Sustainability Through Innovation In Product Life Cycle Design

This book consists of chapters based on selected papers presented at the EcoDesign2015 symposium (9th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing). The symposium, taking place in Tokyo in December 2015, has been leading the research and practices of eco-design of products and product-related services since it was first held in 1999. The proceedings of EcoDesign2011 were also published by Springer. Eco-design of products and product-related services (or product life cycle design) are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. This book covers the state of the art of the research and the practices in eco-design, which are necessary in both developed and developing countries. The chapters of the book, all of which were peer-reviewed, have been contributed by authors from around the world, especially from East Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The features of the book include (1) coverage of the latest topics in the field, e.g., global eco-design management, data usage in eco-design, and social perspectives in eco-design; (2) an increased number of authors from Southeast Asian countries, with a greater emphasis on eco-design in emerging economies; (3) high-quality manuscripts, with the number of chapters less than half of that of the previous book.

This volume is a technical and operative contribution to the United Nations "Decade on Education for Sustainable Development" (2005-2014), aiding the development of a new generation of designers, responsible and able in the task of designing environmentally sustainable products. The book provides a comprehensive framework and a practical tool to support the design process. This is an important text for those interested in the product development processes.

Life cycle design is understood as "to develop" (to plan, to calculate, to define, to draw) a holistic concept for the entire life cycle of a product". Life cycle design means a one time planning during the concept phase of a product in which the pathway of a product over the entire life cycle is determined. So e.g. the planning of possible services for a product during its utilization phase, the way of material recycling, how and which parts can be reused, how the logistics for recycling will be organised or how the product can be used afterwards. So it is a conceptual pre-design of all later activities over the life cycle. By this understanding the book delivers a really holistic approach because before a product is physically made a life-long concept and utilization scenarios with closed material and information cycles have to be developed. This promotes a real "thinking in product (life) cycles". The book addresses professionals as well as researchers and students in the field of product life cycle management. Different methods in the field of product design, operation and recycling will be presented and finally merge to an integrated method of product life cycle design. Readers will benefit from the holistic approach which enables them to design successful products by the implementation of closed loop product life cycles.

The focus of this book is the consideration of environmental issues in engineering process and product design. It presents a selection of 30 papers ensuing from the 12th CIRP International seminar on Life Cycle Engineering. This book is of interest to academics, students and practitioners, specializing in environmental issues in mechanical engineering, design and manufacturing. This volume is recommended as a reference textbook for all researchers in the field.

This 2-volume book covers the state-of-the-art of the research and practices on eco-design. It covers the latest topics in the field: e.g. global eco-design management, big data in eco-design, social perspectives in eco-design; as well as emphasizing the developments in emerging economies such as Asian countries. Eco-design of products and product-related services are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. Eco-design practices are necessary both in developed countries and developing countries. The book chapters are contributed by the worldwide authors, especially authors from East Asian countries, European countries, and Southeast Asian countries, and contains selected presentations at the EcoDesign2017 symposium (10th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing). The second volume focus on assessment and management, including topics such as sustainable manufacturing and End of Life (EOL) management, sustainability assessment, policy and regulations and Incentives for eco-design.

This open access book provides insight into the implementation of Life Cycle approaches along the entire business value chain, supporting environmental, social and economic sustainability related to the development of industrial technologies, products, services and policies; and the development and management of smart agricultural systems, smart mobility systems, urban infrastructures and energy for the built environment. The book is based on papers presented at the 8th International Life Cycle Management Conference that took place from September 3-6, 2017 in Luxembourg, and which was organized by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the University of Luxembourg in the framework of the LCM Conference Series.

Green engineering involves the designing, innovation, and commercialization of products and processes which promote sustainability without eliminating both efficiency and economic viability. This handbook focuses on sustainable development through green engineering and technology. It is intended to address the applications and issues involved in their practical implementation. A new range of renewable-energy technologies, modified to provide green engineering, will be described in this handbook. It will explore all green technologies required to provide green engineering for the future.These include, but are not limited to, green smart buildings, fuel-efficient transportation, paperless offices, and many more energy-efficient measures. Handbook of Sustainable Development through Green Engineering and Technology acts as a comprehensive reference book to use when identifying development for programs and sustainable initiatives within the current legislative framework. It aims to be of great interest to researchers, faculty members, and students across the globe.

The world manufacturing companies operate in is changing. In the past, these companies relied on the design and sale of products. Today, this linear model of business is becoming increasingly insufficient. As customers are more and more focused on their core business, buying and operating machinery and other goods becomes unattractive to them. In response to this, manufacturing companies are expanding their value capture into additional stages of the product lifecycle by providing integrated offerings of products and services — Product-Service Systems (PSSs). Designing and providing PSSs is fundamentally different from traditional product sales. Expanding to become a PSS provider is, therefore, challenging for companies with a history of designing and selling products. Departing from this, it is the aim of this thesis to support manufacturing companies in their expansion to effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs. The research reported has both descriptive and prescriptive properties, reflecting the goals of understanding the status quo in manufacturing companies’ practice and providing support based on this. To establish a point of departure, the current design and provision of two manufacturing companies expanding their business towards PSSs was investigated. From this, an in-depth understanding of the status quo and a number of challenges emerged. Based on this, the research had the goal to contribute to identifying and developing solutions to these challenges, with an initial focus on methods supporting PSS design and provision. However, although methods fitting to the challenges identified exist, they appear to receive limited uptake in manufacturing companies’ practice. In order to improve their practical utility, a structured method is proposed to assist users in both academia and practice in developing methods in a requirements-oriented fashion. The utility of methods in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of PSS design and provision is thereby to be enhanced. A particular challenge for manufacturing companies expanding to become PSS providers is the change in how value is captured: Resulting from the extensive involvement throughout the lifecycle, a need for a broader, multidimensional understanding of value capture was identified. However, the manufacturing companies investigated have been found to experience challenges in grasping this change, with a focus on a product sales-centric understanding of value capture remaining prevalent. To support companies towards reaping the benefits of the expansion to PSS design and provision, methods to explore how value is currently created and captured in the use phase and how to enhance the future value capture based on that information in the design phase have been developed and applied. As a result, broadly relevant value dimensions were attained, aiming to facilitate a lifecycle-focused, effective, and efficient design and provision of PSSs. Eventually, to broaden the understanding of effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs in practice today, the potential contributions of real-world PSSs to a circular economy were investigated based on an existing framework. The result was ambiguous, indicating both advancements compared to traditional sales and substantial room for improvement, particularly with a focus on the absolute decoupling of economic activity and resource use. Based on the synthesis of the research results, manufacturing companies are supported in their expansion to effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs — and towards a promising future.