Designing Future-Oriented Solutions: Revolutionizing Decision-Making in Product Sustainability (Routledge Research in Product Design)

This book introduces Method Supporting Product Improvement (MSPI), a method that aggregates key sustainability criteria during the product design and development stages, including conceptualization and prototyping.

The method presented in the book revolutionizes decision-making in product sustainability, bridging the research gap between product improvement focussed on meeting customer expectations and the need to simultaneously meet the requirements of sustainable development. Through MSPI, it is possible to create a ranking of alternative design solutions (prototypes) and select the most advantageous prototype that is simultaneously satisfying for customers, environmentally and socially friendly, and cost-effective. Prototypes of the improved product and their subsequent testing take place in virtual environments. This helps reduce resource waste, facilitating sound management decision-making without the need to produce actual prototypes.

Presenting practical guidelines for predicting beneficial product solutions that also meet key sustainability criteria, Designing Future-Oriented Solutions will be of value to students, scientists, research and development managers, and engineers.

Dominika Siwiec is Assistant Professor at the Department of Machine Technology and Production Engineering at the Rzeszow University of Technology (Poland). Her research focusses on predicting product quality and life cycle sustainability assessment. She has been listed in Stanford University's ranking of the World's Top 2% Scientists.

Andrzej Pacana is Full Professor of the Rzeszow University of Technology and vice-dean for education at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aviation of the Rzeszow University of Technology (Poland). His research focusses on process improvement in production engineering. He has been listed in Stanford University's ranking of the World's Top 2% Scientists.