Page 100 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Managing Envir onmental Innovation 79

structured decision framework that supports the exploration of uncer-
tainties and unintended consequences as well as satisfaction of the
original product requirements. Integrated decision making involving
DFX trade-offs is usually addressed through conceptual tools such as
“house of quality” or Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrices,
which are often grouped under the general category of Design for Six
Sigma tools [7]. Chapter 10 describes a framework that enables con-
sideration of multi-stakeholder perspectives on sustainability issues
for purposes of business decision making.

Understanding Product Life Cycles
The term “life cycle” has become so much in vogue that it bears closer
examination. It turns out that one person’s definition of life cycle may
be quite different from another’s. Consider the following widely dif-
fering interpretations:

1. Business life cycle: the product life cycle is a sequence of
activity phases, including the creation of a product concept,
its de velopment, launch, production, maintenance, maturity,
reevaluation, and renewal in the form of a next-generation
product.
Similarly, the process life cycle is a sequence of activity
phases, including the development of facility and process
designs, architecture and construction, operation and main-
tenance, and eventual upgrading or retirement.

2. Physical life cycle: the product life cycle is a sequence of
transformations in materials and energy that includes extrac-
tion and processing of materials, product manufacture and
assembly, distribution, use, and recovery or recycling of prod-
uct materials.
Similarly, the process life cycle is a sequence of transfor-
mations in materials and energy that includes extraction and
processing of materials used for process equipment and sup-
plies, process operation and control, equipment cleaning and
maintenance, and waste disposal or recovery.
Note that a single process may be involved in producing a variety
of different products, while producing a single product may involve
a variety of different processes. Most of this book is oriented toward
the product life-cycle perspective.
As depicted in Figure 5.2, the dual product life cycles—business
and physical—are closely interwoven, and therefore easily confused.
They intersect at the point of product launch and deployment, where
product and process designs are released for ramp-up to full-scale
production. Yet, they are very different in several respects.