows specific performance and areas of improvement for each model. The PSI will be used on all future products developed by Ford of Europe. Detailed reports on the PSI analysis for these vehicles can be downloaded from Ford of Europe's Web site.

PSI Assessed Models Performance ²

The PSI assessment system has been reviewed and certified by outside experts. One study, conducted by experts in the area of life-cycle science and sustainability, found the PSI to be a design and analysis step that provides a full sustainability assessment and meets the requirements of ISO 14040, the international life-cycle assessment standard. PSI assessments of the 2006 S-MAX and Galaxy vehicles were certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for life-cycle assessment improvements. This certification process also verified the overall PSI methodology.