Project Sustainable Design

Management
Re-considering product design: a
practical road-map for integration of
sustainability issues
Wa a g e , S . A . ( 2 0 0 7 )
Journal of Cleaner Production, 15, 638 -649

Outline
1.

2.
3.

4.
5.

6.

Introduction
Corporate product design processes
State of the sustainability decision-making and
assessment method
Pathways forward for product designers and
business decision-makers
Adapting the product development process
Next steps

1. Introduction(1)
The proliferation of sustainability principles, strategies,

actions, and tools has created confusion about pathways

forward for companies.
The wide range of details and decisions that managers and
designers must address if they are to integrate sustainability
and corporate social responsibility (CSR) (
) into product decision-making is immense.
This paper proposed a framework for understanding the
interrelations between a range of sustainability principles,
strategies, actions, and tools, and suggested criteria for
considering products in terms of sustainability and CSR
principles that draw on a system-based and lifecycleoriented approach.
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1. Introduction (2)
Invited specialists from academia, businesses, government, and research

organizations. (,,)focus on
principles, strategies, actions, and tools (,,) for
integrating environmental and social factors into product assessment.
Participants discussed current work on sustainability, material and
product issues along with criteria, characteristic, and actions for
business managers and product designers for integrating sustainability
into decision-making processes.
Existed challenges

Insufficient data
Lack of agreement on criteria
Difficulty in considering cumulative impacts

2. Corporate product design processes

The design stage is a key point at which to introduce

sustainability considerations because decisions at this stage
determine more than 70% of the costs of product
development, manufacture, and use and have a significant
impact on end-of-life management of a product. (
70%)
Typical design process is constrained () by three
factors:
1.
2.

3.

Specifications for the product/service ()

Cost, schedule, available materials and processes, aesthetics,
and market considerations (,,,
)
Knowledge and experience of the designers (
)
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Successive phases involved in a product design process

Understandwhat is the problem/need/desire? ()
Customer/user observation and interaction
Kano techniques
Explorewhat are the possible solutions? ()
Brainstorming
Rough prototyping

Define and refinewhat is the best solution?()

Concept development
Engineering
Prototyping
Testing
Implementhow will we make it? ()
Sourcing
Tooling
Scaling-up
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Product development process

3. State of the sustainability decision-making and

assessment method

A considerable amount of work has emerged on ecoefficiency, sustainable design, and sustainability and
materials in recent years.
The lack of clarity is a factor limiting the integration of
sustainability into business, product, and design context.
Strategic decision-making approach
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Level 1: Defining the system ()

Level 2: Identifying outcomes and success ()
Level 3: Articulating strategies for forward movement ()
Level 4: Determining actions ()
Level 5: Listing available assessment tools ()

Strategic sustainability decision-making approach

Sustainable product criteria and characteristics

Decreased flows and volumes of materials and products in relation to key

sustainability factors.
Used materials and inputs are non-toxic, non-fossil fuel-based,
harvested or produced by using sustainable practices.
Relied on efficient, renewable and sustainable source of energy.
Enforced human rights policies
Established programs to integrate stakeholder input or enable broadbased access
Created functioning mechanisms for investment
Maintain resilience, the structure, and function of landscape-level
ecological processes.
Core sets of criteria have to be agreed upon through stakeholder dialogue
and academic review.()
Companies can measure their progress of sustainable products. ()
A process of criteria selection with guidance from particular
sustainability factors has to be established. ()

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4. Pathways forward for product designers and

business decision-makers

Four phases included in the sustainability process

for designers
1.
2.
3.
4.

Phase 1: establish sustainability context ()

Phase 2: define sustainability issues ()
Phase 3: assess ()
Phase 4: act and receive feedback ()

Mapping with the original design process

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Product design and sustainability process

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Product design and sustainability pathways and

questions

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Phase 1: understand and establish sustainability

context

What is the problem, need and desire?

What is sustainability?
What is our vision of a sustainable product, material or enterprise?
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Phase 1
Defining the broader context is not the design teams responsibility, but

the obligation of the organization. (,

)
Defining sustainability sets the context for the design work (or business
decisions).
Actions within phase 1 include:

Identify a sustainability framework

Review past assessments of environmental and social problems associated
with the product
Develop a high-level, overarching sustainability impact diagram (ex: quick &
dirty)
Create a vision of a sustainability-oriented service/product/firm

The result of this phase is clear identification of both opportunities and

desired outcomes related to level 1 and 2 of strategic approach.

The cost depends on complexity of product, demands on internal staff
time, and advising from sustainability strategy and assessment
specialists.

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Phase 2: explore and define sustainability issues

What are potential solutions?

What are the ecological, social, and economic implications of the

various solutions?

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Phase 2
Prior to selecting assessment tools, its important to

brainstorming () potential ways to address the

desired product function according to sustainability
parameters defined in phase 1.

Use the sustainability impacts and opportunities as brainstorming

springboards to explore solutions.
Begin with the vision of need (generated in phase 1)
Draw upon sustainability strategies as bases

Rapid, prolific () generation ideas is useful at this stage.

The result of this phase is to ensure the exploring, and

generating, various product design concepts.

Relating to level 2 and 3 within strategic approach.
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Phase 3: define, refine, and assess

What is the best solution?

What is the most sustainable solution?
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Phase 3
In this phase, designers are considering specific solutions.
Focus on critical sustainability impacts across a full system- and life

cycle-oriented perspective on materials and processes in ecological and

social system.
Clarifying certain decisions about trade-offs ().
Actions within phase 3 include:

Conduct a preliminary, high-level, criteria-based assessment of potential

design solutions.
Perform strategic analysis of various material and design options (using welldeveloped tools)
Draw on a wide range of information sources and tools. (both qualitative and
quantitative information and data)
Consider findings within the sustainability context (developed in phase 1 & 2)

The result of this phase is consideration of not only potential solutions,

but also ecological, social and financial implications of various

approaches.
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Phase 4: implement and receive feedback

How will we make it?

How can manufacturing, distribution, use and re-use/end of life occur

sustainably?
How will we assess the products sustainability attributes/dimensions
over time?

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Phase 4
Core elements within phase 4 include:

Monitor actual impacts of products

Identify design decisions that could have been changed
Create organizational learning mechanism to infuse these
findings into future projects.

An assessment could be made at some meaningful interval

following the completion of the project (ex: six months or

one year)

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5. Adapting the product development process

The process of integrating sustainability into product

decisions will cut to the core of the business, raising

questions such as what product to make, how to design it,
how to recycle it, etc.
This sustainability-oriented decision-making approach will
require changes in the product development process, from
the overall business strategy, and product lines, through
operations practices.
For companies, this approach also requires the
establishment of new financial methods for analyzing full life
cycle cost of products and materials.
The process keeps design teams to monitor design
effectiveness of the product through its full life cycle.
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6. Next steps

The road-map offers designers and business decision-makers

clarity on how to move forward more sustainabilityaware
actions.
Challenges and obstacles to implementing sustainability:
1.

2.

3.

Data for particular materials and products sustainability attributes

are often either unavailable, costly, or unverified. (,
,)
Difficulty in considering the sustainability of one product is that
impacts accumulate. (,
)
Government policy is a natural player in this role.

The pathway forward for designers is to focus on

dematerialization ().
More work is needed to map out complementary voluntary and
regulatory approaches to re-considering product design.
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