Adapting Consumer Product Design to the Circular Economy

Abstract

Abstract Transition to a Circular Economy (CE) will be facilitated by information transfer between life cycle stages, and, particularly, the transition can be accelerated at the product design stage where the decisions have impact throughout the life cycle. Product design, which is often manual, subjective, and speculative, can be enhanced by data transfer from other stages of product, manufacturing, material, and supply chain life cycles. Mutually, 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 DfX areas critical to the 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 literature review in each challenge area identifies future research areas. Finally, a preliminary circular product design convergence model is introduced to illustrate a CE consumer 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.