Thoughts on Product Development Oriented to Sustainability in
Organizational Overview
Rosana Adami Mattioda
1,a
, Osiris Canciglieri Junior
1,b
,
Pamela Teixeira Fernandes
1,c
, Jose Luiz Casela
1,d
, Anna Mazzi
1,e
1
Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Polytechnic School, Graduate Program in Production
Engineering and Systems – PUCPR/PPGEPS.
Rua, Imaculada Conceição 1155, Curitiba, PR, CEP 80215-901 - Brazil.
a
rosana.mattioda@pucpr.br,
b
osiris.canciglieri@pucpr.br
c
pamelafernandes_di@hotmail.com,
d
j.casela@pucpr.br,
e
mazzi@unipd.it
Keywords: Product Development Process. Sustainability. Product Sustainable. Life Cycle.
Abstract. The process of product development is increasingly critical factor for the competitiveness
of the companies, especially with the increasing internationalization of markets, increased diversity
and reduced product life cycle. Besides, companies must be willing to promote the concepts of
sustainability to create products that offer environmental, social and economic benefits while
protecting public health, welfare and environmental. Because it is of crucial strategic point within
organizations, as part of the thought on the product development process, it was accomplished a
literature review with the aim of understanding how sustainability is being addressed in product
development models. The selected models were verified through a content analysis in order to
identify and map the activities of the development process that were related to sustainable product
design (presented in a descriptive framework). The study results show that the discussion on models
of product development oriented to sustainability is still very fragmented in the literature and there
is a concentration of approach to the topic in phases related to informational design and conceptual
design. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to deepen the application of concepts related to
sustainability in product development from an overview of their processes, since evolution has
occurred most often in practices directed at engineering processes and aids tools. The analysis of the
articles also found that companies, whether by legal pressures, market or consumers, need to adopt
sustainability systemically into their strategies, where all parties are considered. The final product
should incorporate the concepts related to the triple bottom line throughout all phases of the project
in order to optimize the development process and ensure truly sustainable product. It is believed that
companies that adopt these more sustainable practices for their products will certainly change the
behaviour related to consumer, social equity and preserving the planet.
Introduction
The need to adopt a new pattern of consumption and demand for sustainable products projects
becoming requirements constantly studied both by researchers and by companies, mainly with
increased of public and legal pressure on the environmental impacts caused for industrial activities
[1]. The search organizations are now finding alternative solutions for new business strategies to
meet the expectations of a new class of consumers [2]. In that sense, a business perspective toward
sustainable development is to balance the triple bottom line (TBL) considered vital to the survival
of companies. The adoption of the TBL approach in organizations is fundamental to support the
integration of sustainability objectives in the business agenda to creating a new dimension of
corporate performance based on the performance of the inter-relationship between the dimensions
of profit, people and planet and the relationship with their activities, processes and products [3].
Today, product development should involve more than simply your design project. Its processes can
be considered as part of the strategic development of companies in the perspective of the product is
considered from a holistic view [4]. Product development process is the main expression of
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1061-1062 (2015) pp 1238-1244
© (2015) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1061-1062.1238
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