Page 99 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

78 Chapter Five

are the key to success at this stage. Once an initial design has been
formulated, it is possible to begin design verification; the earlier this
takes place, the sooner the team will recognize design shortcomings
and take steps to overcome them. As mentioned above, early and sys-
tematic design verification is critical to reducing both the number of
design iterations and the time to market.
The use of automated tools at the verification stage is helpful to
assure coverage of all product requirements and to identify design
flaws or omissions. In particular, DFE requires a verification system
because of the complexity of environmental issues associated even
with simple products. Many of the first-generation DFE practices
were limited to the use of simple material selection checklists or
single-dimensional metrics (e.g., total waste), which provide little
insight into the true value of product improvements. Instead, design
teams need the ability to “close the loop” by receiving feedback re -
garding the anticipated benefits of proposed design changes.
One of the remaining barriers to concurrent engineering, espe-
cially in high technology industries, is the reliance of engineers on
design and manufacturing automation tools that do not allow cross-
functional integration. Specialized tools include CAE/CAD systems
for systems engineering, design characterization, modeling, simula-
tion, and requirements verification. Although these tools are effec-
tive at supporting the detailed work of individual engineers, there is
still a need for tools that help to evaluate trade-offs, provide design
advice, and capture the accumulated experience of development
teams. New software technologies, such as “intelligent assistant”
design tools, have the potential to facilitate a company’s transforma-
tion from traditional ways of doing business to a more concurrent
approach, and can provide ongoing support for IPD. For example,
Motorola has developed a “Green Design Advisor” tool for applying
DFE to mobile phone products (see Chapter 11).
Finally, in a truly integrated approach, DFE must be balanced
against other cost and quality factors that influence design trade-off
decisions. The mark of a successful team is the ability to innovate
under pressure, rather than compromising product quality. A “win-
win” outcome is the introduction of environmentally beneficial
innovations that also improve the cost and performance of the prod-
uct when viewed as part of an overall system. Ideally, a single design
innovation may contribute to achieving several, different types of
goals. For example, reducing the mass of a product can result in (1)
energy and material use reduction, which contributes to resource
conservation, and (2) pollutant emission reduction, which contrib-
utes to health and safety.
Making trade-off decisions is the most challenging part of the
process because of the need to simultaneously consider so many
different criteria. While not mandatory, it is useful to have a well-