Is the Industrial Product-Service System Really Sustainable

As the product-service system has shifted from its original concept to the Industrial PSS, its scope has expanded to include industrial products. Furthermore, the overall goal of reducing environmental impacts has been left behind. Despite the PSS's potential as a business model for a more sustainable production and consumption system, the mere addition of services to conventional products does not necessarily lead to a reduction of environmental impacts. This paper aims to discuss the concepts related to PSS, the need for considering environmental impact reduction as a critical issue for sustainability, and the role of ecodesign practices in the development of PSS

Geotraceability and life cycle assessment in environmental life cycle management: towards sustainability.

Sustainability is an emerging concept in product chains and integrates environmental, social, and economic aspects during the product's life cycle. Recently, the demand for environmental quality has required information about the products' life cycle. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) includes the inventory analysis, where the products´life cycle are systematized, and the Life Cycle Impact Assessment, when the environmental impacts potentials are calculated. A powerful tool to describe the history, use, and lication of a product in called geotraceability..

Remanufacturing on a Framework for Integrated Technology and Product-System Lifecycle Management (ITPSLM)

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityIn PSS context the product lifecycle needs to be managed in a holistic and structured way by using product life-cycle management (PLM) approach. The remanufacturing is an important strategy in this process, since the parts of a product that is being taken back at the end of its service can be remanufactured and new products send back to the market, fulfilling the needed functions. This paper aims to present a framework for ITPSLM composed by three business process (innovation management, technology development, productservice system development) and two support process (configuration management and business process management) and its relation to remanufacturing.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

Ecodesign methods focused on remanufacturing

Understanding the product`s `end-of-life` is important to reduce the environmental impact of the products` final disposal. When the initial stages of product development consider end-of-life aspects, which can be established by ecodesign (a proactive approach of environmental management that aims to reduce the total environmental impact of products), it becomes easier to close the loop of materials. The `end-of-life` ecodesign methods generally include more than one `end-of-life` strategy. Since product complexity varies substantially, some components, systems or sub-systems are easier to be recycled, reused or remanufactured than others. Remanufacture is an effective way to maintain products in a closed-loop, reducing both environmental impacts and costs of the manufacturing processes. This paper presents some ecodesign methods focused on the integration of different `end-of-life` strategies, with special attention to remanufacturing, given its increasing importance in the international scenario to reduce the life cycle impacts of products. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Institute Factory of the MillenniumFAPESP (Research Supporting Foundation for the State of Sao Paulo)CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development