Product Design Evaluation Using Life Cycle Assessment and Design for Assembly: A Case Study of a Water Leakage Alarm

Abstract

This study proposed the use of an LCA supported by a design efficiency evaluation based on Design for Assembly principles to reduce the environmental impact of a product. To illustrate the methodology, a water leakage alarm (WLA) was selected as the object for a case study. Based on the identification and evaluation of the LCA results, it was inferred that the stage with the highest environmental impact was the manufacturing stage (75.35%), followed by the use stage (23.88%), the disposal of the WLA (0.64%), and finally, the disposal of the batteries (0.14%). For the manufacturing stage, the most interrelated categories were the hazardous waste and human toxicity, while the use stage was the main contributor to ozone depletion and acidification. Moreover, the disposal of the WLA and batteries contributed to the bulk waste. Furthermore, from the assembly evaluation, the design efficiency of the product was 14%. Two recommendations for improving the design of the WLA were: (1) to reduce the number of screws from three units to one unit, and (2) to eliminate the use of a cable and to replace it with a wireless component. By implementing both the proposed recommendations, the design efficiency was improved by as much as 34%. From the environmental perspective, there is not much difference between the wired alarm and wireless alarm. The wired alarm was considered to be more environmentally friendly in terms of product manufacturing but the wireless alarm has an advantage in terms of design and energy efficiency. By combining LCA and DFA design evaluation, a more comprehensive perspective of the product life cycle can be achieved.

Influence of Social Media Usage on the Green Product Innovation of Manufacturing Firms through Environmental Collaboration

“…Hence, knowledge needs to be integrated quickly and supported by efficient decision making [46]. Yet, making the right decisions that meet the triple bottom line of sustainability (i.e., its environmental, economic, and social aspects) is challenging because the trade-off between environmental and economic objectives requires deep knowledge [47]. Thus, IEC needs to be present in a firm because it supports the digestion of knowledge, which enables the exposure of the knowledge garnered from various sources and the reaching of more comprehensive and appropriate decisions.…”

PFDA-FMEA, an Integrated Method Improving FMEA Assessment in Product Design

“…Product Design is a complex process that has multiple different problems to solve during different design phases [48]. Risk analysis is essential during the process, as mentioned in [49][50][51][52][53][54]. In the literature, there have been multiple efforts to improve the risk assessment for PD, where different tools are used for this purpose.…”

Effect of Environmental Management Practices and Sustainability on Some Selected Manufacturing Firms in South East Nigeria

“…The International Standards Organization (ISO) portrayed LCA as a technique for surveying the natural perspectives and capacity impacts identified with a product through compiling a supply of significant data sources and yields of an item gadget, assessing the ability of ecological impacts identified with the sources of information and yields of the one, and interpreting the results of the stock investigation and effect appraisal stages concerning the objectives of the examination [26]. LCA has four phases [26]. This degree characterizes the point of the view, sets the framework limits, and records the suppositions needed inside the computation.…”

“…The effects from the stock may be transformed into impacts on the surroundings inside the third stage, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). The very last degree of LCA is the interpretation of the consequences, which is based on all three preceding tiers of the evaluation and summarizes and discusses the conclusions and viable guidelines following the purpose and scope definition [26] LCA plays a different role in EMP. Reference [27] reported that organizations and non-earning establishments have supported the LCA tool to obtain several purposes, consisting of making strategic plans, product design development, and advertising and marketing [28].…”