Article: Life cycle sustainability assessment as a decision-making tool for the design of mechatronic systems Journal: International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management (IJPLM) 2022 Vol.14 No.2/3 pp.142 - 173 Abstract: During the design process of mechatronic systems, several decisions are necessary for the optimisation of the final product. A decision support process is therefore needed to help in the choice of a satisfactory solution. In this paper, we propose an approach to integrate the performance criteria of the three sustainability dimensions in the design process of mechatronic systems. The proposed approach considers all lifecycle phases to prevent the phenomenon of impact transfer. It also uses a decision support method to assist the process of selection and calculation of different indicators for each alternative and the comparative analysis of the different investigated alternatives. The used research methodology starts with a literature review with the definition of specific LCSA methods followed by a prescriptive study establishing the process model and an empirical study on uses cases. The proposed approach is applied in a case study analysing two concepts of milk frother. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Life cycle sustainability assessment as a decision-making tool for the design of mechatronic systems

Authors: Simon Merschak; Thierno M.L. Diallo; Peter Hehenberger

Addresses: Research Group Smart Mechatronics Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Stelzhamerstraße 23, 4600 Wels, Austria ' ISAE-Supméca, QUARTZ Laboratory, 3 rue Fernand Hainaut, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France ' Research Group Smart Mechatronics Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Stelzhamerstraße 23, 4600 Wels, Austria

Abstract: During the design process of mechatronic systems, several decisions are necessary for the optimisation of the final product. A decision support process is therefore needed to help in the choice of a satisfactory solution. In this paper, we propose an approach to integrate the performance criteria of the three sustainability dimensions in the design process of mechatronic systems. The proposed approach considers all lifecycle phases to prevent the phenomenon of impact transfer. It also uses a decision support method to assist the process of selection and calculation of different indicators for each alternative and the comparative analysis of the different investigated alternatives. The used research methodology starts with a literature review with the definition of specific LCSA methods followed by a prescriptive study establishing the process model and an empirical study on uses cases. The proposed approach is applied in a case study analysing two concepts of milk frother.

Keywords: life cycle sustainability assessment; LCSA; environmental impact; life cycle costing; LCC; sustainability score; multi-criteria decision analysis; MCDA; mechatronic systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2022.125823

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2022 Vol.14 No.2/3, pp.142 - 173

Received: 25 Dec 2021
Received in revised form: 15 Apr 2022
Accepted: 01 Jun 2022
Published online: 29 Sep 2022 *

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Title: Life cycle sustainability assessment as a decision-making tool for the design of mechatronic systems

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