Adapting Modern Product Design to the Circular Economy

Published

November 11, 2022

Author(s)

Vincenzo Ferrero, Buddhika Hapuwatte, KC Morris

Abstract

The Circular Economy (CE) is an economic system that maximizes the time resources remain within the economy through re-circulation of materials. Transition to the CE, from a linear economy, is closely tied to information transfer between life cycle areas. Progress towards a circular economy will best be initiated at the product design stage where the decisions taken will have impact throughout the life cycle. Product design, which is often manual, subjective, and speculative, can benefit from data from other stages of product, manufacturing, material, and supply chain life cycles. Specifically, the CE system can benefit from design systems that are real-time, designer-in-the-loop, and dynamic with respect to life cycle information streams. Five identified challenges toward adapting product design to the CE are 1. Consolidation and identification of \textitDfx} areas critical to CE 2. Realization of a digital thread to the design activities 3. Incorporation of designer-in-the-loop and AI design agents 4. Introduction of CE data-driven design methods 5. Development of CE design standards A review of the literature in each challenge area identifies future research areas that can address the challenges. Finally, a preliminary circular product design convergence model is introduced to illustrate a CE modern product design system that addresses the challenges and research opportunities. The work contributes a framework within which product design can be improved to aid in the realization of Design-for-the-CE. The circular product design convergence model can be a framework for exploring standards-driven and validated solutions to these challenges.

Proceedings Title

The ASME 2022 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference

Conference Dates

August 14-17, 2022

Conference Location

St. Louis, MO, US

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Circular Economy, Product Design, Design-for-X

Citation

Ferrero, V. , Hapuwatte, B. and Morris, K. (2022), Adapting Modern Product Design to the Circular Economy, The ASME 2022 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, St. Louis, MO, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=934318 (Accessed May 1, 2024)