Applying sustainability in product development

Sustainable product development initiatives have been evolving for some time to support companies improve the efficiency of current production and the design of new products and services through supply chain management. This work aims at integrating environmental criteria in product development projects at the same time that traditional product criteria are fulfilled. The manufacturing process of an airbrush was studied. Different strategies focused on the optimization of raw materials and energy consumption along the manufacturing operations, the identification of the product components that could be modified according to a DFA analysis, the evaluation of the recyclability rate for the materials making up the product and the identification of those materials with the highest environmental impact, were applied. An approach based on two main strategies, optimization of materials and optimization of processes is proposed to be used by engineering designers for a progressive education to eco-design practice.