Master Thesis - Sustainable electronics throughout the supply chain

Thesis background

To meet the goals of the Paris agreement and the commitment to Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Volvo Group is targeting to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 for products throughout the value chain. This means that we as a group target and address indirect upstream and downstream emissions that occur in our value chain (SBTi scope 3).

As vehicles become smarter, the demand for computational power in commercial vehicles is growing exponentially. The ECUs (Electronic Control Units) are already today a significant contributor to the vehicle’s carbon footprint. Moving towards net zero tailpipe emission through electrification implies that more electronic units are needed, causing an even larger contribution. Thus, we need to focus on carbon mitigation in the complete ECU supply chain to reach the sustainability targets whilst leading this customer-centric transformation of technology.

Thesis description

To ensure the sourcing of sustainable electronics, an understanding of the sustainability work of the actors in the supply chain is needed. Thus, the student(s) will identify and map variations in carbon footprint between different actors entering the supply chain of an ECU, incl semiconductors, printed circuit boards (PCBs) etc. and analyse the reasons for altering results. Further, they will analyse the carbon mitigation roadmaps of the main players to identify the hotspots and potential obstacles of tomorrow. To facilitate this work, the student(s) will be in contact with major players in the electronic market, including semiconductor vendors, PCB and ECU manufacturers.

Requirement on student background

One or two Master students in Industrial Ecology with electronics background, or related fields. For better synergy, students from different educational programs are very welcome.
Prior experience with cross functional teams in technology/sustainability/business is a plus.

Thesis Level: Master
ECTS credits: 30 (20 weeks)
Starting date: Spring 2024
Physical location: Mostly at Volvo Lundby (O3)

Industry supervision:
Computational System Infrastructure, Volvo GTT

Volvo contact persons:
Nadja Bergqvist, nadja.bergqvist@volvo.com, Volvo GTT (Group Trucks Technology)
Olivier Lesaffre, olivier.lesaffre@volvo.com, Volvo GTP (Group Trucks Purchasing)

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