Eberhard Abele - Böcker

Development of environmentally friendly products gains an increasing - portance in science and in industry. While product development was strongly dedicated to achieve quality, cost and time targets, environmental issues indirectly had always been under consideration by engineers, see Fig. 1. Furthermore a methodology for the development of environm- tally sound products was missing. Despite of significant progress in using computer aided tools for product development and design, environmental aspects were attended. Computer aided tools typically do not include methods for considering environmental issues enabling the designer to - sess a product’s environmental effects. Fig. 1. Vision of Environment as a key target for product development v vi Preface Product related environmental issues are getting more and more political and public awareness. Development of environmentally friendly products has become an action item for both, politics and industry (UNFCCC 1997). Energy consumption is on the agenda and covers pollution and resource saving. Typical topics of directives of the European Union are waste, noise, air pollution, water, nature and biodiversity, soil protection, civil protection and climate change. After the translation into national law the development of environmentally friendly products is a basic approach to contribute to the fulfilment of the topics mentioned above. In the European Community a “Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament” on “Integrated Product Policy” was adopted on th 18 June 2003 (EC 2003).

The modern market economy is founded on economic growth and increasing consumption of manufactured products, leading to over use of resources and environmentally-damaging pollution. We can help protect the environment by focussing on the entire life-cycle of each manufactured product. A holistic view of every stage and process of a product's life-cycle is needed in order to find sound solutions to adverse environmental effects and help us develop a new generation of eco-designed products. Environmentally-friendly Product Development introduces methods to improve the environmental characteristics of products. Every manufactured product has environmental impacts during its life-cycle. These arise in the product's manufacture, use, recycling and disposal. In the past designers have focussed only on technical and economical aspects when developing new products, taking into account market-conditions and their company's resources. However, designing a product in accordance with environmental demands requires that designers consider potential influences from all part of its life-cycle.The book describes an integrated approach that assists designers to develop environmentally-friendly products, illustrating the methods and tools with case studies. Process and information modelling, life-cycle assessment and ecological product optimisation are surveyed in detail. Unique to Environmentally-friendly Product Development is the introduction of the Eco Design Workbench - a computer based design environment that supports the designer during the product development process. Environmentally-friendly Product Development is a comprehensive survey of environmental design. Readers will learn about the complexity of ecological product design and be introduced to methods and tools that can minimise environmental impacts. As well as a practical guide for product designers and design engineers, the book will provide managers in industry with an introduction to the environmental costs involved in a manufacturing economy and signposts to how these may be limited.

This book presents the state of the art of learning factories. Definitions of the term learning factory and a corresponding morphological model are provided as well as a detailed overview of existing learning factory approaches in industry and academia, showing the broad range of different applications and varying contents.

This book presents the state of the art of learning factories. Definitions of the term learning factory and an updated morphological model are provided as well as a detailed overview of existing learning factory approaches in industry and academia, showing the broad range of different applications and varying contents in all continents.

This book presents the state of the art of learning factories. Definitions of the term learning factory and an updated morphological model are provided as well as a detailed overview of existing learning factory approaches in industry and academia, showing the broad range of different applications and varying contents in all continents.

This book contributes a basic framework for and specific insights into interdisciplinary connections between production, logistics, and traffic subsystems. The book is divided into two parts, the first of which presents an overview of interdisciplinarity in value-added networks and freight traffic. This includes an introduction to the topic and a description of an integrated framework of production, logistics, and traffic. Furthermore, it describes the barriers and challenges of interdisciplinary decision-making and project management. In turn, the second part presents domain-specific perspectives on interdisciplinary decision support, exploring domain-specific challenges of interdisciplinary interfaces and requirements for management methods and instruments from the standpoint of production management, logistics management, traffic management, and information technologies.

In turn, the second part presents domain-specific perspectives on interdisciplinary decision support, exploring domain-specific challenges of interdisciplinary interfaces and requirements for management methods and instruments from the standpoint of production management, logistics management, traffic management, and information technologies.

Global production and purchasing operations create a platform for entry into new markets. However, it takes considerable effort to plan and implement a sustainable globalization strategy; this comprehensive handbook will help in that task.

Anhand konkreter Fallbeispiele wird die Umsetzung des EcoDesigns in der industriellen Praxis unter verschiedenen Aspekten aufgezeigt. Praxisnah und nachvollziehbar finden sich hier die Ergebnisse eines DFG-geförderten Forschungsbereichs an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt, in dem in Kooperation mit namhaften Industrieunternehmen das EcoDesign nachhaltig in deren Unternehmenspraxis umgesetzt wurde.Das Buch zeigt die Erkenntnisse aus den Projekten im Hinblick auf den Umgang mit zukünftigen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen, die Implementierung des EcoDesigns in die täglichen Unternehmensabläufe, die Entwicklung umweltgerechter Energiespeicher für Kleingeräte, die Erstellung und Anpassung von Arbeitsmitteln für Investitionsgüter, die Umsetzung der ökologischen Produktbeurteilung auf Grundlage von Standardsoftwaresystemen sowie die Gestaltung der Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstelle für eine umweltgerechte Bedienung des Produkts. Darüber hinaus bietet ein Umsetzungsleitfaden eine Orientierungshilfe für die Anwender des EcoDesigns in der Praxis.

Es werden praktische Hinweise zum Aufbau einer nachhaltigen Know-how-Schutzstrategie gegeben, die nicht nur die Produkte, sondern auch die Unternehmensprozesse in den Mittelpunkt stellt.