Upgradable Design for Sustainable Manufacturer Performance and Profitability and Reduction of Environmental Load

Abstract

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.

An upgradable product-service system design method based on kaos and time-axis

“…With this background, the concept of upgradable design begins to attract more and more attention (Inoue et al, 2014;Pialot and Millet, 2016;Umeada et al, 2005;Yamada et al, 2016). The design of upgradable PSS requires designers to predict critical future changes during the stage of design and usage.…”

“…which requires PSS to provide modular products and services that could be upgraded before the end of its physical life. (Yamada et al, 2018). How to enable PSS to predict future change and take reasonable measures to cater to such kind of change has become an interesting topic.…”

“…Despite the intense discussion, the research of upgradable PSS (UPSS) is still in the stage of conceptual design, which points out tremendous opportunities but lacks practical methods to design UPSS. The existing papers are mainly related to conceptual framework and strategy planning (Pialot and Millet, 2016;Yamada et al, 2018). The current UPSS design has serious problems in terms of requirement identification and refinement, which can be explained in the following parts.…”

“…Firstly, given that the requirements of stakeholders across a long period are usually complex and fuzzy to be predicted by direct observation, it is essential to provide a method to identify them. The existing research focuses on providing upgrade planning and strategy for companies but lacks a practical method for future demand identification Yamada et al, 2018). Secondly, the current UPSS design field lacks a systematic method to refine requirements into detailed functions and PSS elements.…”

Adaptability assessment of automobile repair options in terms of product value, environmental impact, and cost (A case study of automobile engines)

“…パターンの確保が挙げられており，従来の大量生産，大量消費，大量廃棄の社会からの脱却が求められている． この実現のためには，生産者が資源の投入，製品の生産・使用の段階だけでなく，廃棄物等となった後まで一定 の責務を負う拡大生産者責任(EPR)という考え方やエコデザインの考えを先進国が発展途上国に普及させてい くことが重要である(環境省, 2017) ．現在，多くの企業がリマニュファクチャリング (Masui, 2009)やアップグ レード (Yamada, S. et al, 2016(Yamada, S. et al, , 柴田他, 2017 などの環境配慮設計や， 環境にやさしい製品開発 (Bracke et al, 2017) ， 持続可能性のためのサプライチェーンの構築 , Inoue et al, 2020…”