Sustainable product development in a circular economy: Implications for products, actors, decision-making support and lifecycle information management

Anna Diaz,Josef-Peter Schöggl,Rupert J Baumgartner,Tatiana Reyes

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2020.12.044

Anna Diaz, Josef-Peter Schöggl + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.12.044

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Abstract

The concept of circular economy (CE) is of great interest for manufacturing companies since it provides a framework which allows them to align organisational objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Corporate CE entails the adoption of several value-retention options (R-strategies) throughout companies’ operations, which aim at creating, preserving and recovering the value of assets and products. The sustainable product development (SPD) process, in which around 80% of the total environmental impact of a product is determined, is employed to translate R-strategies into new product requirements. This study is aimed at investigating the implications of R-strategy adoption for decision-making in SPD. The research follows an empirical approach, combining a literature review and in-depth semi-structured interviews with product developers and sustainability experts working in companies operating in the technical material cycles of the CE. Thus, implications for product dimensions, inter- and intraorganisational actors, decision-making support types and lifecycle information flows so that SPD processes further accommodate CE principles into products are investigated. This study reveals new directions to adjust the contextual factors of SPD to further align existing processes with widely expanding CE organisational cultures.

Highlights

The population growth and economic boost experienced during the second half of the 20th century has posed severe environmental pressures on the planet and fallen short in consolidating more equitable societies
Design requirements are the enabling mechanism to translate product functionalities aligned with a certain R-strategy into product physical properties, the present study deliberately focussed on the entire product development process
Recent studies highlight that “the design phase is too late in the development process to begin addressing the opportunity for VRPs [R-strategies]” and that "designers are not the primary decision-makers regarding what a product does or how it does it; rather, they focus on using creativity to meet such product requirements— specifications that are defined much earlier in the product development process” (International Resource Panel, 2018, p.155)

Summary

Introduction

The population growth and economic boost experienced during the second half of the 20th century has posed severe environmental pressures on the planet and fallen short in consolidating more equitable societies. In 2015, the three pillars of sustainable devel-.

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