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To utilize the residual value, which remains an idle asset and disposed product based on the circular economy package, the definition or clarification of such a value and the development of a scheme for such a reutilization is essential. In addition, to facilitate an efficient utilization of the residual value, a product or its components needs to be designed considering its future reuse, remanufacturing, and upgrading. When companies monitor product usage using the Internet of things, they can make proposals to users of appropriate lifecycle options such as reuse, remanufacturing, and upgrading and such proposals are conductive to customer retention for these companies. Therefore, an ideal situation is one in which the product is appropriately modularly designed and its components will be reused in an upward product or another product family or be recycled at the end of life. A designer needs to consider resource efficiency not only in the reuse stage but also in the production and procurement stages. In addition, a company that designs and manufactures products needs to strive for the simultaneous attainment of cooperate social responsibility, higher profits, and higher user satisfaction. Therefore, proper supplier selection is necessary because products currently consist of many components and modules manufactured by various companies. This study proposes a modular design and a strategic evaluation method based on the viewpoint of supply chain management considering sustainability and supplier selection simultaneously. In particular, the proposed method evaluates the designed modular strategy from the perspectives of cost, environmental load in production and transportation, quality, and procurement lead time. As an evaluation, the proposed indicator evaluates the efficiencies of the candidate suppliers. This study applied the proposed method to the design problem of a laptop module and determined the more appropriate suppliers with respect to each destination.

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This study proposes an upgradable product design method that falls under the category of “environmentally conscious” product design methods. The method enhances the product’s performance by exchanging or adding only a few of its components. In addition, the proposed method reduces the usage as well as wastage of resources by preventing the disposal of the product itself. This study primarily focuses on manufacturer profit, which was presented as an ill-argued topic in a previous study on upgradable product design methods that potentially provide enhanced sales strategies for upgradable products with an underlying consideration of company sustainability. Moreover, the proposed method in this study assesses how design information uncertainties associated with future prediction (as a ranged value) apply to the concept of set-based design to ultimately obtain ranged sets of design solutions and sales strategies that satisfactorily meet profit, environmental, and functional requirements. Finally, the proposed method obtains ranged design solutions that can realize low environmental loads, low product price, and a highly profitable upgradable product via exclusive application to a multifunctional laser printer scenario. The results of this study indicate the effectiveness of such an upgradable product design method as a vital approach in building a sustainable society.

Part 3: Design and EducationInternational audienceA sustainable society requires changes in the traditional paradigm of mass production and consumption. Products such as personal computers and smartphones are discarded even though they are fully functional. This paper proposes a design method for product upgradability which satisfies various different customer demands to increase the product value and extend the value lifespan by exchanging components closely related to its deterioration in value. In addition, this paper also proposes a method that can specify future product performances, effective upgradable product components, and the side effects of upgrade on other product components. Finally, this paper discusses the applicability of our proposed design method by considering a vacuum cleaner and various different customer demands

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