Good Guys’ Index (GGI)

Calculate your products’ environmental impact.

The demand of minimizing CO2 emissions are getting higher. We are convinced that being able to calculate each product’s CO2 impact is a competitive advantage and we have a strong belief that this will soon enough be a requirement. We have come up with a way to easily calculate the entire cost of a casted product, financially as well as environmentally – completely streamlined for the foundry industry.

For a few years, NovaCast has been working on developing a software that makes CO2 calculation easy. We present Good Guys’ Index (GGI) which is a program that helps foundries and its customers to calculate the impact of a product all the way from raw material to delivery to end customer. Examples of input data that GGI takes into account, both environmentally and financially: raw material and its transport, the energy mix you have, the melting of the alloy and all production steps, transport to customer and more. Do not forget that the software also calculates the energy consumption per part which is also extremely important.

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Compare casting parts

Good Guys’ Index helps you compare different casting designs, production methods as well as production sites, and clearly presents the differences in environmental impact as well as making it visible to see high production cost often generated by scrap and incorrect casting and methoding design. The results of a GGI comparison can help your foundry improve the casting yield, reduce scrap, and at the same time solely use the resources necessary without compromising the quality of the finished product.

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Comparing two different ways to cast a steel casting using Good Guys’ Index in combination with casting simulation software, NovaFlow&Solid. The result of this example is improved feeding design that gave a reduction of 42 kg CO2 emissions per part. By switching another country as production site, the transport and the energy type used will influence a lot and the CO2 emission could be as high as 3 788 kg more per part.

Usability

You don’t need to be a foundry engineer or metallurgist to use Good Guys’ Index. GGI is a comprehensive tool with a straightforward layout to perform smooth calculations of cost and material savings, as well as CO2 emissions. Furthermore, in the light of the recent price increases on energy, it can also let you highlight how much you could actually save financial-wise. We see GGI as a tremendous tool to simulate different scenarios with a casting part or in the casting production. Using GGI you can directly see the impact that various adjustments might have in terms of CO2 emissions and energy consumption.

Casting simulation data

NovaCast’s premium casting simulation software, NovaFlow&Solid, has a connection to GGI. This means that you can jumpstart your calculations quickly by importing for example different weights, but also some metallurgical data.

Evaluation of results

By using GGI, a foundry, a purchaser of castings or a casting designer can simulate the CO2 emissions generated in the process by changing the casting design, changing the methoding of the casting, changing materials, or changing type of casting process if possible. This way, you can find significant improvements, which will result in reductions of CO2 emission. You can use the GGI value you get for each casting as a quality number that is constantly challenged for reduction.

Click to enlarge. (Example of result page in Good Guys’ Index where the CO2 emission per kg has been calculated for an aluminum high pressure die casting part.)

How to get started using Good Guys’ Index:

Contact one of our sales representatives to help you get started.

Are you an existing Altair user? 
Good Guys’ Index is available in the Altair Partner Alliance – click here for more information.