Abstract
Industrial design is intrinsically linked to manufacturing; however, what is required of industrial design to adapt to new changes brought on by Industry 4.0 in manufacturing is unknown. Current literature gives little insight into how industrial designers need to evolve to the current developments in manufacturing to remain value drivers in an Industry 4.0 paradigm. There is minimal research describing the link between industrial design, Industry 4.0 and the effect this will have on sustainability. We conducted an extensive survey of 190 respondents from 53 countries to establish the present state of industrial design practice globally and to better understand the priority sustainability is given by practicing industrial designers. Qualitative data showed a desire for improved sustainable processes; however, quantitative data contradicted this, showing “sustainability” as one of the lowest ranked areas of importance in design practice for industrial designers. While sustainability—especially in manufacturing—demands more prominent change as industrial design adapts to an Industry 4.0 manufacturing paradigm, it seems that junior industrial designers do not currently see this as a priority.
Highlights
Sustainability by Industrial DesignersEstablishing close relationships or close partnerships with manufacturers is one way that industrial designers can stay abreast with manufacturing change
We propose that sustainable value must be integrated with the same level of priority alongside other sources of value, as companies adapt to Industry 4.0
The aim of the survey was to obtain a thorough understanding of the industrial design profession globally and its connection to manufacturing
Summary
Establishing close relationships or close partnerships with manufacturers is one way that industrial designers can stay abreast with manufacturing change. It is an enabler for designers to influence manufacturers to be more innovative, more sustainable and more flexible when working with designers. There are existing frameworks showing how to integrate Industry 4.0 alongside sustainability practices into a company [1,2,3]; the role of the industrial designer in the process of integration is largely neglected. This study is exploratory and shows that industrial designers need to better understand existing frameworks for Industry 4.0 and sustainable integration to be a driving force in this manufacturing paradigm. Industrial designers support future manufacturing to be more sustainable; current practice suggests this is not the highest priority when designing
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