Higg and Centric partners to support sustainable product design

Centric Software has partnered with Higg, a sustainability analytics platform, to deliver statistics on the environmental impact of material choices to product designers.

With the press of a button, designers and product developers will be able to send materials from Centric PLM to Higg. Using the most thorough and reliable sustainability dataset available, the partnership will deliver impact rankings for each material choice, such as carbon footprint and water usage. Once the Bill of Materials (BOM) is complete, an automatic product score is generated.

Higg also provides details on product end-of-life alternatives and consequences. Regardless of where they are on their sustainable path, brands, retailers, and manufacturers of all sizes can access Higg data through Centric PLM.

Ron Watson, VP of product at Centric Software, said that by increasing transparency and visibility, teams can make decisions that include environmental effects while also ensuring target product margins are met, all while using trustworthy data that is accessible on a single platform. When other technologies like 3D material libraries, avatars, and prototypes are combined with optimized processes like effective supplier collaboration, not only can a product’s environmental impact be reduced, but also its entire cost of products sold. Sustainability does not imply a reduction in growth or profitability.

Higg CEO Jason Kibbey, said that through Centric’s integration with Higg, designers receive access to material-level environmental consequences, enabling them to make key decisions to produce more sustainable products. Conscious consumers demand both high-quality and environmentally responsible products, and businesses can meet these demands with Higg data.

Saurabh Deshpande, product management director at Centric Software, said that like all of their breakthroughs, Centric PLM’s integration with Higg was developed hand-in-hand with their clients. They pay special attention to their clients’ demands and challenges, and many of them are currently concerned about sustainability. They’ve created a close partnership with Higg, and they’re working together to give reliable sustainability statistics to brands, retailers, and manufacturers.