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ARTICLE IN PRESS

Materials
& Design
Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx
www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Short communication

A sustainable product design model


a,1 b,*
George Howarth , Mark Hadfield
a
Royal Academy of Engineering, Sustainable Development School of Design, Engineering and Computing, Bournemouth University, UK
b
Sustainable Product Engineering Research Centre, School and Design, Engineering and Computing, Bournemouth University, Poole
House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK

Received 18 October 2004; accepted 20 March 2005

Abstract

There are major challenges for the designer to now include Sustainable Development aspects into his/her design; particularly
related to the social and wider economic impacts. The designer must, more than ever before, take into consideration the views
and concerns of all the Ôinterested partiesÕ – stakeholders. There are many topics – issues and concerns to consider and often they
can be conflicting. The need is to examine the Sustainable Development risks and benefits associated with any particular design so
improvements can be made. Both a ÔconceptÕ model and a Bournemouth University practical model are described which allows this
risk/benefit assessment to be made in a structured manner on a wide range of topics. The assessment can examine the product, the
company manufacturing the product and the manufacturing site. The major social, economic and environmental risks and benefits is
tabulated or presented graphically for ease of evaluation in order to modify the design and so improve the Sustainable Development
aspects.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Environmental performance (E); Sustainable Development; Product design; Design model; Sustainable Development assessment

1. Introduction fines the use and disposal of the finished product


and clearly chooses the raw materials which have
It is generally understood that the product designer the least environmental damage, and then influences
has to be very focused on achieving the required tech- both the manufacturing and distribution systems to
nical performance and costs demanded by the client minimize the environmental and social impacts. The
and also takes a holistic approach to other aspects, emphasis of the most recent environmental legislation,
i.e., technical, aesthetic and ergonomic, but this does related to disposal of cars and electronic waste, is the
not include all aspects, i.e., waste, end of life, ethics requirement to reduce waste sent to landfill by in-
etc. There is often little awareness and understanding creased reuse and recycling of these products. How-
of the wider environmental, social and economic im- ever, what it is most disturbing is the lack of
pacts of the design – in other words, the Sustainable concern of many young designers for these issues –
Development aspects. It is vital that the designer de- it is seen as somebody elseÕs responsibility [1]. One
of the challenging roles of the designer is to change
the behaviour of consumers for the benefit of us all.
*
This change can be very minor – selection of one
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 01202 595983; fax: +44 01202
595314.
material, or major – a reduction in energy usage
E-mail address: mhadfield@bournemouth.ac.uk (M. Hadfield). and waste generated etc., which can make the product
1
Smith & Nephew Plc. (retired) more sustainable.

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2005.03.016
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2 G. Howarth, M. Hadfield / Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx

2. Sustainable Development and design  Financial influences are wide ranging from individ-
ual/company tax to levies on products and imposi-
2.1. There are some major challenges facing us all tion of tariffs like sugar in Europe and cotton in
USA [8].
Environment
 Impact of climate change, resulting in changing
weather patterns, increasing sea level and flooding 2.2. Designer and Sustainable Development needs
will mainly affect the agricultural industry, but will
also cause more disease and ill health in the poorer The designer first needs an awareness and under-
countries. Production of steel, aluminium, glass and standing of complex and wide ranging issues when ap-
paper require high electricity usage, generating CO2 plied to a new product. Equally important is to be
and increasing global warming. aware of the views and concerns of the people in-
 Use of resources was one of the key concerns at the volved with the product. These are the interested par-
recent Johannesburg Summit and the need to reduce ties or ÔstakeholdersÕ and for the designer, Fig. 1
both consumption and production of products. One illustrates a typical range. It is a very daunting task
way is to prevent and minimise waste arising in the to try to bring to the design concept all these very
whole of the supply chain [2]. complex and often conflicting issues and concerns,
 Decline of biodiversity has been a result of both plus trying to understand the views of particular
human population increase and the growth and effi- stakeholders and finally to change customer behav-
ciency of the agricultural industry. The impact has iour. One way is to identify the risks and benefits/
been global and local – for example, the elephant opportunities.
population has decreased 10-fold in the last 50 years
[3] and it has been estimated some 21 species are lost 2.3. Risks and benefits
each day – for ever [4].
Overseeing risk management within an organisation
Social is one of the key responsibilities of the Directors of
 Population growth has been predicted to double in the organisation. This is far more important in to-days
the next 50 years, but now experts are suggesting a climate when companies are no longer trusted by the
50% increase to 9 billion. Typical population growth general public, investors etc., as a result of scandals
in the UK is 0.3%, compared with 70% growth over for example in Enron. There is now a demand to Ôshow
the last two decades in China [5]. meÕ your company is behaving in a responsible manner
 Provision of fresh water and sanitation to over a in the whole range of its activities including design,
third of the worlds population has been identified use of materials, product performance, safety etc. The
as a key programme following the Johannesburg potential risks can be related to the product, company
Summit [2]. operations or management.
 Human rights were first defined in the UN Declara- The product could contain hazardous materials
tion in 1948 with some 30 articles [6]. The most recent which cause harm when disposed into landfill at the
concern has been the use of child labour to provide end of the productÕs life. The basic raw materials could
cheap products for the developed countries. be supplied using child labour to keep costs low. It may
 Exclusion from earning a living or being part of soci- even be difficult to reuse or recycle the product or its
ety affects many people locally and globally, for components when the product becomes waste. It is to
example the homeless, religious persecution, ethical be expected that the manufacturing operations are effi-
cleansing etc. cient, but ÔincidentsÕ will still occur – accidents, spillages,
fires, explosions, Ônear missesÕ, complaints from neigh-
Economic bours and customers etc. Manufacturing often have leg-
 Poverty applies to over a third of the worldÕs pop- ally set ÔconsentÕ conditions in which to operate which if
ulation with these people living on less than $1 a exceeded will result in fines or closure of the plant and
day. equipment by the regulators. Changes in design, such
 North south divide is dramatic – USA has $34,320 as additional energy requirements or raw material mod-
GDP per capita compared with Sierra Leone of ifications, can result in non-compliance to these consent
$470 GDP per capita. In the poorer countries, life conditions. If the professional designer is unaware of the
expectancy can be 35 years compared with 78 years latest legal requirements, for example – UK Packaging
in UK [7]. Essential Requirements Regulations or EU Waste
 Behaviour of International organisations is impor- Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive then
tant as many have a greater turnover than the GDP non-compliance may occur when new products are
in a number of developing countries. introduced.
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G. Howarth, M. Hadfield / Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx 3

CLIENT ENERGY & WATER SUPPLIER


CUSTOMER

USERS PLANNING OFFICER

MANUFACTURERS COMMUNITY
PRODUCT
LOCAL COUNCIL DESIGNER WASTE
CONTRACTORS
EMPLOYERS
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

PROFESSIONAL MATERIAL
INSTITUTIONS SUPPLIER ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Fig. 1. Typical range stakeholders.

Benefits or opportunities will provide added value to holder views and specific issues. Their design should
an organisation in the following ways then be more sustainable.

 Confirm compliance to legislation and regulator 3.1. Background


requirements.
 Identify potential risks to an organisation and intro- The model must first provide the following basic
duce appropriate controls to minimize the impact. background information
 Reduce costs.
 Increase the level of sales or maintain sales. 1. More detail/advice on the Sustainable Development
 Improve the image and reputation of the company aspects.
with its stakeholders. 2. Details of a range of different stakeholder views and
concerns.
There are also benefits and opportunities which could
apply to the individual – a better Ôquality of lifeÕ, job The Sustainable Development aspects of any product
opportunities, job security, improved safety/security, will not only be a reflection of the design, but also the
contribution to local community life and culture. company that manufacturers the product and the
Many risks and benefits can be identified and it is particular manufacturing site. The Sustainable Product
essential in arriving at any decision regarding the design Development Assessment will therefore need to include
of a product to also examine how the company that
manufactures the product behaves, plus the environ- (i) The specific product and in particular the impacts
mental performance of the actual manufacturing site. in the life cycle from raw materials, manufacture,
A dramatic example is in the clothing/sports industry distribution, use, to final disposal at the end of
where the concern is the use of child labour, sweatshop its life.
conditions etc. NIKE have introduced various supplier (ii) Company information including Annual Report,
evaluation programmes to improve performance in Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR, Environ-
safety, health, attitude, people, environment etc. Their mental, Ethical and Sustainable Development
factories are also independently audited. The result has Reports.
meant supplier contracts have changed because of poor (iii) Site selection will depend on any local impact on
performance to the company standards [9]. Some com- the community, local heritage, local wildlife and
panies promote their ÔgreenÕ products yet do not have the actual operation of the site.
a company environmental policy or report.

3.2. Assessment
3. Sustainable product development model concept
The actual assessment of the product, company and
This is an attempt to provide a tool for designers in site needs to define the following
order to present the Sustainable Development issues re-
lated to their product in a more manageable form, which (i) A generic list of issues/concerns – topics.
will allow them to identify the importance of stake- (ii) Ability to add additional specific issues/concerns.
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4 G. Howarth, M. Hadfield / Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx

(iii) More detail on these issues to check and revise the explore a specific topic in far more detail if necessary.
level of understanding. A typical link would be the UK Environment Agency
(iv) Level of importance of these topics/issues. site (see Table 1).
(v) The sustainable development aspects – environ-
mental or social or economic or a combination? 4.2. Worksheets
(vi) Are these impacts high, medium or low?
(vii) Are the impacts a risk or a benefit? There are three worksheets – one each for product,
company and site. The structure for each worksheet is
the same – a list of topics (issues and concerns) with
3.3. Analysis ability to add topics at any time. Each topic needs
to be given score (0–10), defined if the impact is re-
Will need the ability to analyse the above assessment lated to the social, environmental or economic or
in various ways, but the key to any decision is based on combination of these aspects with a rating of high,
the balance between risks and benefits. The key risks medium or low on each impact, then finally indicating
and benefits need to be identified, tabulated or graphed if it is a risk or benefit. There are some 109 topics
so it is possible to compare the environmental, social identified in these work sheets; but students can also
and economic impacts separately or together as Sustain- add any other topics they feel important. It is not nec-
able Development. This can be completed for the prod- essary to complete all three worksheets. Students are
uct, company or site or all three together. Finally, encouraged to add comments as to the reason for
having seen these tables and graphs there must be the selecting a particular score, aspect etc. at the time of
ability to go back into the assessment and change the de- assessment (see Fig. 2).
tail on the score, impact aspect and level of importance
etc. 4.3. Analysis

The basic objective of this analysis is to first identify


4. Bournemouth University model and prioritise the key risks and benefits from the many
issues and concerns (topics) assessed. The analysis of
The model is available on the Bournemouth Univer- the worksheets is automatic and will provide both a
sity website [10] and has been used in the Sustainable set of tables with the top 10 risks and benefits in each
Product Design Masters course for Engineering Design sustainable development aspect (social, environmental
students. It does follow the above structure in giving and economic) and a range of graphs. In the analysis
background information, assessment worksheets and it is important to be able to identify the particular to-
analysis tables and graphs pic and whether it is from the product, company or
site assessment worksheet. In order to assist the stu-
4.1. Background dent further in the analysis of these top risks and ben-
efits, various graphs (see Fig. 2) can be produced
This is in effect the ÔhomeÕ page of the site which highlighting the risks or benefits in social, environmen-
links the student to the sources of information on Sus- tal or economic aspects plus a combined risks and ben-
tainable Development and Stakeholders plus more de- efits graph for each aspect (see Fig. 3). The same topic
tail on issues/concerns (topics) to include when can appear several times if it has a high social, envi-
assessing Ôa product, company or the manufacturing ronmental and economic impact. The comments made
siteÕ. The Sustainable Development guidance includes at the original assessment using the worksheets are a
the three basic concepts – evaluate environmental, so- good reference as to the ÔthinkingÕ or reasoning behind
cial and economic impacts at the same time; any eval- the decision. At any stage it is possible, if the results
uation must be ÔholisticÕ by considering each element are not acceptable, to change the original data in the
of the life cycle from raw materials, manufacture, dis- worksheets.
tribution, use and final disposal and the finally the
views of the ÔinterestedÕ parties or stakeholders must 4.4. Application of model
be taken into consideration. Background information
is provided on a number of typical stakeholders This model has been used successfully by the engi-
– CEO, Union official, Local Councillor, Resident, neering students to assess a motor car of their choice
Environmental Activist. The designer can then take and the company that manufactures the product, plus
into consideration the views of the stakeholders and the associated manufacturing facility. The specific de-
so modify the design. This information is ÔgenericÕ tails on the chosen car, company and site were usually
and so can be applied to any product, company or obtained from the companyÕs own website. This assess-
site. There are also external links for the student to ment was as a designer, but it is possible to repeat the
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G. Howarth, M. Hadfield / Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx 5

Table 1
Product, company and site worksheet example
Topics Score Element Comments
Social Economic Environmental
Risk or High, medium Risk or High, Risk or High, medium
benefit? * or low? * benefit? * medium benefit? * or low? *
or low? *
Raw materials
Hazardous 5 Risk Medium Few chemicals in product
Source 6 Benefit High Benefit Medium Local community
Use of child labour 3 Risk Low Little from 3rd world
Costs 8 Risk High Valuable raw materials
Transportation 6 Risk Medium Local
Non-renewable 0 None used
Energy used 10 Benefit High Benefit Medium Site energy not major
Emissions 8 Risk High Paint shop high levels
Discharges 6 Risk High Strict consent condition
Nuisances 6 Risk High Risk Medium Risk Medium Close to local community
Health and safety 7 Benefit Medium Benefit High Few dangerous site jobs
Other
Other
Raw material risks total score 6.75 11.00 22.50
raw material benefits total 6.00 16.50 12.00
Design *
Material selection 10 Benefit High Metals and plastic
Material amounts 10 Benefit High Benefit High Amounts need to be low
Disassembly 7 Benefit Low Benefit High Legal requirement
Costs 10 Benefit Low Must satisfy costs
Energy usage 7 Risk Medium Benefit Medium Fuel and user performance
Waste generated 6 Risk Low Risk Medium Reuse and recycle essential
Reuse 8 Benefit Low Benefit Medium More reuse
Recycling 6 Benefit Low Benefit Medium More recycling
Life cycle assess. 5 Benefit Medium Materials and use key
Other
Other
Other
Design risks total score 1.50 3.50 3.00
Design benefits total score 5.25 12.50 40.00

Fig. 2. Social risks and benefits.


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6 G. Howarth, M. Hadfield / Materials and Design xxx (2005) xxx–xxx

Fig. 3. Combined model to demonstrate sustainable development risks.

exercise as a different stakeholder and evaluate any nec- References


essary changes to the design brief.
[1] Hadfield, M, Howarth, G. Sustainable development training and
educational challenges for business and universities. In: Interna-
tional conference: engineering education in sustainable design.
5. Concluding remarks Delft, The Netherlands; 24–25 October 2002. p. 174–82, ISBN 90
-5638-099-0.
A model has been generated to assess the Sustainable [2] Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development. 4th
Development aspects of a product by not only evaluat- September 2002 – UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs – Division for Sustainable Development.
ing the specific product but also the manufacturing com- [3] World Resources Institute. EarthScan Trends Data Set, Sept
pany and its own manufacturing site. It provides 2004. Available from: <www.wri.org>.
ÔgenericÕ topics to consider in each element – product, [4] The Reporter Spring. 2004. Brother, Can You Spare a Species,
company or site plus easy access to further information Jeffrey K. McKee.
on these topics. The analysis is via Excel spread sheets in [5] China Population Information and Research Centre. August
2004. Available from: <www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm>.
which the impact of each topic is scored, the impact [6] Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations General
linked to the three elements of sustainable development Assembly resolution 217 A(III) of 10 December 1948.
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nally defined as a benefit or risk. The analysis of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, April 2001.
[9] NIKE Website www.nike.com/nikebiz – Responsibilities – Fac-
risks and benefits is via a table or set of graphs. It has tories and Workers, August 2004.
been used successfully using the motor car as the [10] Bournemouth University SPD Website http://spd.bournemouth.
ÔproductÕ. ac.uk.

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