Keijiro Masui

Applying Quality Function Deployment to environmentally conscious design

Presents a methodology for applying Quality Function Deployment (QFD) for environmentally conscious design in the early stage of product development. This methodology has been developed by incorporating environmental aspects into QFD to handle the environmental and traditional product quality requirements simultaneously. The “QFD for environment (QFDE)” proposed consists of four phases. Designers can find out which parts are the most important in enhancing environmental consciousness of their products by executing QFDE phase I and phase II. Further, a methodology is developed to evaluate the effects of design improvement on environmental quality requirements as phases III and IV. The results obtained from the case study of IC package show that QFDE could be applicable in the early stage of assembled product design, because the most important component from the viewpoint of the environment is clearly identified and multiple options for design improvement are effectively evaluated.

Total performance analysis of product life cycle considering the deterioration and obsolescence of product value

Environmental consciousness has gained more and more interest in recent years, and product life cycle design that aims to maximise total performance while minimising its environmental load and costs should be implemented. To achieve that, the rise and fall in product value along life cycles should be evaluated properly. This paper proposes a practical evaluation method for the product value along life cycle by correlating it with product functionalities, and design guideline for maximising product performance through product life cycle with balancing its value, environmental load, and costs.

Quality Function Deployment for Environment (QFDE) to Support Design for Environment (DFE)

This paper presents a methodology for applying Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to environmentally conscious design in the early stages of product development. The benefit of this approach is the simultaneous consideration of conventional design factors and environmental aspects during conceptual design. QFD’s main mission is to translate customer requirements to product characteristics and design attributes. QFD clarifies what is important for a product to be competitive in the market and identifies engineering specifications and designs that respond to the “voice of customer (VOC).” QFD for the Environment (QFDE) we propose could be applied to environmentally conscious design by including environmental aspects as quality requirements in addition to conventional VOCs. After discussing what kind of requirements and attributes of a product should be considered from the environmental point of view, we came up with a set of environmental quality requirements and engineering specifications, and their correlation factors. Design engineers can find out which parts are the most important parts to enhance environmental consciousness of their products by executing QFDE phase I through phase II. Further, we developed a methodology to evaluate the effects of design improvement concerning the parts on environmental quality requirements as phase III and IV.Copyright

Total performance analysis of product life cycle considering the uncertainties in product-use stage

Product life cycle design has gained more interest in recent years due to growing concern about environmental problems. In general, there exist significant uncertainties (e.g., operating condition, user preference, collection rate etc.) in product life cycle and a design method that is robust and tolerant against these uncertainties should be established. To this end, this paper discusses the uncertainties in product life cycle and evaluates their impact on total performance throughout a whole product life cycle. Based on this discussion, a design method for product life cycle that maximizes its total performance handling these uncertainties is proposed.

A simulation method of dynamic systems applied to backcasting scenario design

Companies and governments use scenarios as a means to express their long-term development plans from diverse, business, social, environmental, and technological aspects with various resolutions. In designing such scenarios, simulation methods are crucial in verifying scenario conclusions derived from facts and activities. This paper proposes a simulation method used in the scenario design process, which can deal with a scenario model with various resolutions by combining simulation methods studied on system dynamics and agent-based modeling. The method quantifies the side effects of target conclusions in backcasting design of a scenario towards sustainable society based on the IPAT formalization.

Total performance design of product life cycle considering future uncertainties

Product life cycle design has gained increasing interest in recent years due to growing concerns about environmental problems. In general, there exist significant uncertainties (e.g., operating conditions, user preference, post-consumer product collection rate, etc.) in the product life cycle, requiring a design method that is robust and tolerant against these uncertainties. To this end, this paper discusses design strategies for products and their life cycle to enhance total performance as a defence measure. Based on the discussion, a robust design method is proposed for maximising environmental and economic performance for the product life cycle. The effectiveness and feasibility of this method are demonstrated through a simple example of laptop computers.

Quality function deployment for environment: QFDE (2nd report)-verifying the applicability by two case studies

This paper reports the results from two case studies of DfE (Design for Environment) using QFDE (Quality Function Deployment for Environment). QFDE is a tool developed to support designers at early stages of DfE of assembled products by modifying QFD (Quality Function Deployment). One example is a design of an IC package, while the other is a design of an LCD (liquid crystal display). From these studies, it was proved that QFDE is applicable to an early stage of assembled product design, because the most important component from the viewpoint of the environment is identified and multiple DfE options are evaluated. At the same time, the most critical point for a successful use of QFDE was found to be recovering a difficulty to define the matrices required to achieve QFDE.

Proposal and feasibility assessment of “tele-inverse manufacturing”

The environmental pollutions caused by uncontrolled e-waste recycling is a pressing issue in the area. Appropriate e-waste management systems are required. The goal of this research is to discuss the long term future scenarios for e-waste recycling system. In the current paper, first, we present basic data which is useful for the scenario assessments. The data is mainly for the Japanese case. The data includes: e-waste amount, e-waste flow, material content in e-waste, LCA of electronics products and recycling costs. Second, we outline the future scenarios for e-waste recycling system. Third, as a scenario for the future e-waste recycling, we propose the tele-inverse manufacturing model. The feature of the model is that the operations for recycling are carried out via remote operations. It could utilize inexpensive wages and could reduce the costs for the processes. As the result, the model possibly promotes resource recycling. We discuss the feasibility of the model from the viewpoint of economical feasibility and technological feasibility.

Combinatorial Usage of QFDE and LCA for Environmentally Conscious Design

Environmentally conscious design (ecodesign) is at present among the key issues for manufacturers. Although many tools for ecodesign exist, how to employ different tools in combination is unavailable. To reveal a way of combinatorial utilization of QFDE (Quality Function Deployment for Environment) and LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), which are characteristic tools for ecodesign, this paper aims at analyzing how designers obtain and utilize different types of outputs from those two tools through a case study of QFDE and LCA on an identical product, an industrial pump. Outputs from QFDE were proved to include their functional roles such as that of an impeller, which supports designers effectively but cannot be obtained from LCA. In contrast, the results produced by LCA are indispensable for obtaining quantitative and objective information on the environmental aspect. Hence, a combinatorial usage of QFDE and LCA is suggested for effective ecodesign.

A Computational Support for Abduction in Product-Service Systems Design

Design of services at the use stage of products is crucial for the manufacturing industry to increase value delivery to product users through the life cycle. The paper proposes an approach to computational hypothesis formation regarding these services to meet given goals and quality criteria as specifications. The hypothesis formation procedure, which consists of analysis, suggestion, and transformation of service-related business models, represents the reasoning of designers by abduction, and implemented on a service CAD tool. The representation of a business model suitable to support the procedure is proposed and it is compared with related work about service modeling.