Construction of an optimum system design method considering product lifecycle

This paper proposes an optimum system design method that especially considers product lifecycles and aims to help designers make effective decisions during the product design phase. By considering and estimating all lifecycle factors of cost and environmental impact in addition to the product performance, this method facilitates development of optimum design solutions that incorporate requirements pertaining to the product's entire lifecycle. Furthermore, quantitative estimation of lifecycle factors enables the numerical expression of optimum solutions, rather than depending primarily on experiment and designer intuition. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, this paper develops an optimum system design method for a milling machine as an example of a machine product designed for long term use. The lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are generally expressed as the summation of each value during manufacturing phase, usage phase, disposal phase and recycling phase. In this example model, Eco-indicator 99 is used to evaluate environmental impact. In the proposed lifecycle design optimisation method, the relationships among the product performance, the lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are evaluated as a multi-objective optimisation problem. Analysis of the obtained Pareto optimum solution sets subsequently enables designers to pursue breakthrough product design solutions.     

Design of automobile engines for remanufacture with quality function deployment

Parallel with the increase in environmental problems, the importance of design of environmentally friendly products has become more important together with the design for remanufacture. This paper presents the application of quality function deployment (QFD) methodology in the design of products for remanufacture. The main goal of this paper is to determine the engineering characteristics of automobile engines that firms have to focus on, in order to design automobile engines for remanufacture. In this paper, how a product can be designed for remanufacture using QFD and house of quality (HOQ) has been highlighted. A questionnaire survey was conducted on automobile engine refurbishing & remanufacturing facilities in order to find out what is required of the products which are remanufactured. With the establishment of the HOQ, the engineering characteristics that firms should focus on for designing automobile engines for remanufacture have been found as ‘position of the parts’ and ‘ types of parts used’.     

Fibre reinforced polymers in the sports industry – Life Cycle Engineering methodology applied to a snowboard using anisotropic layer design

Technological development has had huge impacts in sports performance throughout the years, fostering the development of specific materials and manufacturing processes for sports-related products. Within this context, a new technology for snowboards was developed taking advantage of the internal coupling effects of Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP) using an anisotropic layer design. This work deals with the technical, economic and environmental evaluation of a snowboard made of three alternative materials, namely carbon, glass and flax fibre reinforced plastics. It shows how a life cycle analysis can support the design and development of products by applying a Life Cycle Engineering methodology to the design process of a snowboard using an innovative technology. In this case, both the material choice and the fiber placement angles have a significant impact on the stiffness of the resulting FRP and thus in the three dimensions of analysis - cost, environmental and technical. The natural fiber is the most sustainable option environmentally, the glass fiber is the best one economically and the carbon fibre is the best in terms of technical performance. Therefore, the importance attributed to each dimension of analysis is pondered and traded-off to allow an aggregated analysis of the alternatives and a well-informed decision-making.     

Sustainability risk identification in product development

Sustainability-related issues present significant financial, strategic, compliance and operational risks to manufacturers. Many of these risks directly or indirectly result from the way a product is designed and managed across its life cycle. Assessing sustainability risk (S _R) at the product design stage is crucial for the development of products that both minimise sustainability risk exposure and are environmentally sustainable. Managing the costs associated with these risks requires risk management intervention at the design stage before these costs are committed throughout the life cycle (production, use, end-of-life). The goal of the sustainability risk assessment (SRA) methodology is to provide an approach to comparing the financial cost of a ‘sustainable product’ vs. an ‘unsustainable product’, by factoring in the effects of S _R on life-cycle cost. The SRA methodology demonstrates that, in some cases, sustainable products cost less than unsustainable products when sustainability risk is considered in the costing analysis. This paper outlines the first step of the SRA methodology, which is a process for identifying S _R inherent in the product life cycle. Once key risks are identified, the subsequent steps of the SRA assess and prioritise these risks for treatment through changes to product design and materials composition.     

Optimizing a warranty–based sustainable product service system using game theory

Abstract

In recent years, the concepts of sustainability and product service system have been closely associated with each other. In today’s competitive markets, due to Extended Producer Responsibility and customer environmental awareness, producers shift from ‘product-seller’ towards ‘product-service provider’ for using the environmental and economic advantages of coupling a product with services. This paper proposes a novel approach to determine the optimal warranty period and the out-of-warranty replacement period, from the point of view of the producer and the customer to minimise the total cost of usage and end of life of product. As regards the fact that adopted strategies by producers and customers sometimes are in conflict and it affects choosing the optimal product usage period, a game theory model was developed in this study. Finally, a case study with data from chain of local notebook service centres was applied to demonstrate some practical aspects of the developed model.     

Quantification of the influence of life cycle parameters on the total environmental impact of steel-framed buildings

Due to the increased urgency with which environmental issues are currently being prioritized, business sectors such as construction, that have been identified as one of the largest consumers of raw materials and energy, are actively involved in research aiming to optimize construction processes and products in terms of environmental impact. Although researchers have pointed out various issues and aspects of a construction project’s delivery process that can significantly affect its environmental impact, the extent to which these issues can influence the total environmental impact of the project is unclear. The current research aims to investigate and eventually quantify the influence of a number of such parameters, utilizing an existing steel-framed building as the basis for the necessary calculations. The conclusions drawn illustrate the actual extent of the influence of the examined life cycle parameters, while also offering specific insight in regard to the determination of criteria that can be used as the basis for recommendations for similar projects.     

Design for environment as a tool for the development of a sustainable supply chain

In this work, design for environment (DfE) methodologies have been used as a tool for the development of a more sustainable supply chain. In particular by combining life‐cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and by using the quality function deployment (QFD) multi‐criteria matrices, an ‘environmental compromise’ can be reached. In this work, the QFD matrices have been developed in a new way using an iterative process that involves the whole supply chain starting from the product life‐cycle, taking into consideration the machines that make the product and their components. This methodology is compatible with the requirements of the various stakeholders, suppliers, manufacturers and clients, involved in the supply chain. To assess the validity of the proposed approach a specific supply chain was studied concerning packaging systems for liquid food substances (beverage cartons). Firstly all the stages which are most critical from the environmental point of view in the supply chain of packaging systems were identified and assessed. The starting point for the analysis of environmental aspects and impacts which characterise the supply chain was LCA, which proved to be useful for the identification and the environmental assessment of the various stages in a packaging system. Through the use of ‘iterative QFD’ it is possible to arrive at a definition of the engineering characteristics of all the machinery which is involved in the supply chain. In particular in this work the authors have tried to identify the critical points in the design of those machines which either make the beverage cartons or are involved in the filling process.     

基于WTP-DEA方法的中国工业经济-环境效率评价

文章为了全面分析评价中国工业近年来的效率发展情况,在经济效率评价的基础上,将工业的环境影响引入到评价体系中,采用超效率DEA评价方法,利用中国工业的基础经济与环境数据,结合社会支付意愿理论,对2000-2008年的中国工业进行了经济-环境效率测算,揭示了中国工业经济-环境效率的总体情况和发展趋势。文章在DEA效率评价过程中提出了新的解决环境非期望产出的方法,利用社会支付意愿理论将工业的环境排放和资源消耗货币化,并将货币化后的环境影响作为DEA模型中的工业环境投入,以此消除了DEA方法在工业经济-环境效率评价中存在的局限性;此外文章以社会支付意愿作为各环境影响的权重,可以更合理地反映工业的环境影响程度,提高效率评价的准确性。文章通过对比不同模型的评价结果,一方面反映出2000-2008年中国工业的经济-环境效率呈现逐年提高的良好态势,另一方面也反映出虽然中国工业的环境影响逐年恶化,但相对于经济因素其对中国工业效率的影响程度尚不十分显著,且近年来在正面影响与负面影响间波动。     

Life cycle energy and CO2 emissions analysis of food packaging: an insight into the methodology from an Italian perspective

Packaging is strictly connected to environmental issues as it is a product characterised by high material consumption rate; it is often transported over long distances and has a short life. Providing environmental analysis is, therefore, urgent to identify energy and resources efficient solutions. The paper, taking advantage of a real case study, presents a life cycle-based comparative analysis among three different food packaging systems. The paper compares the life cycle of tin steel, polypropylene and glass-based packaging of an Italian preserves producer. The analysis leads to the conclusion that, for the baseline scenario, polypropylene packaging represents the greenest solution, whereas glass packaging is the worst choice. The paper presents a scenario analysis varying both the method used for accounting for recycling as well as the recycling rates of the packaging materials. Changes in overall results with parameters analysis changing are calculated and highlighted throughout the paper. The impact of a reuse policy of the glass-based solution is also analysed; a model for disposable glass packaging is proposed and the obtained results are compared with the single use polypropylene and tin steel-based packaging. In order to analyse the impact of different End of Life scenarios on the present case study, collecting as well as recycling rates of some European countries have been used. The results revealed a significant fluctuation both in energy consumption and in CO₂ emission as the nation changes. Summing up, a methodology for packaging environmental impact analysis is applied to a real case study, some crucial aspects of the methodology have been analysed in depth in order to give a contribution in packaging environmental impact analysis.     

Synergico: a method for systematic integration of energy efficiency into the design process of electr(on)ic equipment

This paper presents an overall design method to better consider the energy consumption of electrical and electronic equipment during the use phase. This aspect is often considered as the most important environmental aspect in active electrical and electronic equipment during its life cycle. The proposed method, called ‘Synergico’, characterises the product energy efficiency according to its modes, its functions and its sub-assemblies. It also articulates three tools: one assessment tool, one improvement tool and one environmental check tool. These tools are integrated along a typical product design process. The method therefore helps designing more energy-efficient products without compromising other performances such as ergonomics, functional performances, security, recyclability or costs. The three tools and the overall method are presented. A case study illustrates the way it works and is discussed.     

Treating design uncertainty in the application of Eco-indicator 99 with Monte Carlo simulation and fuzzy intervals

In incremental eco-design improvements, design engineers attempt to modify an existing product via some eco-design measures to reduce the product’s environmental impacts (e.g. reduction of material usage and energy consumption). In this process, several design concepts can be proposed, and concept selection is required to allocate resources sensibly to promising design concepts only. In this context, the research purpose is to estimate the environmental impacts of each concept given the uncertainty of design information. In the proposed methodology, the fuzzy interval arithmetic is used to specify and propagate imprecise design information. Then, the centroid concept is applied to model different views of imprecision (i.e. pessimistic, balanced and optimistic) associated with fuzzy impact assessment. Accordingly, a decision scheme is developed to support concept selection and suggest the potential areas for further eco-design improvements. A coffee maker is used as an example to demonstrate the proposed methodology. Also, the Monte Carlo Simulation is applied for the same example to compare the numerical outcomes by the fuzzy interval approach.     

A hybrid approach for environmental impact evaluation of design options

The strengthened environmental regulatory requirements and general awareness of the need for environmental conservation worldwide, design for environment has become a key design criterion in new product development processes. Due to their resources-consuming attribute and the prerequisite expert knowledge in environmental sciences for the impacts interpretations, the existing forms of product-oriented environmental impact assessment methods are impractical to be adopted by product designers in small-and-medium enterprises. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a generally accepted quantitative approach to assess a product’s environmental impact. However, a full LCA study often requires a considerable amount of data and therefore, it is regarded as not a handy tool for product design evaluations particularly at the initial design stage. This leads to our intention to develop an immediately applicable approach for decision-makers to evaluate the design options. The proposed approach integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Theory, with Evidential Reasoning (ER) to support the environmental impact evaluations of design options. A case study is carried out to demonstrate its applicability to prioritize the environmental impact of various design options. A symmetrical triangular distribution is introduced for calculating the expected utility and for testing the sensitivity of results.     

How much real cost has China paid for its economic growth?

China’s economic growth has a serious impact on the environment and resources. How much real cost did China pay for its economic growth? This paper estimates the monetary costs of resource depletion, environmental pollution, and ecological degradation. The paper examines the geographic distribution of resource and environmental losses across 31 provinces. The findings allow us to reach the following conclusions. First, the national cost of resource depletion, environmental pollution, and ecological degradation in 2005 was 2.5 trillion RMB. It accounted for 13.5% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). Secondly, the cost of resource depletion, ecological degradation, and environmental pollution has a different spatial distribution. The cost of resources depletion mainly distributes in the central area, the cost of environmental pollution is in the eastern area, and the cost of ecological degradation lies in the western area. Thirdly, the cost of natural resources depletion is 1,672.5 billion RMB, accounting for 67.8% of the total cost of resource and environment. It indicates that economic development has a high cost of resource depletion.     

Environmental implications of planned obsolescence and product lifetime: a literature review

The aim of this paper was to explore the implications of planned obsolescence (PO) and the associated product lifetime on the environmental impact of products. To achieve this task, a literature review was performed to assess both the historical context and recent situation of planned obsolescence. A search in scholarly journals was performed to evaluate to what extent product lifetime and PO have been discussed in the recent literature. Based on the findings, selected cases of PO are discussed and trends in the practice of limiting product lifetime are identified. Factors considered to have a significant influence on product lifetime have been identified and discussed. The discussion of case studies made it possible to establish the links between product design, manufacturing and associated impacts of lifetime. The role of the actors along the value chain is also considered to propose a business scheme, where the influences of consumer behaviour and design choices are crucial. Finally, strategies to facilitate the definition of different scenarios are given. These strategies may serve to increase the reliability of environmental assessment throughout a product life cycle.     

强“波特假说”存在产业异质性吗?——基于产业碳密集程度细分的视角

强"波特假说"认为严格而恰当的环境规制政策将使企业的生产效率呈现先降后升的趋势,为验证强"波特假说"及其产业异质性,首先建立产业碳密集指数,将工业部门36个细分行业划分为高碳密集产业、中碳密集产业和低碳密集产业;接着运用方向性距离函数测算2003—2014年细分行业的绿色全要素生产率,基于系统"GMM"估计方法验证三个细分行业的环境规制强度对绿色全要素生产率的影响。研究结果显示:第一,样本期间内,高碳密集产业的环境规制强度远远高于中低碳密集产业,这表明高碳密集产业一直是产业节能减排的重点对象,而碳排放情况较为严重的中碳密集产业则为"被遗忘的角落";第二,强"波特假说"在工业部门内存在产业异质性,高碳密集产业和中碳密集产业的环境规制强度与绿色全要素生产率呈"U"型关系,而在低碳密集产业中两者则呈倒"U"型关系;第三,相对于高碳密集产业,中碳密集产业因环境规制强度较容易跨越"U"型拐点而具有较大的减排空间,低碳密集产业在达到"U"型拐点之前,环境规制为其绿色全要素生产率提升的动力。本文研究结论蕴含如下的政策建议:根据产业的碳密集程度实施针对性的环境规制政策,持续加强中碳密集产业的环境规制力度,适度加强低碳密集产业的环境规制强度,高碳密集产业需根据不同阶段的经济水平设计具有针对性的环境规制政策,逐渐将三类产业的"遵循成本"效应转化为"创新补偿"效应,实现经济增长和环境保护的双赢。     

Integration of DFE and DFMA for the sustainable development of an automotive component

The recent developments in manufacturing organizations recognize sustainability as an important value addition for survival in the competitive scenario. The design engineers are in search of approaches for creating environmental conscious products. The purpose of this paper is to report a research carried out for ensuring sustainable product design by the integration of Design for Environment (DFE) and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) methodologies. In this context, this paper reports a case study carried out in an automotive component. The candidate product is the charge alternator pulley. The existing pulley has been created using Computer Aided Design. Then sustainability analysis was conducted on the existing component for determining environmental impact. This is followed by the engineering analysis of the component using ANSYS. Then conceptual design changes were developed in the proposed product using DFMA concept. Then the environmental impact has been evaluated in terms of carbon footprint, energy consumption and air/water impacts on proposed product. It has been found that the optimized pulley design possesses minimal environmental impact. The result of the case study indicated that the integration of DFE and DFMA concept could initiate new developments in sustainable designs with minimal impact to the environment and it also reduces the product cost.     

Factor input structure,environmental policies,and the export quality upgrade: a perspective of heterogeneity

In the analysis of how environmental regulation affects the comparative advantage of trade, existing literature ignores industry’s inherent heterogeneity, which draws remarkably different conclusions. In view of this, the paper analyzed the mechanism of environmental regulation on the export quality of different industries from the perspective of factor input structure heterogeneity. Based on the panel data of China’s manufacturing industry, the paper used the system generalized method of moments method to examine the heterogeneity influence of environmental regulation on manufacturing export quality. The study found that, first, environmental regulation affected the export quality upgrade of the manufacturing sector through offset effect and compensation effect, and the direction of the impact would mainly depend on the industry’s factor input structure. Second, for industries with larger fixed-asset investment (FAI) ratio in the factor input structure, the current environmental regulation policy was not conducive to the export quality upgrading of the industries. However, there was a significant U-shaped dynamic relationship between them. As environmental regulations became stricter, when regulatory stringency went beyond the inflection point, the policy would promote the upgrading of export quality. But for industries with smaller proportion of FAI, environmental regulation exerted a favorable impact on the export quality upgrade, following a J-shaped marginal growth curve. Third, for industries with different factor input structure, their export quality had been effectively upgraded as expected by factors like human capital investment, independent R&D, technology introduction, and foreign direct investment; but raising per capita capital stock and expanding enterprise size did not produce significant direct impact on export quality upgrade. These conclusions remained robust after using different measurement methods and replacing with other variables. Therefore, this paper suggests that governments should take industry heterogeneity into consideration and formulate differentiated hierarchical environmental policies. Besides, they should strengthen the enforcement of the current environmental regulation policies. By doing so, enterprises are forced to improve their technology and product quality so that they can better cope with rising compliance costs, eliminate backward industries, and resolve excess capacity. In this way, the economic structure would be transformed and upgraded from the supply side.     

Life cycle sustainability assessments (LCSA) of four disposal scenarios for used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in Mauritius

Improper disposal of post-consumer Polythylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles constitutes an eyesore to the environmental landscape and gives rise to numerous environmental and health-related nuisances. These problems impact negatively on the flourishing tourism industry in Mauritius. The present study was therefore undertaken to determine a sustainable disposal method among four selected disposal alternatives of post-consumer PET bottles in Mauritius. The disposal scenarios investigated were: 100 % landfilling (scenario 1); 75 % incineration with energy recovery and 25 % landfilling (scenario 2); 40 % flake production (partial recycling) and 60 % landfilling (scenario 3); and 75 % flake production and 25 % landfilling (scenario 4). Environmental impacts of the disposal alternatives were determined using ISO standardized life cycle assessment (LCA) and the SimaPro 7.1 software. Cost-effectiveness was determined using Life cycle costing (LCC) as described by the recent Code of Practice on LCC. An excel-based model was constructed to calculate the various costs. Social impacts were evaluated using Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) based on the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment. For this purpose, a new and simple social life cycle impact assessment method was developed for aggregating inventory results. Finally, Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) was conducted to conclude the sustainable disposal route of post-consumer PET bottles in Mauritius. The methodology proposed to work out LCSA was to combine the three assessment tools: LCA, LCC and S-LCA using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. The results indicated that scenario 4 was the sustainable disposal method of post-consumer PET bottles. Scenario 1 was found to be the worst scenario.     

Evaluating efforts to build sustainable WEEE reverse logistics network design: comparison of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches

Many developing countries such as Turkey are still making an effort on building an infrastructure for waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) reverse logistic network design (RLND) processes. It is obvious that policies/laws/regulations related to WEEE management provide a sustainable framework for implementation in the RLND. The question is here: Does the implementation of WEEE directives make sense in terms of reducing the total cost of the network in the long term? This study aims to compare regulatory and non-regulatory situations of WEEE RLND in developing countries by formulating two models named as ‘regulatory’ and ‘non-regulatory’. Model 1 is considered as sustainable with economic, environmental and social goals, and the quotas imposed by the environmental directive are taken into consideration as the data of product return amount. In Model 2, only economic goal is considered, and product return amount is forecasted using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). A case study is conducted in a recycling company in order to evaluate performance of the proposed models. This study contributes to the relevant literature by (1) comparing the regulatory and non-regulatory situations RL models explicitly and (2) proposing ANN model to forecast EEE product return or WEEE quantity for non-regulatory situation.     

Environmental impact of two electrical products with reference to the energy-using products directive

High energy consumption is one of the major factors that contributes to global warming. Connected to this, a directive has been approved by the European Union for establishing a legal framework to govern eco-design of energy-using products. This technical note reveals life cycle analysis of two electrical products, which rely on the same rechargeable battery system (i.e. the same energy source) for operations, with respect to the requirements of the aforementioned directive. Results concur with the argument that energy consumption of this sort of product plays a dominant role in terms of a variety of environmental impacts (like emission to air). Based on the results of this study, eco-design alternatives can be derived accordingly so that energy consumption and the existing solution can be benchmarked, as required by the directive.