MarineShift360 signs new partners

The RS21, launched by MarineShift360's new Pilot Partner, RS Sailing, earlier this year © MarineShift360

MarineShift360, the collaboration developing a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool for the marine industry, has announced the first seven businesses to partner with the project.

Allen Brothers, Arksen, Emkay Plastics, Multiplast, Princess Yachts, RS Sailing and Wessex Resins have formed this unique collaboration and will contribute valuable data from their materials and processes to further develop the LCA tool ahead of its commercial release in late 2019.

Motivated by consumer demand and expected changes to legislation, the marine industry is under the spotlight to make advances in closed-loop product design, moving away from the linear 'take-make-waste' approach and towards a circular economy. In collaboration with founding sponsor 11th Hour Racing, an international organisation that harnesses the power of sport to innovate change for the health of our oceans, MarineShift360 is actively developing its LCA tool to equip the industry with the means to understand product sustainability. With extensive expertise in LCA, software development and the marine industry, Anthesis Group, a global leader in sustainability services and solutions, is responsible for the custom build of the LCA tool as well as advising on the project. The project is being led at Anthesis Group by international LCA expert and trans-Atlantic sailor Craig Simmons.

The LCA tool quantifies the environmental impacts of a product's full life cycle, from raw materials to disposal, ultimately allowing the user to make informed decisions at the design stage to mitigate such impacts. The pilot partners will work alongside MarineShift360 to tailor the tool to the unique needs of marine businesses in a bid to empower the wider industry to make smart choices within design and manufacturing processes. The project will continue to forge new partnerships to further enhance the performance of the tool, with the vision of creating a tool that is built by the industry, for the industry.

Todd McGuire, Program Director at 11th Hour Racing, founding sponsor of MarineShift360, says: "The new partners are already leaders in their respective fields, and joining this collaboration enables them to become leaders also in sustainability. There is no time like the present to adopt sustainability practices, both for business and environmental reasons, ensuring end-of-life considerations are embedded at the design stage. By gathering reliable data from the partners, MarineShift360 will develop a fully comprehensive database that supports a life cycle assessment tool tailored to the needs of the marine industry. Once complete, the tool will empower users to compare choices and investigate alternative materials that increase efficiency and reduce costs, leading to innovation in design -- our ultimate goal for this project."

Craig Simmons, Chief Technology Officer at Anthesis Group, says: "Like all sectors, the marine industry needs to respond to the 'triple whammy' of increasingly eco-conscious consumers, the rising cost of raw materials, and a tougher regulatory environment. Design innovation sits at the heart of this, and the new LCA tool will help businesses to make smarter design choices; making better use of resources, improving efficiency and better responding to market needs. We're proud to be supporting this initiative through both an advisory and delivery perspective."

To find out more about the tool and the exclusive benefits of becoming a Pilot Partner please visit: marineshift360.org

All businesses in the marine industry are encouraged to provide immediate input by taking part in a questionnaire on the MarineShift360 website, which will help ensure the data and processes modelled are useful industry-wide: marineshift360.org/questionnaire-form