An integrated product design approach for development of a desktop organiser: CAD/CAE and design for environment as enablers of integration

Abstract

In order to render cost effective and environmentally friendly products, design for environment (DFE) is becoming of critical use in the preliminary phases of the product design and development process. This can be enhanced by employing computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided engineering (CAE) tools, which have the ability to manipulate the product concepts in electronic environment. This paper presents an integrated product design and development (iProD) framework with the integration of DFE guidelines combined with CAD/CAE principles. The efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a case study involving a desktop organiser selected from the Caribbean market. The proposed integrated framework is considered to be highly valuable for its implementation in similar product development situations to achieve business benefits such as reduced cost and time which would in turn improve the profitability.