Sustainable product development isn’t just great for the environment … it makes great business sense!
It comes down to three Rs:
- REDUCE is about reducing components numbers, sizes, weights, assembly processes, material families. This ties in directly with lean principles and leads to significant cost savings—both in production and the product itself.
- REUSE is about enabling your product to stay in the market for longer and keeping it out of the waste stream. This involves a modular design approach to use existing components and a clever maintenance parts program so your product can be refitted to enable an extended life. This improves the perception of your products quality and can ensure ongoing revenue streams from parts/spares supplies.
- RECYCLE is as it sounds: this includes using “pre-loved” materials as well as using materials that are, or can be, recycled. In order to recycle, considerations need to be made to finishes and assembly techniques and use of similar material families. That way, appropriate materials can be chosen, and fast and effective disassembly techniques can be used.