1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Design for Environment: Evolution and Tool Needs
SEER Galorath Associates, Inc. Process-flow, life cycle, and manufacturability
assessments
SimaPro 3 Pre (Production Ecology
Consultants)
Life cycle inventory and assessment
SWAMI U.S. EPA Process assessment tool that allows waste
minimization assessments and mass balance
calculations
TEAM and DEAMs EcoBalance Process-flow and life cycle assessment
60
Table 4-1. DFE-related tool listing. 10
With or without the assistance of a software tool, DFE will inevitably cause some disruption during
the initial phases of integration. Given that the responsibilities of designers tends to include
product cost and time-to-market, the DFE process, without the support of all levels of management,
will possibly place significant pressure on the designer. However, according to the survey
and interviews, this potential pressure does cause opposition to DFE among designers. On the
contrary, interviews revealed that few, if any, designers disagreed with the concept of DFE.
Rather, there is opposition to the expectation that designers become environmental experts and to
any expectation that the responsibility for potential increases in design cost and time to utilize the
DFE tool and incorporate any related changes be placed on the design team alone.
The incorporation of DFE should enjoy corporate-wide education and acceptance, including the
marketing and sales forces, whose close contact with the customer makes education and
acceptance of DFE critical. The DFE process, which requires a team effort, involves not only the
acquisition of reliable data, but also the capability for analyzing the data for decision-making. It
has already been, and should continue to be, enabled by industry-wide activity. Table 4-2 lists
the needs for DFE advancement identified during this roadmapping exercise. It is hoped that this
table serves as a brief summary of the survey and interview findings as well as a working list for
further developments in this process.
Priority Need Task
1. Common DFE vocabulary/ontology 1a. Compile terms, classifications, vocabulary
for consistent use and comparison
2. Comprehensive design data that
includes “environmental”
information
2a. Generate and compile critical
“environmental” design data
3. Consistent, accepted metrics 3a. Establish consistent, standard metrics for
effective measurement and comparisons of
environmental parameters
4. Tracking systems for materials and
energy usage and waste generation
4a. Develop models for cross-departmental
tracking systems
10 Tool information sources include literature from tool developers/vendors and the LCA Software Buyers’ Guide,
Atlantic Consulting, November 1994.