Arksen has today announced its partnership with MarineShift360. The venture, delivering a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool for the global marine industry, will see a collaboration between multiple businesses contributing valuable data from their materials and design processes to further develop the LCA tool ahead of its commercial release in late 2019.
Sustainability at the Heart
Sustainability has been at the heart of Arksen’s ethos from the outset and this partnership displays their commitment to drive a new wave of sustainable adventure, research and exploration. By taking a combined approach that not only seeks to create exceptional products, built with their full lifecycle in mind, but also working closely with their community of owners to ensure the fleet is used to inspire a greater understanding of, and have a positive impact on, the ocean ecosystem through the support of projects funded by the Arksen Foundation.
The Project
Arksen joins marine industry businesses; Allen Brothers, Emkay Plastics, Multiplast, Princess Yachts, RS Sailing and Wessex Resins as the first seven companies to collaborate on the project.
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.
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.
A Collaborative Partnership
Jasper Smith, CEO of Arksen commented on the partnership:
“By reinventing the modern explorer vessel we are inspiring a new generation of sailor and encouraging them to facilitate research that will contribute to a more profound understanding of the ocean ecosystem. Sustainability and deep technology are at the very core of the Arksen business, two fundamentals that we share with MarineShift360, a venture that will empower marine professionals to make informed decisions on materials and design choices through thorough data analysis and owners to make purchase decisions based on product and environmental impact. We are excited to work with the team and to help lead a drive towards sustainable practices across the whole marine sector.”
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, a life cycle assessment expert who is acting as an advisor to MarineShift360, 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.”
To find out more about the tool and the exclusive benefits of becoming a Pilot Partner please visit: www.marineshiftt360.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: https://marineshift360.org/questionnaire-form
Find out more about Arksen sustainable practises.