"Sustainability calls for a complete overhaul of every sector of production. That means that in the next 10 to 20 years, every process, every factory, every logistics system, every product, every service is going to have to be completely rethought from a sustainability standpoint. It's an incredible opportunity. I don't think there has been a similar opportunity since the end of the Second World War and the transformation of industry from military to consumer."
Is Béhar’s thinking too radical? Is it too much to imagine that in the next decade, we can expect to see dramatic changes in the way that products are conceived and designed, manufactured and delivered? Will manufacturing, by design, be less wasteful and more environmentally-friendly? Will products increasingly be more energy-efficient, and be characterized by more responsible use/reuse of materials? In general – will products be designed with more than “faster, better, cheaper” metrics in mind? In the coming decade, will design decisions increasingly take into account environmental and social impacts, as well as profitability?
Perhaps the best way to respond to these questions is to point to a number of recent developments that promise to pave the way to more sustainable product design and manufacturing:
- At its very core, product design is undergoing a transformation. Conventional ways of viewing and analyzing product performance are being challenged. New approaches to product design and development are being introduced, and increasingly, sustainability – taking the path that quality did decades ago – will be viewed as a design requirement. Within the coming year, even classic textbooks such as Ulrich and Eppinger’s Product Design and Development textbook will begin to reflect this change and will include new chapters on materials selection, product lifecycle analysis and more.Engineering software and services are evolving to support sustainable product design. From digital prototyping/CAD (computer-aided design) to PDM (product data management) and PLM (product lifecycle management), engineering software is being updated to support sustainable design principles, or paired with third party applications that will. Sustainability is taking on a new and important role - new modules are being developed to simplify the sustainable design process, and new tools to aid in such tasks as materials selection, "up-front" lifecycle assessment, and carbon/water impact analysis are being introduced.
- Market demand for safer, greener, more sustainable products is growing – both at the consumer-level and by industry. Both consumers and industry are becoming more aware of the health and safety risks posed by such factors as chemical toxicity, and as a result, are increasingly opting for safer, more sustainable alternatives. Product recalls have also heightened awareness of the potential risks posed by the presence of "hidden" hazardous substances or toxic materials originating from a supplier, driving the need for supply chain transparency. At the same time, few are willing to pay a price premium for safer, less toxic, more eco-friendly products, making it necessary for manufacturers to be able to – as a given – develop greener, safer, more sustainable products, cost-effectively.
It’s all part of next-generation product design, a topic that is explored in greater detail in our upcoming research study, “Sustainability and the Product Lifecycle: A Report on the Opportunities, Challenges and Best Practices for Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing.”
Do you have what it takes to design sustainable products? Or wish you did? Tell us more. By taking this short survey, you’ll be helping to shed light on this very important – and often highly debated – topic. Whether you’re a sustainability expert or just beginning your journey – your feedback is invaluable.
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