Life cycle management and assessment: Approaches and visions towards sustainable manufacturing

Abstract

Thinking in terms of product life cycles is one of the challenges facing manufacturers today: Efforts to increase efficiency throughout the life cycle do not only mean extended responsibility of the parties concerned. Economically successful business areas can also be explored. Whether new service concepts are required, new regulations have been passed or consumer values are changing, the differences between business areas are disappearing. Life cycle management (LCM) considers the product life cycle as a whole and optimizes the interaction of product design, manufacturing and life cycle activities. The goal of this approach is to protect resources and maximize effectiveness by means of life cycle assessment, product data management, technical support and, last but not least, life cycle costing. This paper shows the existing approaches of LCM and discusses their prospects and further development.

Framework proposition and technical guidelines for manufacturers of custom made tools, machinery and special equipment

“…EU's Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of life vehicles), that is especially present in the field of the automotive industry. International standards for environmental regulations are mostly based on a holistic view of the product life cycle [22]. In addition to the aforementioned political decisions and regulations, there is also a potential for added value creation in the concept of product life cycle management.…”

“…In such a business model, the change of ownership is not necessary, the physical product can remain the property of the producer, if such a scenario is reasonable. The goal is an economical product life cycle with an efficient use of resources, such as materials, knowledge and work capacity [22].…”

“…There is a question in the industry: "How to create added value throughout the entire life cycle of a given product?". In this context, the product life cycle management (PLM) represents business activity of managing products and services, all the way across their life cycles [22], with the objectives of: (1) maximizing the value of the product portfolio, (2) increasing product revenues and (3) increasing the possibility of managing product complexity within same project time. Another progress beyond the state-of-the-art is a resource-conservative remanufacturing paradigm, in which products are designed for multiple life cycles with predefined life cycle management strategies, adding value to both, forward and reverse value chain [23].The producers must hence take a greater responsibility for the use and the consequences of the use of their products.…”

Parameter Adaptive

“…Introduction Political and social awareness regarding national and global challenges forces manufacturing industries to transfer the vision of sustainable development into their business strategy and operations (Westk€ amper et al 2000;Seliger 2004). The incorporation of sustainability into business amplifies traditional challenges such as globalization of procurement and sales markets, shorter innovation and technology cycles, and increasing market segmentation.…”

“…1). In doing so, the provision of consistent data and information on the entire life cycle is of special importance (Westk€ amper et al 2000;Niemann 2003). The aim of this kind of life cycle management is an ecological and economic optimization over the entire product life cycle.…”