Economic and environmental trade-offs in stator manufacturing: a life cycle perspective on additive production

The electrification of industrial systems is increasing demand for manufacturing solutions combining flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability. This study presents a cradle-to-gate economic and environmental comparison of conventional manufacturing (CM) and laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M) for producing electrical machine stators. The CM route involves blanking and assembling M330-35A electrical steel laminations using a high-productivity multi-cavity tooling system. The PBF-LB/M solution considers a monolithic Fe–2.9% Si stator, produced under varying build orientations and platform utilisation scenarios. At high volumes, CM reaches €7.49 per stator and 4.03 kg CO₂-eq. when tooling is fully amortised. PBF-LB/M costs decrease from approximately €1300 to €1000 per part as platform utilisation increases, while CFP ranges from 38 to about 28 kg CO₂-eq. Economic and environmental break-even points occur at approximately 115 and 507 units, respectively, revealing a substantially wider environmental competitiveness window for PBF-LB/M under the present assumptions. Results show competitiveness depends on production volume and configuration, future efficiency, automation, and material-use improvements may shift break-even thresholds.