Designing Future-Oriented Solutions

This book introduces Method Supporting Product Improvement (MSPI), a method that aggregates key sustainability criteria during the product design and development stages, including conceptualization and prototyping. The method presented in the book revolutionizes decision-making in product sustainability, bridging the research gap between product improvement focussed on meeting customer expectations and the need to simultaneously meet the requirements of sustainable development. Through MSPI, it is possible to create a ranking of alternative design solutions (prototypes) and select the most advantageous prototype that is simultaneously satisfying for customers, environmentally and socially friendly, and cost-effective. Prototypes of the improved product and their subsequent testing take place in virtual environments. This helps reduce resource waste, facilitating sound management decision-making without the need to produce actual prototypes. Presenting practical guidelines for predicting beneficial product solutions that also meet key sustainability criteria, Designing Future-Oriented Solutions will be of value to students, scientists, research and development managers, and engineers.