Design for lifecycle and sustainability
Made to order products are generally characterised by significant contributions to the cost of ownership arising from all phases of the product lifecycle (design and engineering, manufacturing, operation, upgrading and disposal). In addition to purely economic issues, in many sectors the lifecycle environmental impact of the product is becoming an increasingly important factor.
Effective trade-off between technical, economic and environmental drivers and their effect in different stages of the product lifecycle is extremely difficult to achieve due to the complexity of the product, its long lifecycle and the changing operating environment.
Research at the EDC is focusing on the development of tools which empower the designer to evaluate such trade-offs early in the design process, where the most important decisions are made. Key elements of this research address through-life costing, environmental impact and upgradeability; the main thrust, however, is to develop a holistic approach in which all of these factors can be managed as an integral part of the overall design process.
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For further details of the EDC's activities please get in touch with us through our contact page.
Commercial Research at Newcastle University
A full list of commercially available research facilities for Newcastle University can be found on the Services for Business web pages.
Highlight for April 2008
Integrated Modelling for Strategic Planning
Strategic planning for sustainability requires complex systems to be modelled.
Because of this complexity, it is unrealistic to develop new and comprehensive models for each of the numerous possible situations likely to be encountered. Many models already exist ...
Previous highlights
About the Events Diary
Upcoming seminars
The EDC often hosts, arranges or is associated with a wide variety of seminars related to its activities.
These seminars (often in association with an engineering institute) are always open to students and staff at the university and often to the public.
Upcoming events will be listed on this website in the future. Please check back from time to time for updates.
