Sustainability Analysis of Prototyping Processes

Abstract

Development of prototypes draws major focus in contemporary manufacturing organisations. Sustainability analysis and comparison of the prototype manufacturing process plays a vital role in deciding the sustainability level of the product. Sustainability of prototyping depends on model building material and model building process. In this paper based on the customer requirements, Environmental Conscious Quality Function Deployment (ECQFD) was carried out. Increased lives, strength, reduced toxicity of material with biodegradability were the major outputs of ECQFD. Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES) and Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) were used for material selection. Wood, ABS, Poly Lactic acid (PLA) and Lead were selected as cost efficient materials for the case product. A CAD model of the case product was developed and subjected to Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) using solid works sustainability express for the above materials. Prototypes of the case products where produced by wood carving, casting, CNC Milling and 3D printing by considering all input parameters required across each process. LCA was conducted using GaBi for the above process and the results were compared. From this study, it was observed that the case product developed using PLA with 3D printing technology had very less impact on environment and is considered as the best and cost effective prototyping method.