Semi-quantitative method for task planning in product eco-design

Ensuring the environmental sustainability of products is challenging because it involves all the stages and processes throughout product life cycle. Product eco-design is essential to achieve it. In the proposed methodology, product eco-design is implemented based on five eco-design elements, namely, function, material, geometric structure, connection relationship and manufacturing process. However, because of the fragmentation of existing eco-design tools, the gap between eco-design evaluation and eco-design optimisation requires a new mechanism to seamlessly integrate them for efficient industrial applications. A new checklist tool called Checklist of Product Eco-design Optimisation Potential (CPEOP) is developed to assess product eco-design optimisation potential. Based on the new tool, optimisation effect of product eco-design can be quantitatively assessed. Furthermore, a novel semi-quantitative method for task planning in product eco-design is proposed, which involves evaluating the product with CPEOP, screening candidates for eco-design and determining the candidates’ optimisation directions. The uncertainties arising from CPEOP and enterprise design status quo are further analysed. Subsequently, a case study on a refrigerator is conducted to elucidate the process of the method and reveal its potential. The proposed method is then discussed through a comparison with two mainstream eco-design tools.     

Strategic evolution of eco-products: a product life cycle planning methodology

This paper presents a methodology and a software tool to establish an eco-design concept of a product and its life cycle by assigning appropriate life cycle options to the components of the product. The product life cycle planning (LCP) methodology provides the following systematic procedures. First, the medium- or long-term production and collection plan for the product family is clarified. Next, target values for the product and its life cycle are set in the process of determination of customer-oriented specification and eco-specification. Then, eco-solution ideas to realize reasonable resource circulation are generated by using various life cycle option analysis charts. Finally, an eco-design concept which involves eco-solution ideas is evaluated for decision-making at early stages of product development. A design support tool was made for efficiently planning product life cycles by using quality function deployment and life cycle assessment data. Based on case studies, it was verified that the proposed methodology and tool are useful for developing multi-generational eco-products.     

水泥工业生态化及其相关的技术和设备

主要提出了水泥工厂生态设计,介绍了生态设计的定义、原则、范围、内容、设计方法等,重点讲述了水泥生态化与相关技术、设备的关系,同时还介绍了水泥工厂生态设计的实例。作者认为:传统水泥工业向生态化转型,即从不可持续发展的传统工业转向可持续发展的生态工业,意味着水泥工业正在努力实现与资源、环境、经济和社会的全面协调发展。水泥工业的范畴属于粉体工程,水泥产品及生产过程的环境特性在很大程度上决定于设计阶段,而水泥工业生态设计就是要把生态环境意识贯穿或渗透到水泥产品和生产工艺的设计之中。     

Strategic eco-design map of the complex products: toward visualisation of the design for environment

With growing sustainability and environmental concerns regarding the products, decision-makers and business managers need to integrate sustainability into business strategies and support it via systematic business processes and decision support tools. With the integration of the eco-efficiency attributes to the product development, more data should be analysed in engineering design. This integration also increases the complexity of the design process due to the large volume of data processing and diversity of the different attributes and features of the products. In this paper, we used the stock market metaphor to develop a visual data mining approach to the strategic eco-design assessment of the complex products. We presented a fresh framework using clustering and visualisation techniques to analyse the eco-efficiency profile of the different modules, components and parts of a complex product, and provide an efficient data exploration tool for decision-makers to facilitate processing of eco-design attributes, and strategic objectives at the same time. An illustrative example is provided to show the procedure of the application and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

A framework for the design of knowledge management systems in eco-design

Eco-design is becoming a crucial challenge for many companies. The effective integration of environmental concerns into design is linked to the development of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS). In this context, this paper proposes a framework to support the design of KMS for eco-design. This framework consists of two complementary parts linked to the main knowledge management strategies that KMS generally support. The first part of the framework concerns codification strategy and relies on an eco-design process reference model and the related adaptation of the GAMETH^® method used to locate and evaluate crucial knowledge systematically. The second part of the framework concerns the personalisation strategy. In this paper we propose to exploit the community of practice (CoP) theory by: (1) proposing guidelines defining the structural features of CoPs and (2) adapting a tool landscape providing insight on CoP instrumentation. Both guidelines support the setting up of a specific CoP. The exploitation of the framework is illustrated on a real case study.     

Incorporating linear programing and life cycle thinking into environmental sustainability decision-making: a case study on anchovy canning industry

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool to support environmental informed decisions among product and process alternatives. LCA results reflect the process stage contributions to several environmental impacts, which should be made mutually comparable to help in the decision-making process. Aggregated environmental indexes enable the translation of this set of metrics into a one final score, by defining the attached weights to impacts. Weighting values reflect the corresponding relevance assigned to each environmental impact. Current weighing schemes are based on pre-articulation of preferences, without considering the specific features of the system under study. This paper presents a methodology that combines LCA methodology and linear programming optimisation to determine the environmental improvement actions that conduct to a more sustainable production. LCA was applied using the environmental sustainability assessment methodology to obtain two main indexes: natural resources (NR) and environmental burdens (EB). Normalised indexes were optimised to determine the optimal joint of weighting factors that lead to an optimised global Environmental Sustainability Index. The proposed methodology was applied to a food sector, in particular, to the anchovy canning industry in Cantabria Region (Northern Spain). By maximising the objective function composed of NR and EB variables, it is possible to find the optimal joint of weights that identify the best environmental sustainable options. This study proves that LCA can be applied in combination with linear programing tools as a part of the decision-making process in the development of more sustainable processes and products.     

How to shift 100,000 products toward sustainability: creating a sustainable assortment at Haberkorn

Haberkorn is Austria’s biggest industrial wholesaler with ~1,000 employees and an annual turnover of about 260 Mill €. The range of goods consists of about 100,000 articles. Their goal: A sustainable assortment. The challenge: Assessing all the products and defining a sustainable product line. Goal and challenge are based on a corporate decision made by the management board: sustainability should meet the core business. As a scientific and implementation partner Haberkorn chose the Austrian Institute of Ecology. It is obvious that Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for 100,000 articles are hardly feasible. Hence, a special screening tool for estimating the sustainability potential on product group level in a quick and efficient way had to be developed. The screening tool consists of three categories to be rated: risks, chances, and strategic impact. Product groups with a high score are chosen for further treatment as “sustainability candidates.” In addition, a questionnaire concerning the sustainability performance, knowledge about the supply chain, and willingness to cooperate was sent to all suppliers, and basic facts concerning environmental, health, safety, and social aspects of the major materials used in the products were compiled (material manual). All product line managers have used the screening to detect the sustainability potential of their product groups, and the coached assessment process on individual product basis has started successfully. The next steps consist of the transformation process of sustainability candidates into a sustainability assortment and the evaluation process of high risk articles. This ought to result in improvement or potential elimination of products which jeopardize the user’s health, generate environmental damages, are produced under poor working conditions, etc.     

Application of fuzzy quality function deployment for sustainable design of consumer electronics products: a case study

With a steep increase in the demand for consumer electronics products, the contemporary manufacturers are committed toward sustainable development of such products. There exists a scope for developing a methodology for enabling sustainable development of consumer electronics products. In this context, fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) approach has been presented in this article in order to prioritize relevant customer requirements, sustainability parameters and sustainability initiatives. Key influential parameters for sustainable development of consumer electronics products have been identified from the literature. In the first phase of fuzzy QFD, parameters influencing sustainable development have been prioritized in accordance with customer requirements. In the second phase, environmental design initiatives have been prioritized based on critical sustainability parameters. From phase I of fuzzy QFD, ‘reduction in environmental release’ has been found as the most significant sustainability parameter with a crisp value of 22.83, and from phase II, environmental impact assessment is proved to be the significant design method with a crisp value of 20.40. The methodology would provide a comprehensive understanding to practitioners on the interrelationships among customer requirements, sustainability parameters and environmentally benign initiatives for development of consumer electronic products. The generic model developed can be applied to most of the consumer electronics product     

Complementarity of circular economy practices: an empirical analysis of Chinese manufacturers

In recent years, circular economy (CE) is receiving increasing attention worldwide and is intended to integrate economic activity and environmental wellbeing in a sustainable way. The CE mainly focuses on both the front (eco-design, ECO) and back ends (reverse activities, RA) of operations and production at the firm level. However, what is missing in the literature are the synergistic effects between the two practices on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Drawing on systems theory, this paper used panel data of Chinese manufacturing firms over the period from 2013 to 2015 that was collected from Chinese Research Data Services Platform (CNRDS) and Rankins CSR Ratings (RKS) databases and performed a series of regression tests to see whether complementarity exists between them and their effects on CSR performance. The results show significant complementarity between ECO and RA in improving CSR performance. Furthermore, building on systems theory, three kinds of enablers are identified as essential for promoting the interaction of subsystems and the complementarity of ECO and RA, including CSR vision as an internal enabler within the system, an environmental management system as a system regulation, and supply chain cooperation as an external enabler from the environment.     

Integrated sustainability assessment for chemical processes

Policies on sustainable development have resulted in the wide concern about economic, safety, and environmental-friendly chemical production. This work focuses on the development of a holistic methodology that enables the evaluation and comparison of process sustainability in an integrated system. This methodology is proposed based on material and energy flows, process parameters, and process configuration. It uses a set of criteria, including inherent safety, potential environmental impact, and economic aspects. These criteria as the basis for determining the integrated index can be used to perform sustainability assessment for process alternatives under investigation. The multi-criteria decision analysis procedure is presented to conduct the integrated assessment based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. As a case study, ethanol production process, i.e., ethylene-derived feedstock process (A1) and straw cellulose-derived feedstock process (A2) are used to illustrate the proposed methodology. Results showed that A1 had advantage over A2 for the economic aspect while A2 had better performance in the environmental and safety aspects. A2 is the prior option from the point of view of comprehensive evaluation.     

Sustainable manufacturing: a case study of the forklift painting process

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and design for environment (DFE) methods were applied to assess opportunities for reducing the environmental impacts of forklift manufacturing unit processes and to redesign those unit processes to increase overall sustainability. The unit processes of forklift manufacture generating the most environmental emissions were identified by applying LCA methodology. The results show that eco-toxicity and human toxicity were the most significant impacts of the forklift manufacturing process overall. Also, within the manufacturing unit processes, cutting, welding and painting had the highest impact values. In order to minimise environmental impacts, a new paint was created with increased solid content over the existing solvent paint used in the painting process. In addition, by applying DFE methodology and the high solid paint, overcoat and drying steps were eliminated from the forklift painting process. As a result, the environmental index of a follow-up LCA showed that environmental impacts could be reduced by 20%, while volatile organic compound (VOC) and paint usage could be decreased by 30% and 20%, respectively.     

Environmental performance of a cork floating floor

The objective of this study is to evaluate of the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing process of a cork floating floor, produced in Portugal, in order to identify the most significant stages and processes (hotspots) with the aim of improving the manufacturing process and the sustainability of the product.Life Cycle Assessment methodology is used by applying a cradle-to-gate approach. The results show that the stage with the highest environmental impact is the assembling stage (where all the product’s components are assembled) mainly due to the production of high density fiberboard.Additionally, the present study discusses the currently hot and controversial issue of biogenic carbon considering its storage in products and emission delay. For this part of the study a cradle-to-gate approach was adopted and three leading methodologies were compared, namely, Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard, Publicly Available Specifications 2050 and the International Reference Life Cycle Data System. The results show that the choice of methodology has an important influence on the results obtained both for biogenic carbon dioxide emissions and carbon storage. This highlights the need for the establishment of a common methodology for the calculation of biogenic carbon, not only for the homogeneity of the guidelines but also for the ease of comparing results.     

A methodological framework for the triple bottom line accounting and management of industry enterprises

Since the 1970s the purpose of the environmental protection campaign has been to try to halt the gradual deterioration of our natural habitat. Reactive and pro-active strategies were developed to incorporate environmental and social concerns into economic development beyond regulatory compliance. In this research, we present a methodology to support the new era of sustainable development for all the three areas, which implements the triple bottom line (TBL) accounting mechanism by using quantitative models. A broad TBL framework is developed to track and categorize sustainability information at the corporate level through a sustainability index system. A ‘sustainability optimization’ model incorporates environmental and social costs and values into economic activities to support the decisions of the management. This methodology can help decision makers to make ‘green’ plans, and provide strategic directions for future development.     

An integrated sustainability performance assessment and benchmarking of breweries

Breweries are responding to some sustainability challenges but many of them find sustainability assessment and reporting to be very complex, difficult, and time-consuming tasks. Despite several existing frameworks for the sustainability assessment of companies, none of them specifically addresses breweries. They do not provide them with a transparent, comprehensive, and integrated approach to sustainability assessment, adjusted to the particular circumstances of traditional beer production. In view of these requirements by the brewing industry, this article aims to support breweries in sustainability assessment activities by proposing a methodology for integrated performance assessment. This methodology proposes environmental, societal, economic, and integrated indicators reflecting the characteristics of the brewing industry, compatible with those general indicators proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Although it is important to assess sustainability using several indicators, it may sometimes be difficult to make decisions based on a wide number of performance measurements. Thus, the proposed methodology gradually aggregates sustainable development indicators into sustainability sub-indices and, finally, to a composite sustainability index that tracks integrated information on the economic, environmental, and societal performances of a brewery over time. They can be used both internally, for the identification of “hot spots” and externally, for sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement. Since breweries strive to outperform their competitors, the proposed methodology enables the benchmarking of a brewery against best performance practices, as a catalyst for improvement and innovation, by providing benchmark values for each indicator. The case study presented in this article illustrates how the proposed methodology could be easily applied in practice, and stimulates breweries to test their effectiveness themselves.     

Sustainable packaging design: a holistic methodology for packaging design

This study describes a holistic methodology for sustainable packaging design. This methodology studies the combined systems of packaging and the packaged products across the whole distribution chain from manufacturer to end consumer and the life cycle from raw material extraction to the waste phase. It contains a number of indicators that are grouped into the following main categories: environmental sustainability, distribution costs, product protection, market acceptance and user friendliness. The methodology integrates a number of different analytical methods. It is intended to be used in packaging design and optimisation, for idea generation, decision support and as documentation of properties of existing packaging systems. The study describes experiences with the methodology from one case study in the Norwegian Food Industry. The experiences show that the methodology is very comprehensive, and gives a good overview of the properties of a packaging solution. It enables quantitative comparisons between different packaging solutions throughout the design process. The methodology reduces the risk of implementing sub‐optimal packaging solutions. An additional benefit of the methodology is gained by working in cross‐functional teams. One potential drawback is that the methodology can be resource and data intensive. The methodology can be used as a tool box in packaging design, i.e. it is not necessary to use all methods and quantify all indicators to gain benefit. However, all indicators and requirements should be evaluated and considered. In all cases, it should be considered to include additional indicators if important sustainability issues have not been addressed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The environmental bill of material and technology routing: an integrated LCA approach

This paper deals with the environmental bill of material and technology routing: evaluating components and process impacts on the environmental strategy map through an integrated LCA approach. It introduces these two new elements in the definition of new approaches to complement environmental and financial considerations into a single sustainability indicator. The basic idea presented is that each component of a specific product has a certain environmental burden and consequently contributes to the environmental footprints. Those contributions are identified as environmental performance points (EPP). When an item is routed through different technology processes to build the final product, it keeps contributing to the overall environmental burden. These contributions are again identified as EPP. The sum of all EPPs, categorized by footprints, provides the basis for creation of the characteristic environmental performance strategy map, previously developed by the authors of this paper. This new approach allows wide flexibility: the impact of changing a component, material or a production process will be reflected immediately on the map.     

An AHP-based multi-criteria model for assessment of the social sustainability of technology management process: A case study in banking industry

The abrupt development of technology has confronted different industries' managers with crucial decision points. The scope of their decisions' impact goes beyond their companies' borders. Sustainable assessment of technology investigates the economic, environmental, and social effects of technologies on firms and their environment. Nonetheless, the technology management process includes different steps (such as technology acquisition and exploitation) which need a comprehensive decision-making tool toward sustainable development targets. This paper aims to propose an integrated decision-making model to investigate the social sustainability of the technology management process. Considering three main steps of the technology management process (technology selection, technology acquisition, and technology exploitation), we constructed our model utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as one of the most popular decision-making tools. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the model, we implemented it for E-banking technologies in one of the oldest banks of Iran (Iran's AgriBank). The results indicated that internet banking, internal R&D, and internal exploitation are the best decision alternatives among the technology management process from the social sustainability perspective. The results were validated by calculating the Consistency Rate (CR) and performing scenario-based sensitivity analysis.     

Framework for Sustainable Food Packaging Design

The environmental impacts of packages have been found to be relatively small compared with the food items they contain. Furthermore, from the environmental and operational point of view, the most significant task of the package is to protect the product, which is important to acknowledge in the packaging design process. This study introduces a guiding framework for designing sustainable food packaging. In this approach, the entire life cycle of the product–package combination is taken into consideration. The emphasis is on the prevention of food losses in packaging design as a major environmental criterion. Consideration of the properties of both the package and the product itself when designing the final package will lead to a better end result with smaller product losses and environmental impacts. By using different assessment methods in the different stages of the packaging design, the sustainability of the package can be enhanced. The decision making of the packaging designer is facilitated with methods that are introduced step by step and in a certain order that will also allow for corrective measures through back‐loops in the design process. The purpose is to integrate sustainability aspects at all stages firmly into the design process. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An integrated product service system modelling methodology with a case study of clothing industry

Product-service system (PSS) is a business model designed to help enterprises achieve servitisation. PSS not only considers service-oriented logic to increase product value but also supports enterprises with waste reduction. An increasing number of studies have emphasised PSS development. However, much of the literature remains focused on separate development phases, such as idea generation or a specific product or industry application. An integrative system modelling methodology designed to help companies formulate a complete scenario is absent. This study provides a methodology for developing a systematic and complete PSS strategy. It combines failure modes and effects and importance-performance analysis to identify potential customer needs. A service-product development matrix and a product-service life cycle analysis are developed. Following the service concepts generation, grey relational analysis and scenario analysis are utilised to evaluate the alternatives. A case study involving the clothing industry was conducted to test the proposed approach. Results indicate the methodology can help service providers identify existing problems and develop service alternatives systematically. These alternatives can then be evaluated and the scenario which achieves the highest profitability, is the most environmental friendly, and is the most social friendly can be identified.