Eco-design Gets a Boost from Autodesk, Granta Partnership

“Better, faster, cheaper…” Sound familiar? For decades now, and even – perhaps centuries – these words have guided product designers and engineers in their quest to deliver the right products to market, gain market share and drive revenue growth.

But, increasingly manufactureres are getting the message -- it's what's inside that counts.

Today, it’s simply not enough to optimize designs in terms of price/performance alone. Instead, such criteria as materials toxicity, energy efficiency, carbon footprint, and water footprint must figure into the equation as well. That’s where sustainable product design – which takes a more holistic approach to product development - can help.

Sustainable product design, however, requires new approaches to educating and equipping the next generation of engineers and designers. Fortunately, we’ve begun to see a rise in both technology to support this effort, and sustainable engineering programs and curriculums in universities and training programs to bridge this gap in understanding.

For example, as part of an effort to help engineers and designers more effectively incorporate sustainable materials during product development, Autodesk recently announced an important new partnership with leading materials information technology provider, Granta Design, Ltd. The goal? To simplify the process for specifying suitable, safe and eco-friendly materials during the product design phase – making it easier for industrial designers, mechanical engineers and others to create products through sustainable design.

According to the announcement, the companies will be working together to integrate Granta’s eco design methods into Autodesk software, helping designers to estimate the environmental impact of a product and make more sustainable design decisions. Ultimately, such technology could prove to be of great value in helping companies to both anticipate and avoid the risks and penalties associated with the use of materials that might later be identified as hazardous or restricted, as well.

Indeed, managing restricted substances during product design has become increasingly important for manufacturers. As noted by Grant Design’s Kim Marshall and David Cebon in a presentation made earlier this year:

Restricted substances legislation, such as the European Union's REACH regulation, create major challenges for engineering enterprises.  They impose stringent compliance and reporting requirements on companies.  They also introduce significant risk of withdrawal of substances and consequent obsolescence of mission-critical materials, ‘preparations’ (coatings, cleaning agents, working fluids, etc) and manufacturing processes that use them.  This can affect current products: where it can necessitate expensive materials substitution and re-qualification of components.  It can also affect the design of future products: where it is essential to avoid using substances that may become obsolete in future.  Shipping products containing banned substances – knowingly or not – can have severe legal and financial consequences for companies and responsible individuals, and can present substantial risk to business continuity.

Earlier this month, Autodesk also introduced the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop , a new online portal that offers free sustainability resources and educational content. Aimed at mechanical engineers and educators, the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop features lessons that illustrate the principles and practice of sustainable design, such as Whole Systems Design and Lightweighting.

As Jeremy Faludi, a lecturer for the Joint Program in Design at Stanford University and collaborator on the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop puts it, “Thinking back five years ago, or even one year ago, mechanical engineering students didn’t have good resources available to think about sustainable design practices.  This Workshop provides students with inspiration, technical depth on implementation, and innovative sustainable design strategies.”

It’s all part of next-generation product design, a topic that is explored in greater detail in the related research study, “Sustainability and the Product Lifecycle: A Report on the Opportunities, Challenges and Best Practices for Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing.” So, stay tuned. We’ll be providing updates and an opportunity to participate in the research in the weeks and months ahead.

To learn more, see:

Autodesk and Granta Partner to Help Enable Sustainable Product Design

Autodesk Introduces Free Sustainability Resources for Engineering Students, Educators