1. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory DFE, ECDM, etc. in Practice

2. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Module Objective Having read this, you should know the following: 1.Motivation and drivers for companies to pursue environmental load and impact reduction 2.Potential trade-offs and benefits

3. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Basic Drivers for Businesses Regulatory compliance Risk mitigation Customer demand Market advantage Corporate image Cost reduction Etc

4. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Some Motivating Drivers Legislation: –Clean Air Act has limited use of a number of materials. –(European) take-back legislation is driving Design for Recycling efforts. Customers: –Awareness of environmental issues is increasing among customers. In Europe, some customers will already pay more for a product if it is green. –Industrial customers (e.g., Original Equipment Manufacturers) do not want (future) environmental liability for your product. Eco-Labels: –How “green” is your product? Having an eco-label becomes a competitive advantage. ISO 14000: –ISO 14000 (environmental management standards) certification may become a crucial element in doing business, like ISO 9000 (quality management standards). In addition, many have noted that DFE makes good business sense and has many other positive effects. –Reduction of material diversity, driver for new creative solutions, etc.

5. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory The Bad News Common “complaint” : “I have to satisfy my customer demands, my boss, get the product out on time, meet all the deadlines, do DFMA, TQM, etc., and now I also have to worry about DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT?” (a.k.a. the swamped engineer syndrome

6. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Technical, Economical, Ecological Trade-offs Please note: Compromises between technical, economical and environmental concerns are a fact of life Environmental extreme Technical extreme Compromise (?) or... (?)

7. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Different Levels of Organizational Concern ? !

8. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Automobile Life-Cycle Many modern products like automobiles are assembled by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) from components manufactured by numerous suppliers, creating a complicated network of interactions.

9. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory The Good News Most Design for Environment (DFE) guidelines also have other benefits (technical, economical, quality). –Reducing material diversity for ease of product recycling leads also to lower inventory and purchasing expenditures. –Life extension practices place renewed emphasis on design for serviceability which typically pleases customers. –Etcetera. Increasing efficiency and reducing waste ALWAYS makes sense! Plus, it is argued that the biggest advantage of doing DFE is that it forces more creative thinking.

10. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Industry Experiences Many (larger) companies have adopted the DFE paradigm. –The Environmental Protection Agency is also moving away from Best Available Technologies to Common Sense Initiatives and also has a (small) group working on DFE. DFE success stories are emerging. –Chemical industry has a solid base of pollution prevention success stories »3M’s Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program (established in 1975). »Dow Chemical’s Waste Reduction Always Pays program. –See NSF/DoE EBM study for manufacturing company stories Invariably, everybody buys into the DFE philosophy. The challenge is in the implementation, in particular –the seamless horizontal and vertical integration, and –the trade-off assessment and resolution.

11. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Industry Experiences – Effect of Locality Where you are doing business has a significant influence on how companies (re)act regarding environmental issues. See NSF report on “Environmentally Benign Manufacturing”

12. Georgia Institute of Technology Systems Realization Laboratory Green Engineering – Engineer's point of view What needs to be done? 1)define what is environmental impact (establish objective) 2)identify relationships between environmental impact and designs (create “analysis” model) 3)provide capability to select design with reduced environmental impact (selection between alternatives) 4)provide capability to improve design with respect to reducing environmental impact (“optimization”) 5)establish tradeoff model with respect to the other design goals such as performance, cost and quality (compromise). What needs to be done? 1)define what is environmental impact (establish objective) 2)identify relationships between environmental impact and designs (create “analysis” model) 3)provide capability to select design with reduced environmental impact (selection between alternatives) 4)provide capability to improve design with respect to reducing environmental impact (“optimization”) 5)establish tradeoff model with respect to the other design goals such as performance, cost and quality (compromise). Item 5 is of extreme importance, because: on one hand the tradeoffs are often neglected by researchers, politicians and activists, on the other hand the tradeoffs are often used by companies as an excuse not to participate in Green Engineering. Item 5 is of extreme importance, because: on one hand the tradeoffs are often neglected by researchers, politicians and activists, on the other hand the tradeoffs are often used by companies as an excuse not to participate in Green Engineering.