In order to increase value and reduce environmental loads and resource consumption over the entire product life cycle, a designer should design a product life cycle as well as a product in an integrated manner. In order to support such integrated life cycle design, we are currently developing Life Cycle CAD (LC-CAD) system. Indispensable requirements for LC-CAD system include the following three points: (1) Representing a product and its life cycle in an integrated manner, (2) Managing the consistency of the relationship between a product and its life cycle, and (3) Life cycle evaluation by using the information of a product and its life cycle. This paper focuses on the function (1) and (2), and proposes a method of consistency management between a product and its life cycle. For this purpose, this paper proposes a method for representing a product and its life cycle with defining the relationship between these two models. Then, this paper proposes a management scheme for the consistency of the relationship. We developed a prototype systemand applied it to design of Liquid Cristal Display (LCD) TV as a case study. The result indicates that the relationship between a product and its life cycle is successfully represented and managed, and that a designer can design them in an integrated manner.
The Impact of Modularization Strategy and Life Cycle Design Concept to Increase Product Variety and Reduce Environmental Burden A Case Study in Manufacturing Industry
