Eco-design guidelines and eco-knowledge integration in product development process
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Rossi, Marta; Germani, Michele; Mandolini, Marco; Marconi, Marco; Mengoni, Maura; Morbidoni, Alessandro
Series: ICED
Institution: Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
Page(s): 161-170
ISBN: 978-1-904670-48-3
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
The product eco-sustainability is recognized as a key factor for competitive products and recently lots of international directives (guidelines) have been issued. This paper aims to define a new methodology integrated in the product development process that, through the application of the most common eco-design guidelines and design past experiences, supports designers in the development of eco-sustainable products. Eco-design guidelines retrieved from the literature are subdivided according to a well-organized structure in “high level of abstraction” and “high level of detail” ones. In addition, Eco-knowledge is defined as all the choices and their related environmental performances, designers made during the design process of a product. The implementation of the proposed methodology in the product development process of an Italian cooker hood producer, allows to analyze the benefits achievable in terms of product eco-sustainability improvement. This analysis highlights that the proposed approach supports the implementation of eco-design principles, also in those companies without a specific background in eco-design.
Keywords: Eco design, decision making, sustainability, eco-design guidelines, CBR