Page 186 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

CHAPTER 9

Analysis Methods

for Design Decisions

DFE Principle 5. Develop and apply rigorous,
quantitative tools to analyze the environmental,
economic, and other consequences of design
decisions and to weigh the trade-offs of
alternative choices.

Analyze This!
According to the integrated product development framework de -
scribed in Chapter 5, analysis methods are required to enable systematic
assessment and quantification of environmental performance for a
new product or process design. Assuming that metrics have been
defined and objectives have been set, analysis methods can be used to
support design decisions in several ways:

• To evaluate the degree to which a particular design meets
cost or performance objectives and requirements.
• To compare alternative designs and evaluate their relative
merits.
• To identify potential design improvements and evaluate their
expected benefits.
Although quantitative methods are preferable for purposes of
continuous improvement and competitive benchmarking, in many
cases quantification is difficult and qualitative methods can serve
adequately.
The first principle of DFE is to consider all stages of the prod -
uct life cycle, including raw material extraction, processing, trans-
port, com ponent manufacturing, product assembly, distribution, end
use, service, disposal, and recycling. This makes rigorous analysis

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