Environmental issues require a new manufacturing
paradigm because the current mass production and mass consumption
paradigm inevitably cause them. We have already proposed
a new manufacturing paradigm called the “Post Mass
Production Paradigm (PMPP)” that advocates sustainable
production by decoupling economic growth from material
and energy consumption. To realize PMPP, appropriate planning
of a product life cycle (design of life cycle) is indispensable
in addition to the traditional environmental conscious
design methodologies. For supporting the design of a life
cycle, this paper proposes a life-cycle simulation system
that consists of a life-cycle simulator, an optimizer,
a model editor, and knowledge bases. The simulation system
evaluates product life cycles from an integrated view of
environmental consciousness and economic profitability
and optimizes the life cycles. A case study with the simulation
system illustrates that the environmental impacts can be
reduced drastically without decreasing corporate profits
by appropriately combining maintenance, reuse and recycling,
and by taking into consideration that optimized modular
structures differ according to life-cycle options.
A Study on the Information Sharing to Support a Product Life Cycle Design.
