Decision based methods for early phase sustainable product design

• Autores: R. Gheorghe, P. Xirouchakis
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 23, no. 6, 2007, págs. 1065-1080
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper presents a new method for evaluating product designs at their early stage of development according to different criteria anda case-study-based project. The goal is to select among imprecisely defined design alternatives in a multicriteria context, as is requiredfor taking into account sustainability considerations. Imprecision–the most dominant type of uncertainty during the early stages ofdesign–is defined as designer's preferences for a range of values in the design variables; it can be modelled by fuzzy numbers. Theproject involves the analysis of three design concepts of a vacuum cleaner (paper bag, plastic bin with filters and plastic bin withcyclone). Using the proposed multicriteria decision method different End-of-Life (EOL) strategies for the three concepts areinvestigated from the viewpoint of four criteria (one economic and three environmental). Sensitivity analyses are performed to identifythe parameters influencing the robustness of the decisions. The case study will show that the `right' decision (i.e. the selection of thebest design alternative) depends on the trade-off between criteria performances.