ExpandFibre member Semantum brings a life cycle assessment solution for bio-based industries

Finnish company Semantum offers modelling and simulation software solutions to increase engineering productivity. It provides simulation-aided and automated tools and services for engineering in process industries, including those in manufacturing textiles and fibres. Antti Jäänvirta and Tommi Karhela (in photo above) and from Semantum share their thoughts about joining the ExpandFibre Ecosystem.

Product concept to assess and communicate product environmental performance

At first glance, Semantum may seem like an odd one out among the other ExpandFibre members. Their angle as a software house is indeed a bit different from the others, yet their business concept offers a good match with the sustainability targets of the other ExpandFibre members. Semantum offers strong cross-functional expertise that can help the processing industries adhere to the EU’s upcoming directives on Green Transition.

Their latest product concept that is being piloted this year is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Dashboard. It provides the decision makers at environmentally conscious processing plants with reliable tools to assess their global warming potential and other environmental footprints and evaluate the overall environmental impact. New EU initiatives, such as the Taxonomy for Sustainable Investments and the Product Environmental Footprint approach, aim to make the environmental performance of companies measurable, communicable, and comparable. That is exactly what LCA Dashboard wants to provide to process industries.

The Semantum team has long experience and solid expertise in the modelling and simulation of process automation technologies

During its 14 years of existence, Semantum has secured a solid position in its field, working with major global industry customers. The company brings in high-level competences in the modelling and simulation of process automation technologies. The company is also an expert in the integration of different simulation and computing tools. Semantum boasts a team of 20 experts, with a third of them holding a Ph. D. degree. The company also regularly contributes to the standardisation of the process industry at the DEXPI forum together with industry giants. 

Semantum warmly welcomes new piloting partners from the ExpandFibre Ecosystem

Antti Jäänvirta is responsible for Green Technologies Project Management and Marketing at Semantum. He explains that after discussions with Fortum, Semantum finds strong synergies with the ExpandFibre roadmap: it is important to inform consumers on the concrete environmental footprint of new bio-based products. According to Jäänvirta, LCA Dashboard is a unique system that can generate reliable and continuous data on the environmental impact in an understandable format. Those working in sustainability, sales & marketing and finance already start to have an understanding on the importance of LCA in the evaluation and reduction of carbon emissions in manufacturing industries. Convincing factories and even subcontractors still requires some work, and this where Semantum’s LCA Dashboard can help.

Business Development Director Tommi Karhela at Semantum is looking forward to collaborating with the ExpandFibre partner companies and hopes to identify new partners for their piloting projects. Semantum is especially interested in supporting complex production processes including many variables. Forest industry, fibre production and chemical processes are identified as the most potential target groups. Karhela says: “It would be great to be able participate in the planning of new production processes, as it is the most fruitful stage for our concept.” They are also open to explore other collaboration opportunities offered by the ecosystem. He concludes: “Being part of ExpandFibre will give us an opportunity to learn new things and position ourselves into the ecosystem in the upcoming months. We are excited to be part of developing new and more sustainable concepts.”

Antti Jäänvirta photo credit: Sampo Leino.