Environmental degradation and concepts of 'sustainability' have recently become a focus of political, commercial and social concern. This thesis addresses one of the issues concerning human impact on the environment, namely the environmental awareness and action of those involved with design and development. This project provides an overview of designers' current attitudes to environmentally responsible design and investigates design that is perceived to be more environmentally responsible. The research was exploratory and qualitative in nature. The postal and telephone pilot surveys and the main study of 20 in-depth interviews were carried out with individuals involved in design and development in design consultancies and a range of design-based manufacturing companies within the UK. It was found that most designers were unaware of many of the issues surrounding environmentally responsible design. Few companies were including environmental criteria within design and development processes, the exceptions generally responding to legislative or market demands. Three main levels of environmentally responsible design are discussed in this project; <i>green design</i> addresses a focus on one or two environmental impacts of a product, <i>ecodesign</i> refers to a comprehensive product lifecycle design strategy, and <i>sustainable design </i> describes a move beyond the current context of design and questions, for example, the need, value, and ethics of a product's development. The significant qualitative data gathered during the project led to the development of a visual analysis method, the 'Environmental footprint'. Different types of business approach (proactive, reactive and cynical) to incorporating environmental issues within product development emerged from this analysis. These were further developed into a hierarchy of environmental business strategies which aided the identification of approaches that relied on 'bottom-up' action (e.g., action of an individual 'environmental champion' within the company), and those which tended to be a result of 'top-down' action (e.g., a company's strategic environmental policy). The research showed that to achieve effective, long-term environmentally responsible design and development the following are desirable: (a) design-specific information on environmentally responsible design, (b) effective communication channels within companies and throughout the supply chain, and (c) greater understanding of the qualities and scope of design by senior management. The research also questions how a design profession focused almost entirely on increasing the production and consumption of goods can re-evaluate its role in society and move towards a more responsible and environmentally sustainable existence. 'Sustainable design' is discussed as a concept which moves beyond 'green design' and 'ecodesign', and hence the remit of the designer, to one which can only be successfully addressed by a change in the political and economic global development system.

Context: This study was founded on the notion that opportunities for individuals to improve their knowledge of and appreciation for design should be accessible to a broad population. If design is considered a driver in the development of environments that people encounter as part of their everyday activities, they may learn about design from those encounters. With a visual database of environments that include positive design examples, the population will benefit. Firstly, they have the capacity to use their informed encounters to contribute with some authority to discourse that shapes the future of their individual and collective surroundings. Secondly, they hold a greater expectation for design which can increase economic activity through design-related industry. Aim: The Australian post office (PostShop) was chosen as an example of an everyday environment that has the capacity to capture a large audience, due to an ever-increasing and proven catchment of the population-currently one in eighteen Australians will visit each day. To understand the role of design in the PostShop environment it is essential to understand the process through which the environment is developed, and those criteria that drive the final outcome. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which the key development drivers of the PostShop influence the inclusion of design as a driver. Background: To enable this investigation to take place within an established context, a review of background literature was undertaken. This included themes supporting design literacy; the history of the PostShop built environment; brand; fitout and landlord guidelines for the built environment; global postal models; organisational behaviour; the development process; and the role of design in improving economic growth. / Methodology: The qualitative approach was used during the research undertaken in this study. Semi-structured interviews were held with participants from Australia Post and other (external) organisations to capture data relating to the development process of the Postshop, and the role of design in that process. This data was categorised and coded according to themes that emerged from the interview data. This allowed the reduction of data for analysis and presentation. The presentation is primarily rich narrative descriptions and includes responses from interview participants. Key findings: The data uncovered thirty-three individual drivers that have contributed to the development of the postal environment over time. These drivers were presented to illustrate their changing importance over time, from early traditional post offices through to the current PostShop. Seventeen drivers were considered to be relevant today. These were distilled to four chief driver groups that influence the current PostShop. In rank order, these are : financial motivation: including minimisation of rental outgoings, capital fitout costs and business downtime during refurbishment; and queue operation organisational behaviour: including authority of internal opinion: and competition and personal imprimatur brand strategy: including the desire to be a modern retailer; national and tiered fitout standards; and measurement of the built environment as a brand medium external authority: including postal and other industry models; government pressure; and landlord guidelines. / Conclusions: The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the key development drivers of the PostShop influence the inclusion of design as a driver. It was concluded that: all chief driver groups limit opportunities for design to contribute as a driver towards enhanced PostShop success. Despite being one of the leading international postal providers in terms of economic results, the chief drivers fail to embrace further potential for economic growth. The chief drivers also prevent the PostShop acting as an everyday environment that could successfully enhance the design literacy of the one million Australians that visit each day.

Numerous works have been produced on the topic of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) to better educate the designers of products as to various methods of manufacturing and their specific requirements. It is the common aim of these works to eliminate so called "over the wall" product development in which procedurally ignorant designers pass largely un-producible design concepts to manufacturers, who are then required to make necessary refinements and changes. When applied correctly, DFM results in the efficient and economical production of well-designed products, whose forms have been attuned to the particular requirements of their final method of production at an early stage of development. However, one aspect of using such approaches is that design intent is frequently compromised for the sake of manufacturability and innovative design concepts are often dismissed as being unfeasible. Recent advances in additive manufacturing technologies and their use in the direct manufacture of end-use products from digital data sources has brought about a new method of production that is known as Rapid Manufacturing (RM). Unlike conventional subtractive machining processes, such as milling and turning which generate forms by removing material from a stock billet, RM parts are grown from an empty part bed using the controlled addition of specialised build materials. Additive manufacturing requires no forming tools, is unrestricted by many conventional process considerations and is capable of producing practically any geometry. The freedoms that are associated with this technology facilitate the design and realisation of product concepts that would be unachievable with any other method of production. This promotes an almost boundless design philosophy in which innovative product solutions can be designed to best meet the needs of specification criteria, rather than the production process with which they are to be made. However, unlike other forms of manufacturing, the newness of this technology means that there is no proven aid or tool to assist industrial designers in exploiting the freedoms that it offers. Using information that was collated in the literature review and case study projects, a systematic design approach was proposed and then tested in a series of user trials with groups of industrial design students and practicing industrial design professionals. The results of these trials are discussed, showing a common acknowledgement from both groups that the proposed DFRM tool was of assistance and that it had an influence upon their design work. However, whilst the student group were generally receptive toward tool uptake, the experienced designers showed more of a reluctance to abandon their own "tried and tested" methods in favour of the unknown and unproven approach. It is concluded that this attitude would be fairly representative of wider opinion and that the future uptake of any such tool would be reliant upon sufficient evidence of its successful application. Hence, suggestions are made for future work to continue tool development and for more validation trials to be conducted with its intended user group.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [74]-76).

Thesis (MEd)--University of Melbourne, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-130)

In an attempt to increase opportunity and quality of life for people living in poverty,governments and non-government organisations (NGOs) sell and donate products to developing countries. Typically, these are essential household items such as cook stoves, water filters and solar lighting. However, to date there has been limited research into the uptake and long term effectiveness of these products and few methods or tools are available to guide the product development process. This has resulted in a number of well documented product failures as a result of poor design choices. To overcome this problem and provide guidance to future or existing designers and NGOs this research investigated the factors required for long lasting and effective product design. This was carried out through the use of a literature review, the analysis of 64 products, a survey, interviews with product designers, and a case study with a Social Enterprise in Myanmar (Burma). The information gathered was analysed and used to create a framework consisting of various tools to guide designers and NGOs. Specifically, the research focused on the creation of a taxonomy of products designed for developing countries and an assessment method consisting of eight critical indicators for product success. These were presented as a website, set of cards and book which guides and assists designers during the process to ensure that future products are appropriate and to prevent current unacceptable levels of waste. Following the creation of the framework it was evaluated by students, practitioners and existing product users in Myanmar. The findings revealed that participants felt the assessment method and indicator cards were beneficial during the design process and assisted them in the development of more suitable and appropriate products.

<p>For a company to be competitive today, one way is to create a natural feedback loop from the production department to the design department with information regarding the production systems ability to deliver a finished component. The purpose with this feedback loop is to create respect for tolerances and to more design for manufacturing and assembly. The studied company in this thesis work developed a quality program to reach a spiral of continuous improvements to reduce cost of poor quality (CoPQ) and to reach an improved quality level (PPM). The object of this work was to test and improve the quality program called The Zero Tolerance Program. Delimitations were made when the work was started and ongoing which led to that the impact on PPM could not be studied. The connection to CoPQ was difficult to obtain and could only be proved theoretically, not practically, due to the short timetable.</p><p>During the short amount of time the right root cause could not be found. The thesis work findings came to a number of identified Measurable Success Criteria and requirements which must be in place for the further progress of The Zero Tolerance Program.</p> / PREPARE

The notion of sustainability has become an extensive area of research ever since the term emerged in the late 1980s, due to the negative effects of unsustainable production and consumption patterns on environmental stewardship, social equity and economic development. There have been various approaches developed for product design and education within the context sustainability. Biomimicry is one of those approaches, and its implications for product design education have recently started to be explored. In this study, an educational tool - Biomimicry Sketch Analysis (BSA) - was developed and integrated into the idea-generation phase of an educational design project at the undergraduate level in the Department of Industrial Design at the Middle East Technical University (METU). This integration is analyzed throughout the graduate thesis study, to understand and explore the implications of the biomimicry approach for sustainability in product design education. The educational tool within this approach was found as influential among the third year industrial design students for the idea-generation phase, yet the results of this study included both pros and cons for the incorporation of the BSA exercise.

For a company to be competitive today, one way is to create a natural feedback loop from the production department to the design department with information regarding the production systems ability to deliver a finished component. The purpose with this feedback loop is to create respect for tolerances and to more design for manufacturing and assembly. The studied company in this thesis work developed a quality program to reach a spiral of continuous improvements to reduce cost of poor quality (CoPQ) and to reach an improved quality level (PPM). The object of this work was to test and improve the quality program called The Zero Tolerance Program. Delimitations were made when the work was started and ongoing which led to that the impact on PPM could not be studied. The connection to CoPQ was difficult to obtain and could only be proved theoretically, not practically, due to the short timetable. During the short amount of time the right root cause could not be found. The thesis work findings came to a number of identified Measurable Success Criteria and requirements which must be in place for the further progress of The Zero Tolerance Program. / PREPARE

New product development is a challenging process which plays a significant role for the rise of the competitiveness of a firm. This process benefits from cooperative relations in the supply network of the firm, such as the collaboration in buyer- supplier relations. The automotive industry presents a good example for studying buyer supplier relations. The positive effects of supplier involvement in product design and development process have been discussed intensely in the literature due to the exceptional success of OEMs &ndash / Original Equipment Manufacturers- in the Japanese automotive industry. This study analyzes the role of suppliers in the automotive sector, the buyer-supplier interface and relations, and new product development process specific to the automotive industry in order to highlight the outcomes of supplier involvement in product development process especially during the design phase. A descriptive questionnaire study on the Turkish automotive supplier industry was conducted. The questionnaire was completed by 25 supplier firms who are members of the Association of Turkish Automotive Parts &amp / Components Manufacturers (TAYSAD) and 5 OEM firms. The questionnaire results show that the level of supplier involvement in the product design phase is low compared to the other project phases such as introduction to the project, prototype production, pre-launch, and mass production. Following this preliminary study, two in-depth interviews were conducted with one OEM and one supplier representatives, and more detailed information on suppliers&rsquo / involvement in product design was gathered. Keywords: Supplier Involvement, Automotive Industry, Product Development, Collaborative Design