Early-stage environmental decision-making for effective circular product designs
Publieke samenvatting / Public summary
Aanleiding
Circularity and carbon neutrality have been receiving increasing attention within the Dutch economy. Recent events related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have illustrated one key aspect for our circular ambitions: supply chain resilience. While the circularity and carbon-neutrality ambitions are already widely articulated by most industries, and governmental regulations anticipated in the near future, major stepping stones to such a transition are still lacking. One such stepping stone is related to the design of circular and carbon-neutral products. How do we design truly circular and environmentally friendly products? Although tools for such assessments do exist, their applicability in industrial settings are rather limited. High-quality and validated assessments in a timely manner are often not possible within the early-stage product design. This can lead to suboptimal decision making in the design process of circular products.
Doelstelling
This project is set up to fill the current knowledge gap for high-quality early-stage assessments and to assist, in the long run, product designers in their early-stage decision making. On the project scale our objective is twofold. First, we aim for the development of a set of new and highly circular products for our industrial partners ASML, Action and TNO. In a second step, we intend to synergise the learned lessons from these intrinsically different products to create a scientifically validated early-stage circular design tool, the Early-Stage Environmental Decisions tool, or ESED tool in short. It will be a universally and industrially applicable tool which matches the design process and the information available at each stage of the design process – a steady support for the product designer throughout the entirety of the design process, to make high-quality circular design decisions.
Korte omschrijving
This project will be executed in 5 phases. In Phase 1 TU Delft will identify in collaboration with the industrial partners several suitable circular redesign options for one of their products. In Phase 2, each of the proposed redesign options will be assessed on its environmental impact with an early-stage Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In Phase 3 we will then construct for each partner a design timeline which maps the amount of available information in each redesign phase. Based on the gained knowledge, in Phase 4 we will select the most promising redesign options. This design will be further developed by our industrial partners. In Phase 5 the lessons learnt will be synthesised to develop the ESED tool.
Resultaat
Within the scope of the project, the direct key results for our industrial partners will be the circular redesign of one of their products, based on a deliberate assessment of potential circular redesigns. Prototypes of these redesigns will be produced by ASML and TNO, and evaluated on their circular and environmental performance. On a broader spectrum, the key result will be a prototype of the ESED tool – the tool for high-quality early-stage design assessments. It will be a solid foundation for the industrial partners to further pursue their circularity and carbon-neutrality ambitions. It is expected that the ESED tool will be used to also redesign their remaining product portfolio. Following up on the development, we will seek further opportunities to advance the tool with regard to its universal applicability and its maturity. The ultimate result: a widespread acceptance of the ESED tool by product designers within the Dutch manufacturing industry, and therewith a major step towards the circular and carbon-neutrality goals for the Dutch economy.
Circularity and carbon neutrality have been receiving increasing attention within the Dutch economy. Recent events related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have illustrated one key aspect for our circular ambitions: supply chain resilience. While the circularity and carbon-neutrality ambitions are already widely articulated by most industries, and governmental regulations anticipated in the near future, major stepping stones to such a transition are still lacking. One such stepping stone is related to the design of circular and carbon-neutral products. How do we design truly circular and environmentally friendly products? Although tools for such assessments do exist, their applicability in industrial settings are rather limited. High-quality and validated assessments in a timely manner are often not possible within the early-stage product design. This can lead to suboptimal decision making in the design process of circular products.
Doelstelling
This project is set up to fill the current knowledge gap for high-quality early-stage assessments and to assist, in the long run, product designers in their early-stage decision making. On the project scale our objective is twofold. First, we aim for the development of a set of new and highly circular products for our industrial partners ASML, Action and TNO. In a second step, we intend to synergise the learned lessons from these intrinsically different products to create a scientifically validated early-stage circular design tool, the Early-Stage Environmental Decisions tool, or ESED tool in short. It will be a universally and industrially applicable tool which matches the design process and the information available at each stage of the design process – a steady support for the product designer throughout the entirety of the design process, to make high-quality circular design decisions.
Korte omschrijving
This project will be executed in 5 phases. In Phase 1 TU Delft will identify in collaboration with the industrial partners several suitable circular redesign options for one of their products. In Phase 2, each of the proposed redesign options will be assessed on its environmental impact with an early-stage Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In Phase 3 we will then construct for each partner a design timeline which maps the amount of available information in each redesign phase. Based on the gained knowledge, in Phase 4 we will select the most promising redesign options. This design will be further developed by our industrial partners. In Phase 5 the lessons learnt will be synthesised to develop the ESED tool.
Resultaat
Within the scope of the project, the direct key results for our industrial partners will be the circular redesign of one of their products, based on a deliberate assessment of potential circular redesigns. Prototypes of these redesigns will be produced by ASML and TNO, and evaluated on their circular and environmental performance. On a broader spectrum, the key result will be a prototype of the ESED tool – the tool for high-quality early-stage design assessments. It will be a solid foundation for the industrial partners to further pursue their circularity and carbon-neutrality ambitions. It is expected that the ESED tool will be used to also redesign their remaining product portfolio. Following up on the development, we will seek further opportunities to advance the tool with regard to its universal applicability and its maturity. The ultimate result: a widespread acceptance of the ESED tool by product designers within the Dutch manufacturing industry, and therewith a major step towards the circular and carbon-neutrality goals for the Dutch economy.