Paper proposal: Sustainable Innovation 05. Christian Mclening
10th International Conference.
This proposed paper is based on current Phd research by Mr Christian Mclening.
Senior lecturer: Product Design BSc. Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. High Wycombe. United Kingdom.
Supervisors: Dr Trevor Dixon & Dr Lyndon Buck.
Developing a new SPDS: Sustainable Product Design Specification tool.
Product Designers often use a Product Design Specification or PDS(1) as a tool to develop new products. By using a PDS the designer can ensure all factors of the new product have been addressed, using the tool to evaluate the design and indeed compare against other products. Below is an example of Stuart Pugh’s PDS(1):
The big challenge facing new product development involves the issue of sustainability. ISO14062: Environmental management-Integrating environmental aspects into product design and development(2) introduces a whole new approach to developing products and issues of DFE-Design for Environment all feed into this change.
The PDS has been an effective tool thus far but as changes in the way products are manufactured, used, and de-commissioned so the design tool needs to reflect and adapt to these changes, bringing the old PDS in-line with ISO14062 and DFE-Design for environment issues.
Designers are also bringing other tools into their development process, such as Sima Pro LCA lifecycle assessment software(3). These tools are often used in a cut-down form to gain quick, rough figures.
Sprout Design(4) employ their own ‘Sprout index’ system in conjunction with a cut down LCA to get fast, fairly accurate results combining their own sustainable design agenda. (The sprout index was presented at the Sustainable Innovation 04. 9th International Conference).
HEFCE: The Higher Education Funding Council for England, has identified the need for a holistic, sustainable approach throughout Higher Education in the UK. Their consultation paper entitled: Sustainable development in higher education 2005(5) highlights the importance of curriculum design as a way to imbed sustainable issues at the centre of design students practice.
The great advantage of using a PDS is that it forces designers to look into all the issues of a design; weight, cost, maintenance, ergonomics, etc, while giving a structure to the work allowing creative solutions to be developed in an efficient framework that can be easily tracked and evaluated.
What is needed is a revised PDS tool that incorporates the valuable elements of the traditional PDS but also addresses the issues of the ISO14000 range of guidelines, putting sustainability at the very core of the tool. Jessica Lagerstedt has looked at improving the PDS-based design process to make it more environmentally conscious in her paper ‘Advancement in product design strategies in early phases of design-balancing environmental impact and functionality’(6).
By re-evaluating a number of design tools built around the idea of a Product Specification and combining these with up to date factors/issues, then a new tool can be developed that does not lose the valuable points from older models but brings them together with new a future sustainable issues. Several other theories and approaches can also be brought into the mix, with work from McDonough & Braungart(7) bringing ‘technical nutrients’ to the attention of designers with their book Cradle to cradle and their work with Ford motor company (Ford Model U concept vehicle).
Another source is the work of Ursula Tischner with her eco-design tools for SME’s that also needs to be drawn from to bring depth and breadth to the new SPDS. With this new, all encompassing SPDS tool it is hoped designers will avoid the need to try and compile their own mixture of design approaches.
This new SPDS: Sustainable Product Design Specification would then be the ideal tool to introduce into university design courses giving the students a single tool which can help them develop new sustainable products.
Sustainable design methods should not be simplified so as to make them too general and un-useable but it should be recognised that product designers are best placed to apply methods that suit each situation for each company whilst working within ISO14062. In this way designers can create a customised sustainable approach best suited for the company and its products.
References:
1. Pugh. S. (1991) Total Design, integrated methods for successful product engineering. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. UK.
2. British Standards (2002) ISO/TR 14062:2002 Environmental management-Integrating environmental aspects into product design and development. British Standards Institute.
3. Sima Pro 6 Lifecycle assessment software by Pre Consultants: lifecycle tools to improve environmental performance & sustainability :http//www.pre.nl. Netherlands.
4. Brown. R. (2004) Dematerialization: an intuitive strategy for designers to help reduce the environmental impact of new products-Paper presented at Sustainable Innovation 04 Creating sustainable products, services & product-services systems towards sustainable product design. 9th International conference. Sprout Design Ltd. Farnham, Surrey, UK.
5. HEFCE (2005) Sustainable development in higher education-consultation on a support strategy and action plan. HEFCE-Higher Education Funding Council for England. UK
6. Lagerstedt. J. (2000) Advancement in product design strategies in early phases of design-balancing environmental impact and functionality. Dept of Machine Design, Royal Institute of Technology. Stockholm, Sweden.
7. McDonough W. & Braungart M (2002) Cradle to cradle, remaking the way we make things. North Point Press. New York. USA.
8. Tischner U: Director of ec(o)ncept: agency for ecology and design advice. Germany. http//www.econcept.org.