A methodological proposal to link Design with Additive Manufacturing to environmental considerations in the Early Design Stages

Additive manufacturing is an innovative manufacturing process that enables rapid manufacturing of functional products and parts. On the other side, considering environmental aspects in design is beneficial as it leads to lower costs, improved product quality, new business opportunities. Thus, in order to foster the potential of AM in product innovation and product manufacturing in the light of environmental concerns, a new design method is necessary. This paper proposes a method in the context of Design with Additive Manufacturing, to take into account the specificities of this manufacturing process in a Design to Environment approach. The method is focused on the Early Design Stages (EDS) of the product development process, which are crucial not only for choices regarding the product characteristics but also for the environmental parameters that need to be taken into consideration. The implementation of the proposed method in creativity session of the EDS underlined the need for dedicated supports in terms of environmental decisions. More and specifically the need for providing tools to capitalize the decisions made focusing on each Life Cycle Stage of the product was identified as a requirement for this support.