Integrating Design and Manufacturing Considerations Towards Sustainable Decision Making

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The research objective of this award is to address challenges within sustainable design by developing and validating a novel methodology that enables correlation of product functions and life cycle environmental impacts. The new method enables quantitative environmental impact measurements taken during downstream product lifecycle stages to be projected onto the early design phase. The research tasks include: 1) developing a new function-impact (FIM) and process/material impact (PIM) method for allocating life cycle environmental impacts to product functions during early design; 2) developing a probabilistic model to study the uncertainties and subjectivity within the FIM in addition to the uncertainties related to design decision making with regards to sustainability; and 3) validating the FIM and PIM methods with real-world case studies and integrate them with current industrial practices.If successful, this research will allow product designers to develop a more proactive approach with regards to considering environmental sustainability within the product life cycle. Possible categorization of entire product systems in terms of environmental impact will allow designers to reuse knowledge for developing greener products. Dissemination of sustainable design practices to engineering students is among the primary goals of this project. Students exposed to results from this research will have the capability to practice state-of-the art environment-friendly design and manufacturing tools as engineers and serve as proponents for sustainable product development in their organizations. It is hoped that over the long term, the research, education, and dissemination efforts conducted will greatly facilitate a paradigm shift where sustainable thinking, including materials and process, will be a natural part of the design decision making process.