The purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge for both academia and practitioners on how to integrate sustainability aspects in product development by studying current research and comparing these findings to empirical material retrieved from an industrial company. Seco, which functioned as the case company of this study, was used as the source for the empirical data collection. The study used a deductive research approach, which implicates that the literature has steered the collection of the empirical material. In the literature, eight key drivers and seven challenges for sustainable product development were identified to be significantly important. The drivers were categorized as either internal or external for an organization and the challenges were all categorised as internal. Of these eight drivers, one internal and one external driver was identified at Seco to be particularly important. The internal driver was the corporate sustainability strategy from Sandvik Group, which is the corporation Seco is part of, and the external driver was upcoming and existing regulations. Moreover, all six challenges were found to be relevant for Seco. These were handling trade-off situations, short-term economic thinking, lack of information in early phases of product development, measuring sustainability, sustainability strategy remains at the strategic level, and perceived risk of implementing sustainability. This study also examined what attributes that are important in decision support tools to enable the integration of sustainability aspects in product development. To identify important attributes in this study, Seco’s current decision support tools at the strategic, tactical, and operational planning levels were analysed by putting the theoretical framework in relation to the empirical material. From the analysis, the initial seven attributes from the theoretical framework were complemented with the following five attributes identified as important: a top-down approach that focuses on integrating sustainability on all planning levels of the product development process, enabling follow-up on strategic decisions, reduce the room for free interpretations, reduce the complexity and amount of time to use decision support tools, and lastly methodologies to support the collection of the required information to use decision support tools. Thus, it is emphasized that researchers and practitioners continue to develop new and existing decision support tools so that the sustainability of products can be defined and measured. A focus on developing methodologies that guides how the required information can be obtained to use decision support that incorporates all life-cycle phases of a product is also identified as important.

Product development is a crucial leverage point to move our society towards sustainability. The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge on how a selected strategic tool for sustainable product development (SPD), namely the Method for Sustainable Product Development (MSPD), can be adapted to integrate sustainability aspects into the Product Development Process (PDP) of an organization. A Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) in the manufacturing industry with customers and office locations worldwide is used as a case study. A participatory action research approach is used throughout the study. It is shown in the case that the MSPD triggers thinking in product development by raising sustainability-related questions. In order to be answered most questions, however, require additional sustainability education in the organization and further investigation in long-term, company-wide projects, which the current PDP of the organization was not designed to provide. It was concluded that iterations of the process with the integrated MSPD tool and additional tools to supplement the MSPD are necessary to further move product development at the organization towards sustainability.

Product development is a particularly critical intervention point for the transformation of society towards sustainability. Current socio-ecological impacts over product life-cycles are evidence that current practices are insufficient. The aim of this thesis is to form a foundation for sustainable product development through the integration of a sustainability perspective into product development procedures and processes. Literature reviews and theoretical considerations as well as interviews, questionnaires, observations, testing and action research through case studies in various companies have indicated gaps in current methodology and have guided the development of a new general Method for Sustainable Product Development (MSPD). This method combines a framework for strategic sustainable development based on backcasting from basic sustainability principles with a standard concurrent engineering development model. A modular system of guiding questions, derived by considering the sustainability principles and the product life-cycle, is the key feature. Initial testing indicates that this MSPD works well for identification of sustainability problems as well as for generation of possible solutions. However, these tests also indicate that there is sometimes a desire for a quick overview of the sustainability performance of a specific product category. This is to guide early strategic decisions before the more comprehensive and detailed work with the MSPD is undertaken, or, alternatively, when an overview is sufficient to make decisions. In response, a Template for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD) approach is presented as a supplement to the MSPD. To generate products that support sustainable development of society it is necessary to combine sustainability assessments with improvements of technical product properties. An introductory procedure for such sustainability-driven design optimization is suggested based on a case study. For maximum efficiency of a company in finding viable pathways towards sustainability, it is also necessary to coordinate different methods and tools that are useful for sustainable product development and integrate them into the overall decision-making processes at different levels in companies. To find gaps in the sustainability integration in a company’s decision system, an assessment approach is suggested based on case studies. A general conclusion from this research is that the support needed for making sustainability-related decisions are not systematically integrated in companies today. However, this thesis also indicates that it is possible to create generic methods and tools that aid the integration of sustainability aspects in companies’ strategic decision-making and product development. These methods and tools can be used to guide the prioritization of investments and technical optimization on the increasingly sustainability-driven market, thus providing a foundation for competitive sustainable product development.

Much has been written on the subject of sustainable development and the urgent need for society to understand and address human impacts on socio-ecological systems. Emerging from this broad context, the concept of sustainable product development (SPD) represents an important strategy to steer human society towards sustainability. This thesis investigates strategies for integrating sustainability concepts, through organisational learning and stakeholder management, into a new product development tool entitled ‘Touchpoint’. Built on prior research, specifically Methods for Sustainable Product Development(MSPD) and Templates for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD), this could help to eliminate product development approaches that lead to reductionism and ensure that SPD is adopted rapidly and widely.

The audience for this research is fellow researchers and others helping product developers to start including sustainability when they are selecting product concepts. The aims of the research were to understand the needs of product developers integrating sustainability into concept selection and what might be done to help them. The research approach was to iterate between the three studies of design research methodology. The first study focused on understanding the challenges that product developers face when integrating sustainability into concept selection. The aim of the second study was to identify potential support to help product developers to deal with the challenges.  And the third study was to try out the potential support to see if it actually helps product developers address the challenges they face. These studies were executed through reviewing literature and exploring two cases. The results led to a focus on supporting the decision-making process and supporting analysing with  respect to social sustainability.  Selecting concepts is a complex decision made under challenging conditions. Bringing in the complex, new and unfamiliar aspects of sustainability can make good decision-making even more challenging. When integrating sustainability, two particular barriers to good concept selection decision-making are errors due to illusory correlation and confirmation bias. Despite the challenges, how good you are at making decisions matters. And a good decision-making process drives good decisions. This is especially relevant when bringing in complex and unfamiliar aspects, such as sustainability.  A likely candidate for helping product developers achieve a good decision-making process when integrating sustainability is active, value-focused decision-support. In other words, structuring the process into bite-sized steps and using particular techniques to avoid bias. At each step, decision-makers’ focus is anchored by the things that stakeholders value as important.   Further research is required to investigate the details of how to employ these process-support approaches in the particular context of integrating sustainability into concept selection decision-making. In addition to a process, complicated selection decisions demand analysis. Support for analysing concepts with respect to social sustainability was identified as a gap. We explored a potential approach that might contribute to this analysis, but found that it was not useful for the particular decision in hand.  This opened up some interesting questions for further research.

Both the ecological and social system are systematically degrading, resulting in decreasing capacities to support human civilization. Product development and manufacturing companies play a key role in driving society’s transition towards a sustainable path. Besides moral arguments, the motivation for companies can be expressed as a matter of smart risk management, i.e. avoiding threats and exploiting opportunities. Such sustainability risks can be related to, for example, brand and reputation, legislative change, or attracting top-talented employees. But, more importantly, it is about understanding changes that are inevitable on markets to come. Based on Maxwell’s interactive qualitative research approach and following the structure of the Design Research Methodology, this thesis aims to contribute (i) to knowledge by increasing the conceptual understanding of what sustainability risks are; and (ii) to practice by researching decision-support for how sustainability risks can be managed in a product development company context. The first study reviewed existing literature and identified characteristics of sustainability risks, which make them particularly difficult to manage. A following exploratory and descriptive study investigated companies’ current risk management practices and preconditions for sustainability integration. It showed that the effects of uncertainty from the sustainability transition need to be identified, assessed, and managed in relation to how they can affect objectives anchored in both internal and external stakeholder value creation. In parallel, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development was applied as a lens to understand the implications of the sustainability transition for company risk management. This resulted in a new definition, stating that sustainability risks are threats and opportunities that are due to an organization’s contribution or counteraction to society’s transition towards strategic sustainable development. A questionnaire study then investigated some case companies’ challenges and preconditions to build sustainability capabilities. Finally, a workshop method is proposed that aims to support design teams in early sustainable product development. Future research will leverage on the findings to develop and test decision support for how product development companies can manage sustainability risks on different organizational levels in practice to increase competitiveness, while taking leadership in the transition towards a sustainable society.

Simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) method quickly delivers an estimation of the product’s life- cycle impacts without intense data requirements, which are taken as a practical tool in the early stage of product development (PD) to support sustainable decisions. However, obstacles are to integrate the LCA tool efficiently and effectively into the designers’ daily workflows. To give a comprehensive overview of the potential challenges in integrating simplified LCA software to vehicle PD processes, the research conducts accessibility, intrinsic, contextual and representational data quality evaluation of the two vehicle-LCA software, Granta Selector and the Modular-LCA Kit, by the means of interviews, case studies and usability testing. From the four data quality evaluation, the results demonstrate (1) the importance of the company’s collaboration with the software developers to ensure the software’s accessibility; (2) the data accuracy constraints of the software due to the generic database and over-simplified methods; (3) the vehicle designer engineers reactions in the two software’s data fulfilments in conducting the complicated vehicle LCA models; and (4) the LCA results’ effectiveness in supporting sustainable design decisions. Overall, the two simplified LCA software’s reliability is sufficient merely in the very beginning stage of PD while the user satisfaction and effectiveness of the simplified LCA data are positive for the design engineers with a basic level of sustainability knowledge. Still, there is a need of systematic strategies in integrating the software into PD processes. A three-pillar strategy that covers the approaches of company administrative policy, software management, and promotion, and LCA and vehicle data life-cycle management could tackle the data gaps and limitations of the software and company. Based on this strategy, the research proposes an example roadmap for Scania. / Genom en förenklad livscykelanalys(LCA), kan man tidigt i produktutvecklingen få en indikation över ett fordons miljöpåverkan. Analysen kan agera som ett verktyg för att ge stöd till mer hållbara beslut i produktutvecklingen. En svårighet ligger dock i att integrera LCA i designers dagliga arbetsflöde på ett effektivt sätt. För att skapa en översikt av Scanias utvecklare och designers LCA- datakrav för hållbar fordonsutveckling genomfördes en datakvalitetsutvärdering (“accessibility, intrinsic, contextual, and representational”) av två LCA-programvaror, Granta Selector och Modular-LCA-kit. Från detta kunde en strategi och handlingsplan tas fram för implementering av LCA-programvara inom fordonsutveckling. Resultaten indikerar att programvarornas tillförlitlighet endast är tillräckliga i ett tidigt skede i produktutvecklingen. Dessutom varierar användarnas tillfredsställelse och effektiviteten av programvarans förenklade data utifrån designerns kunskapsnivå inom hållbarhet. För att ha en framgångsrik integrering av LCA-programvaran i fordonskonstruktionen, utvecklades en strategi med tre pelare. Dessa täcker Scanias företagspolicy och mjukvaruhantering samt hanteringen av livscykel inventariet och BOM-data, för att hantera brister i dataseten men även begränsningar hos programvaran och företaget. Baserat på denna strategi presenteras en möjlig handlingsplan för Scania.

I samarbete med Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan har uppdragsgivaren ÖMV AB utformat ett uppdrag som berör en av deras tidigare huvudprodukter, fiberfiltret. ÖMV AB ingår i OSTP Group Company. Genom engagemang och modern teknologi konstruerar, tillverkar och utvecklar ÖMV AB avancerad process utrustning som bidrar till en hållbar framtid. Företagets huvudprodukter är reaktorer, värmeväxlare, cisterner, tankar. Planer om att återuppta tillverkningen av fiberfiltret som är en av företagets tidigare produkter är aktuell, men det tidigare konceptet bör ses över och utvecklas för att uppfylla kundens önskemål. Det nuvarande konceptet anses innehålla brister och områden som potentiellt behöver förbättras, utvecklingen kommer att utföras med hänsyn till både konstruktion och även hur produkten anpassas för användarens säkerhet. Dagens fiberfilter används inom papper- och massaindustrin, dess syfte är att separera massa till fibrer och vatten för att förhindra fibrerna från att släppas ut i vattendrag. Målet med detta arbete är att ta fram minst tre alternativa lösningar för en förbättrad stödkonstruktion, även utveckla fiberfiltrets luckor som i nuläget anses utsätta användaren för risker, minst två koncept ska tas fram som uppfyller maskindirektivets föreskrifter. Utvecklingen av fiberfiltret kommer ske med hjälp av ett antal systematiska produktutvecklingsmetoder, de olika lösningarna kommer att analyseras och modelleras i ett datorstött designverktyg kallat Creo PTC. / In collaboration with the Royal Institute of Technology, the commissioner ÖMV AB has designed an assignment relating to one of their former main products, the fiber filter. ÖMV AB is part of OSTP Group Company. Through commitment and modern technology, ÖMV AB designs, manufactures and develops advanced process equipment that contributes to a sustainable future. The company's main products are reactors, heat exchangers, cisterns and tanks. Plans to resume fiber filter manufacturing as one of the company's previous products are current, but the previous concept should be reviewed and developed to meet the customer's wishes. The current concept is considered to contain shortcomings and there are areas that may need to be improved, development will be carried out with regard to both design and also how the product is adapted for user safety. Today's fiber filters are used in the paper and pulp industry, its purpose is to separate pulp into fibers and water to prevent the fibers from being released into watercourses. The aim of this work is to develop at least three alternative manufacturing methods for an improved support structure, including developing the fiber filter gaps that are currently considered to expose the user to risks, at least two concepts must be developed that comply with the Machinery Directive. The development of fiber filters will be done using a number of systematic product development methods, the different solutions will be analyzed and modeled in a computer-aided design tool called Creo.

There is an intersection of challenges where society’s social and ecological problems coincide with the industrial firm’s challenge to maintain profitability in a globalizing world. Products connect these challenges. The development of these products together with services (product-service systems) therefore provides a critical intervention point to address these challenges. This includes e.g. defining what the products and services are, how they will deliver value to users, and the business models that enable them to be realized, as well as how these can contribute to sustainable development of society. The overarching goal of this research is to contribute to sustainable development of society by better understanding how a strategic sustainable development perspective based on backcasting from basic principles for a sustainable society can be brought into and guide product-service system innovation. Interviews with industry professionals, workshops with both manufacturing companies and within student projects, and industrial cases studies, together with a review of literature and theoretical considerations, provide the methodological basis for this work. This thesis contributes to clarifying theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations for a strategic sustainable development perspective to guide product-service system innovation and provides a basis for the integration of these concepts. The findings indicate that the co-innovation of products and services in product-service systems can contribute to sustainable development of society both by supporting reduced material and energy use and by supporting improved life cycle management of materials. Further, a strategic sustainable development perspective can contribute to the refinement of existing tools and methods in product-service system innovation by providing an operational definition of sustainability articulated in the form of first-order principles that describe the boundary conditions for a sustainable society, and by providing guidelines for how to approach a vision of success inside those boundaries in a strategic way. In order to identify solutions that meet society’s pressing challenges, new solution spaces may need to be identified, and this can be enabled by a shift from product development with service as “add-ons” to their co-innovation in product-service systems. An initial approach for how this could be enabled through bringing together set-based approaches to design product-service systems with a strategic sustainable development perspective is presented.

Global warming challenges designers to pay attention to environmental effects of manufacturing when designing new products. This examination project was a personal challenge to uphold ethical responsibility as a designer and consider emotional aspects of design while aiming to create a pleasurable lighting for the home environment. The underpinning idea for the project was to promote the use of recycled materials and an environmentally friendly light source aiming to create a sustainable everyday commonplace product that it is possible to manufacture. High power LED-technology was chosen because of its energy efficiency, flexibility and a particularly long life-cycle. Recycled plastic and fibre cardboard were chosen to be applied as the shades of the lamps. Both these recycled materials can be broken down and recycled again after use. Emotional design aspect was the leading theory in the design process. The intention was to consider different levels of emotional aspects when defining the main characteristics of the lamp to create pleasurable lighting: Among usability and aesthetics the concentration was on the semiotics of the product and its usage context. It was designed with the aim of evoking pleasurable feelings in users who desire to lead an active and urban life-style but who are simultaneously worried about global warming. Both of the lighting designs are for a dining context. They are supposed to create a pleasurable atmosphere around a dining table while separating the party around the table from the rest of the space. Other lights can be dimmed or switched off when it is time to gather around the table to accentuate the illumination and feeling of togetherness. Inspiration for the project came from sustainability, contemporary thoughts and trends embodied into maps. The products turned out to be silent statements of today’s global world; Antarctica refers to glacial retreat while Town symbolises the importance of people’s own origin in this globalised world.