A practical methodology to project the design of more sustainable products in the production stage

Methods and tools to develop sustainable products are ever more required by companies to balance the efficiency of its operations with its responsibilities for environmental and social actions. This work aims at achieving improved products along its production stage by the application of a methodology, which consists of three different phases: (i) sustainability assessment; (ii) product redesign; (iii) comparing designs. Different impacts are assessed, sustainability strategies are proposed and more sustainable design alternatives are projected. The procedure is supported by the use of engineering metrics and sustainability indicators, conveniently selected to quantitatively measure the three dimensions of the sustainability: environmental, economic and social. The methodology is implemented in two case studies. First, the manufacturing process of an airbrush is analyzed. Next, the cow milk production in a dairy farm is studied. Strategies to reduce impacts and to achieve an improvement in the sustainability performance of the product are addressed in each case. Both, environmental and socio-economic improvements, are obtained. Thus, a practical method to carry out sustainability-oriented decision making in production processes is developed.