Integrated Sustainable Life Cycle Design: A Review

Abstract

Product design is one of the most important sectors influencing global sustainability, as almost all the products consumed by people are outputs of the product development process. In particular, early design decisions can have a very significant impact on sustainability. These decisions not only relate to material and manufacturing choices but have a far-reaching effect on the product’s entire life cycle, including transportation, distribution, and end-of-life logistics. However, key challenges have to be overcome to enable eco-design methods to be applicable in early design stages. Lack of information models, semantic interoperability, methods to influence eco-design thinking in early stages, measurement science and uncertainty models in eco-decisions, and ability to balance business decisions and eco-design methodology are serious impediments to realizing sustainable products and services. Therefore, integrating downstream life cycle data into eco-design tools is essential to achieving true sustainable product development. Our review gives an overview of related research and positions early eco-design tools and decision support as a key strategy for the future. By merging sustainable thinking into traditional design methods, this review provides a framework for ongoing research, as well as encourages research collaborations among the various communities interested in sustainable product realization.

Revisiting System Paradigms from the Viewpoint of Manufacturing Sustainability

“…The United Nations has declared that the evidence of a warming trend is "unequivocal" and the human activities have very likely been the driving force on this change over the past 50 years [22]. Whether or not one agrees with the prediction about global warming.…”

“…Innovation Elements has grown from less than 20 to more than 300 in the last 75 years [22]. As world population increases, more resources will be consumed to satisfy the demands, which will lead to more wastes.…”

“…Jeswiet et al proposed a calculated carbon emission signature for correlating electrical energy use to the greenhouse gas emissions for some manufacturing processes [51]. In addition, more works are demanding the integration of environmental considerations into processes planning [22,52].…”

“…To this end, the metrics of sustainability have to be quantified, and their residual relations to design parameters of a manufacturing system have to be established. The scope of the simulation domain has to be extended; the new simulation tools must close the loop of pre-life, usage life, end-of-life thus enabling sustainable, multi-life cycle product design and recovery [22]. The features of new modeling and simulation tools are (i) the quantified environmental impact in combination with discrete event simulation; and (ii) the virtual analysis tool for level-of-automation evaluation in combination with ergonomic considerations [39].…”

Increasing End-of-Life Recovery Profit Using Axiomatic Design Principles: A Case of Mobile Phone Keypad

“…To reduce waste and save resources, EOL management i.e. the process of converting EOL products into re-marketable products, components, or materials, can be a useful solution [1].…”