Analysis of the impact of technology changes on the economic and environmental influence of product life-cycle design

Abstract

A holistic approach to assessing product life-cycle design is critical to ensure economic and environmental sustainability of the manufacturing industry. The limitation of current practice in assessing products based on functional unit is that they do not consider the influence of technology that can deliver a range of functionalities altering the economic and environmental impacts. Also, assessments are focused on products but do not consider the total volume supplied to the market. Therefore, this article presents a conceptual framework aiming to provide a better visibility on the economic and environmental impacts both at the product and the market levels. By identifying the upper environmental limit through the chosen reference product generation, the framework identifies the allowable volume or further improvement required to not exceed the environmental impact of previous generation. The proposed framework is validated through two case studies which show that further product improvements are necessary when volume is considered.

Keywords:

• life-cycle design
• technology
• sustainability
• holistic analysis
• design for the environment
• sustainable development
• technology management