A design for environment (DFE) product analysis

Abstract

Environmental legislation is holding electrical and electronic manufacturers accountable for the disposal of their products at end of life. In order to reduce disposal costs, manufacturers are seeking to optimise product design. Supporting tools are essential at this stage in managing environmental information in order to reduce the products environmental impact. This paper presents findings from an environmental product redesign case study. Specifically, it presents the findings of the Design for Environment Workbench (DFE Workbench) software, in redesigning a torch. The aim of this research is to establish whether the DFE Workbench is adept at reducing the environmental impact of a product. A comparative analysis of the case study results is carried out using a second software tool, Sima Pro. This verifies the 9% reduction in environmental impact achieved through the use of the DFE Workbench. This supports the use of the DFE Workbench as successfully reducing environmental impact.