Sustainable product design factors: A comprehensive analysis

Abstract

Sustainable product design (SPD) is instrumental in improving the sustainability of a product throughout its entire life cycle. To attain this goal, decisions related to SPD should consider a spectrum of influential factors. Despite numerous SPD studies, a unified perspective among their findings is lacking, and comprehensive research on SPD factors is still needed. This gap in research affects the ability to comprehensively address the potential economic, environmental, and social impacts associated with each life cycle stage of a product during its design phase. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the SPD factors available in the literature. To achieve this objective, the methodology involved: (1) conducting a systematic review of literature to explore SPD factors, (2) categorizing the key factors into themes related to product sustainability using an inductive approach, and (3) mapping these factors across the entire product life cycle. In the literature reviewed, a total of 297 factors pertaining to the economic, environmental, and social aspects of SPD were identified. Among these, 219 factors were mentioned only once in the in the articles analyzed, while 43 factors were frequently addressed by at least three papers. These frequently considered factors were categorized into nine primary themes: quality and reliability, manufacturability, costs, and financial gain under the economic aspect; resources, waste and emissions, and end-of-life (EOL) management under the environmental aspect; and functionality and usability, and social well-being under the social aspect. In light of their influence on life cycle-oriented product design, this study mapped the factors across the total product life cycle (TPLC) stages. The results of this paper provide valuable insights into SPD by addressing its impacts on sustainability throughout the life cycle of a product. Future research can capitalize on these results to comprehensively address issues concerning product sustainability.