Design Consulting: Circular Design Principles

• This document provides study notes on Design Consulting and circular design principles, with a focus on mechanical engineering.

Circular Economy

• The circular economy contrasts with linear processes, which involve raw material extraction, production, consumption, and disposal, leading to resource depletion and environmental issues.
• Key principles include maximizing resource use, minimizing waste, and maintaining products and materials in continuous cycles.
• In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in use, primary raw materials consumption is reduced, product value is preserved longer, and less waste is generated.
• Circular economy is a comprehensive approach that considers the entire lifecycle of a product, from raw material extraction through design, production, distribution, usage, and recycling.

Earth Overshoot Day

• Earth Overshoot Day marks when humanity's resource consumption exceeds the planet's regenerative capacity for the year; in 2024, it falls on August 1st.
• In 2024, humanity is consuming natural resources at a rate equivalent to 1.7 Earths.
• Swiss Overshoot Day 2024 is on May 27.
• A sustainable future requires three main strategies:
  • Efficiency: Improve resource utilization to produce goods with less energy and resources
  • Consistency: Shift from linear to circular production, minimizing waste and prioritizing renewable energy
  • Sufficiency: Change lifestyles to reduce resource consumption and promote needs-based consumption over excessive waste

Earth Overshoot Data Calculation

• The calculation is based on dividing Earth’s biocapacity (ecological resources produced in a year) by humanity’s ecological footprint (natural resources consumed).
• The formula is: Earth’s Biocapacity / Humanity’s Ecological Footprint * 365 days.
• The size of a country and its industrialization impacts Earth Overshoot Day calculation.
• Reducing carbon emissions by half could postpone Earth Overshoot Day by three months.

Circular Economy: Products and Services

• The circular economy offers ecological and economic advantages, as companies can reduce material costs and create new revenue streams through services like repair and resale.
• It seeks to minimize environmental impact and generate economic benefits by mirroring natural processes where everything is recycled.
• It aims to balance resource use with natural regeneration.

Natural Cycles

• Natural cycles, such as the water cycle and carbon cycle, ideally exist in equilibrium without producing waste.

Economic Sectors

• Traditional economic sectors include:
  • Primary: agriculture and raw material extraction
  • Secondary: manufacturing and processing industries,
  • Tertiary: service sector.
• The quaternary sector involves information and specialized knowledge services

Business Models

• A business model describes how a company functions and generates profits.
• The model should help understand, analyze, and communicate the key success factors of the business.

Business Models in Circular Design

• Models facilitate internalizing the value of circular design are:
  • The Miet- and Leasing Model: involves leasing carpets made of recyclable materials, which are recycled into new carpets.
  • Servitisation Model: is offering services like "Light as a Service"
  • Verkaufsmodell: integrates circular designs to recover components.

Verkaufsmodel

• Incorporates the value of circular design, such as Caterpillar's core component deposit system, where parts are reconditioned and sold as “as good as new” at a lower price.
• Vertical integration across the value chain: includes Mobility that can influence design with the market for cars that are easy to maintain and are fuel efficient.

Cradle-to-Cradle Principle

• The Cradle to Cradle (C2C) principle, developed in the 1990s, aims to eliminate waste by ensuring all materials can be recycled, reused, or safely returned to the environment.
• It calls for designing products that prevent waste from the outset, with materials retaining value rather than becoming non-reusable waste.
• Companies should also adopt the Cradle to Cradle certification for product assessments.

Product Lifecycle

• In a circular economy, the primary goal is to extend and optimize the product lifecycle, from design to disposal or reuse.
• Products should be designed for easy repair, reuse, and recycling.
• Product design is key to lengthening the product lifecycle, which can be achieved through product design oriented toward the circular economy.

Product Lifecycle Management

• PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) is an integrated, all-encompassing approach, covering all phases of a product’s life and incorporating all related IT systems and data.
• PLM helps plan, organize, and control product development, ensure competitiveness, and meet customer demands.

Benefits of Product Lifecycle Management

• Advantages include increased efficiency, better product quality, faster decision-making, and improved data management.
• Sustainable products should provide the same utility as conventional ones while consuming less resources and reducing environmental impact during production, use, and disposal.

R-Strategies in Product Lifecycle Management

• This is to reduce waste and conserve resources that can be achieved through circular design and manufacturing.
• Examples include refusing harmful materials, rethinking product use, reducing material consumption, reusing products, repairing components, refurbishing, repurposing, recycling, and recovering organic waste.

Product Development Process

• Involves identifying market demand and developing products that meet those needs while generating profit.
• Stages include concept and design, development and prototyping, and mass production and launch.
• Success relies on creativity and discipline.

Sustainability in Mechanical Engineering

• Circular economy is crucial for sustainability in mechanical engineering due to high usage of non-biodegradable metals and plastics.
• Important factors include efficient material use, energy-efficient solutions, and integration of renewable energy sources.

Stage-Gate Process in Mechanical Engineering

• In the Stage Gate process, project risks are lowered by analysing results after each of the project lifecycle's phases, that is typically used in product development.
• Phases in which projects are being assessed are marked off with specific milestones that have to be met.

Resource-Saving Design

• Circular product development should consider the endpoint of a product's life.
• Products are designed for optimal resource use and waste minimization throughout their lifecycle.

Circular Design

• The purpose of the constructions rules is to provide an explicit knowledge base for engineering that provides approaches that lead to the ideal Circular Design and are based one systemically identified and assessed frameworks.

Ökodesign Richtlinien

• The Eco-design-Richtlinie is used for products with excessive energy use, and helps make reliable, comparable and lucid decisions.

Herausforderungen in der Produktentwicklung

• New technological development projects that aren't sufficiently described/ too strongly limited result in violated copyrights, are technologically unbeaten or don't conform with the planned budget..

Circular Design in Nike

• Incorporates environmentally friendly materials, design for recyclability, waste minimization, easy disassembly, green chemistry, renewability, versatility, durability, circular packaging, and new service models.

Circular Design in Patagonia

• Patagonia uses a Common Threads Initiative which incorporate reducing, repairing, reusing, recycling, and reimagining consumption/production.

Materials and Processes

• Using advanced technical ceramic in gear constructions improves precision and reliability due to its superior wear resistance compared to steel.
• Using laser welding in automotive part manufacturing improves recycling.
• Ink tank printer are a product optimising technique that saves raw material.

Energieffizienz im Maschinenbau

• Measures to improve energy efficiency during machine design are, short heating up sequences, immobilised axes, easy switching and the minimization of nonproductive times.