Title: An integrated modularity approach for green product development

Authors: Fanbin Kong; Xinguo Ming; Lei Wang; Pengpeng Wang; Huailiang Zuo; Lina He

Addresses: Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China. ' Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China. ' Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China. ' Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China. ' Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China. ' Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Advanced Manufacturing Environment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, China

Abstract: To develop green products and to develop products in green are becoming a pursuit of leading companies in world. Modularity is one of key technologies to realise these goals. It is found that modularity can promote the betterment of products and their performances, can decrease the investments in new products or variants’ development, can greatly reduce the activities and processes in a product life cycle and can cut down the resource consumptions in management and engineering. An integrated modularity approach is brought forward for green product development (GPD) to enhance environmental performance. Seven types of modularity are introduced and arranged in an integrated modularity process to implement the approach with a metric system. The integrated modularity incorporates all the benefits of modularity into the activities of GPD. The proposed approach is helpful for a company to achieve efficient product development with low resource consumption.

Keywords: GPD; green product development; integrated modularity; product lifecycle management; green products; environmentally friendly products; environmental performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2011.043514

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2011 Vol.14 No.5/6, pp.397 - 416

Received: 20 Oct 2010
Accepted: 16 Aug 2011
Published online: 29 Jan 2015 *

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