Challenges ProGlove needed to submit to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and discovered an opportunity to be the first in their industry to publish product carbon footprint (PCF) information. They needed a solution to track their PCF.
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About the company

Ten years ago, the founder of ProGlove observed warehouse workers at a BMW site struggling to balance boxes while simultaneously scanning barcodes with a scanner. This observation ignited a burning question in the founder’s mind—how to revolutionize the process and create a practical, ergonomic product that enhances efficiency? The rest is history.

ProGlove solutions enable users to capture and analyze data quickly and easily. With over 2,000 clients in warehousing, logistics, manufacturing, and retail industries, the company enhances the productivity, safety, and quality of operations as well as developing their own software and product line of wearable scanners.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, with additional offices in Chicago (USA), Coventry (UK), and Belgrade (RS), ProGlove employs more than 350 people from over 30 countries.

AT A GLANCE

Best thing about Arena
Accelerating sustainable product development

Bottom-line impact
Meeting CSRD assessment goals and reducing product’s carbon footprint

Business Challenges

As ProGlove continues expanding their product line of wearable scanners, its new investor, Nordic Capital, has been driving the company toward a sustainable future and a competitive focus by requiring the submission for the CSRD. The CSRD report helps both U.S. and European companies reduce emissions, assess risks, increase cost saving opportunities, and help drive green operations to align with CSRD goals and new business prospects.

Eager to get the CSRD process started, ProGlove needed a clear strategy on how to begin. Evaluating other companies in their industry, they realized none had publishable product carbon footprint (PCF) data or information available.

Taking a step back to evaluate their situation, ProGlove’s management recognized they had a great business opportunity before them—collect PCF information and be the first in the market to lead. Kate Kroger, Product Manager at ProGlove said, “As a young company driven by our passion for the environment, we were eager to understand the impact our products have on the environment.”

“As a young company driven by our passion for the environment, we were eager to understand the impact our products have on the environment. By integrating Yook’s data into Arena, we can compare the carbon footprint of components and make informed decisions for a greener future. Arena is crucial for this operation.”

– Kate Kroger, Product Manager, ProGlove

 
 

The Solution

With a newfound sense of urgency, ProGlove pulled together a task force to understand their PCF and how to reduce it going forward. ProGlove chose to focus first on their wearable gloves for the CSRD assessment because they are made in-house. Plus, as an Arena product lifecycle management (PLM) customer, the task force already had access to product record information and data stored within their Arena system.

ProGlove’s research led them to Yook which offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) lifecycle assessment (LCA) platform that allows businesses to measure and understand the carbon footprint of their products, identify areas for reduction, and use the results to better drive sustainability options across their supply chains.

Yook’s LCA solution requires minimal data inputs, makes expert knowledge optional, and enhances existing bill of materials (BOM) data with CO2 emission information. Equipped with this level of detailed information, management can make better calculated decisions to develop products that improve sustainability, reduce waste, and lessen the impact on the environment.

ProGlove saw the integration between Yook and Arena as an opportunity to manage their PCF efficiently and achieve their CSRD goals. Performing their first assessment, ProGlove exported product information managed within Arena to Yook to analyze and then back into Arena with the updated BOM information.

“It was more of a back-and-forth process until we got familiar with the products and the process. We slowly built up that data set and brought it back to Arena. This has been a valuable experience to find the hotspots and gaps and determine what is critical data, such as weight, scrap, and transport. That information can help us improve the accuracy score of our CSRD assessment. We managed to bring down our accuracy score from the initial input and increase the total score by 11%, which is a big achievement,” noted Kate.

Within a short period of time, ProGlove acquired a comprehensive overview of all the components in their portfolio. The integration between Arena and Yook makes PCF information available within Arena ready for the engineering team to create the next innovative and sustainable, wearable design.

When using new suppliers, the team can add supplier information directly into Arena. Retrieving information is quick and easy, especially as new products are being developed. Teams can look at different suppliers for different materials. “We can take the data that Yook provides us and input it into Arena so we can see the carbon footprint of these different components, particularly common components we have across the portfolio. Arena enables us to make informed decisions for a greener future by integrating Yook’s carbon footprint data,” said Kate.

Results

ProGlove believes you can never start too early when it comes to decarbonization and sustainability. Since integrating Yook LCA with Arena PLM, ProGlove has gained better insight into the parameters of their product lifecycle assessments. The company has been able to quantify everything from its corporate carbon footprint, and product carbon footprints, to its tC02e* corporate carbon footprint.

Leveraging the data-driven power of Yook LCA and Arena PLM, ProGlove is well-positioned for growth. They can perform product lifecycle assessments within minutes instead of months, accelerate the design of sustainable products, and analyze infinite products without compromising on details.

As a leading-edge adopter of product carbon analysis, Kate noted, “By integrating Yook’s data into Arena, we can quickly compare the carbon footprint of components and make informed decisions for a greener future. Arena PLM is crucial for this operation.”

With a sustainable product development foundation in place and transparent and accurate CSRD scoring, ProGlove can accelerate its future growth plans, expand its customer base, and invest in product innovation.

“Arena enables us to make informed decisions for a greener future by integrating Yook’s carbon footprint data into our product record information.”

– Kate Kroger, Product Manager, ProGlove

 
 

 

Note:

* The amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) a business activity emits. tCO2e stands for tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (e). “Tonne” is a metric ton or 2,200 pounds. Carbon dioxide equivalent is a standard unit for counting GHG emissions regardless of whether they’re from carbon dioxide or another gas, such as methane.