Manufacturing Process and System (MaPS) Sustainability Analysis Tool: A Proof-of-Concept for Teaching Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering

Decision support methods and tools have been developed to aid in improving product sustainability performance during design. However, these approaches are often developed for domain experts and not well-suited for non-expert decision makers (e.g., engineering students and engineering practitioners), who do not possess specialized knowledge in sustainability analysis of product designs and manufacturing processes. The objective of this research is to facilitate the sustainability performance analysis of manufacturing processes and systems through unit manufacturing process (UMP) modeling within an easy-to-use, publicly-available product design and manufacturing analysis tool. To achieve this objective, a sustainability assessment framework is developed that considers a cradle-to-gate life cycle scope. To implement this framework and to address the identified limitations of existing tools, a proof-of-concept Manufacturing Process and System (MaPS) Sustainability Analysis tool is developed as spreadsheet models in MS Excel, which supports evaluation of environmental, economic, and social impacts. While this study focuses on the technical aspects of the research, the authors investigate associated educational aspects in a separate study and report tool operational performance evaluation by undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Study participants found the tool easy-to-use and useful in completing sustainability assessment tasks in product design and manufacturing. To build upon this research, the developed framework and tool can be expanded to consider other phases of the product life cycle. Moreover, key software tool operational characteristics and GUI should be investigated to improve efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, and learnability of MaPS tool.