Integrated Sustainable Life Cycle Design: A Review

The designing of a specific product is considered to be one of the most important sector within the field of engineering. This greatly influences the global sustainability thereby allowing the people to consumer them and obtain suitable outputs for furthering with the product development process. Every decision that is taken for the designing lays down a significant impact upon sustainability. These decisions greatly relate to the materials and manufacturing choices thereby emphasizing on a far-reaching impact upon the product’s life cycle (Glaser et al. 2017). There lei certain key challenges that arise which need to be overcome to allow incorporation of an eco design method. Lack of information models, the uncertainty models, and measurement science greatly helps to carry out with certain eco-design methods thereby seeking to widen the ability to maintain balance within the business decisions. This further helps to lay a significant impact upon the products and services that it deals with. Focus is laid on the eco-decisions that would help to develop the integrating downstream life cycle data by using the tools for aching a true sustainable product development. The eco design tools and decision support act as key strategies for the future development (Engineering.purdue.edu, 2018). The traditional design methods when incorporated with the newer tools help to develop a suitable framework for carrying out with the researches thereby encouraging research collaboration amongst the interested communities. This helps to lay focus on a sustainable product realization.

2.1 Journal Article 2

“The importance of sustainability in engineering education: a toolkit of information and teaching material”

With the significant planetary issues that are being faced due to the growing global warming, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity, the engineering profession has a significant part to play in affecting the future. WFEO further states the growing importance of the engineers in radically transforming the world. With the ever-increasing population globally, the shift to urban areas continue to shift with special focus on the incorporation of sustainability. The demands for energy and a clear environment further requires emphasis on the drive towards environmental protection along with a suitable infrastructural development (Belkhir, 2013). This has raised the role that engineers play for helping countries such as Australia to achieve a worldwide sustainable development. The engineering firms and university engineering schools further have laid a through emphasis on embracing the sustainability concept. This has further attracted the best methods and tactics to ensure that the students and employees are well equipped with a thorough knowledge and skill to meet the client requirements and train for maintain sustainability within. This has in turn helped to address the various sustainability challenges and integrate the engineering education within to improve the skills and knowledge of the people.

2.2 Web site 1

“The Importance of Sustainability in Engineering Management”

The incorporation of sustainability within the engineering context plats a crucial role in determining the products, processes and other technological systems and services thereby emphasizing on the integration of the environment and society at large. This requires developing of suitable designs that would simplify the concept of engineering and help to adopt certain tools and performance metric to identify the operations and techniques followed in the field of engineering (Online, 2018). Concern is further laid on the growing ability of the natural resources and environmental systems to support the needs and wants of the global population thereby raising the awareness of the concept of sustainability. Several business models are made use of to diversify the concept of sustainability thereby raising the interest of the engineering managers within organizations. The engineers have been developing various suitable designs to widen the energy efficiency and mass efficiency thereby focusing on low environmental emissions. By emphasizing on both the short and long term steps, focus is laid on reducing the fossil fuel consumption and approaches thereby generating zero wastes from the engineered processed and products.

2.3 Government publication

“Sustainable development in engineering: a review of principles and definition of a conceptual framework”

This paper particularly lays focus on providing the engineers and the community with a definite set of conceptual framework setting. This in turn has helped to connect with the engineering projects and carry out an effective sustainable development using certain environmental and social systems. The governments of various countries have adopted certain principles that relate to the sustainable development and engineering thereby strengthening the importance of models and concepts further. The engineering, physical, and social systems have further proven to be related in various ways. This has further laid focus on the development of engineering practices thereby laying focus on the three major elements of social solidarity, economic efficiency and ecological responsibility. With focus laid on the UK sustainable development strategy, focus has been laid on five principles thereby improving the living within environmental limits possible. This has further ensured a strong and just society thereby meeting the sustainable economy. This is further followed by an effective promotion of good governance and use of a sound science responsibly. Various sustainable development Acts have been developed in the process by the government of various western countries that follow the legislative norms relating to ecological, social and ethical aspects duly.

2.4 Industry report

Based on the SHN Engineers and Geologists, their main mission and vision statements lay in enhancing their community thereby creating a rewarding environment for the employees and stakeholders. This would further help to deliver a professional solution to the clients and midget the engineering and geologic problems.

Based on the sustainability report as set down by the SHN, focus has been laid thoroughly on improving the business operations thereby taking suitable sustainable actions. This further has been of great help in reducing the economic downturn thereby evolving the changes within the local economy. This further takes into account the major primary resources that are a diversified mix of professional service, energy, aquaculture and the small businesses. Emphasis is laid on the ways the environmental aspects of sustainability can be improved thereby setting a benchmark for water and energy consumption followed by waste management and reduction.

Figure 1: Sustainability evaluation

(Source: Mok et al. 2015)

By following the ‘triple bottom line’, focus is laid on adopting to a suitable management approach that would be able to measure the business successes thereby emphasizing on the financial bottom line, the environmental bottom line and the social bottom line. This has further taken into consideration maintain the relationship between management of staffs and other stakeholders thereby emphasizing on the regulations and rules set down.

2.5 Other grey literature

“Relating sustainable development and project management”

The concept of sustainable development is considered to be an integrative component of political and entrepreneurial decision making. They are considered in societies and companies to have a growing impact upon the management. The projects and programs relate to the sustainable development thereby emphasizing on the possible challenges and potentials. These help to focus on the growth of the organizations using several models that seeks to focus on the process related sustainability functions. These models further seek to focus on the major concepts and propositions relating to the challenges and potentials of the project thereby emphasizing on the development of researches (Anshin, 2013). The Sustainable development and project management has further laid emphasis on the growing researches thereby using the developmental principles and relationship management concept.

3.0 What does the literature suggest that engineering managers need to do to achieve effective Sustainable Engineering Management practices in your area of specialisation?

The concept of engineering management is of utmost importance in managing practices relating to management and engineering. The engineering managers require possessing the problem solving abilities of engineering to effective administer and plan the management processes. This would in turn help to forecast the operational performances relating to complex engineering driven enterprises. From the literature that is carried out in the above-mentioned points, it is evident that the engineering managers require incorporating several sustainable Engineering Management practices and techniques that would help in their growth of skills. It greatly helps to resolve the resolutions that are environmentally sound.

This helps to support the decisions that they would take to carry out with a project thereby emphasizing on a suitable scope and stakeholder management (Google.co.in, 2018). This requires carrying out an effective interaction with the major types of stakeholder both internal and external. This would help to identify and acknowledge their operations as carried out within the project. This further seeks to carry out a successful integration of the environmentally aware decision-makings within the projects thereby emphasizing on certain professional developmental programs. This is quite effective in educating the stakeholders thereby supporting the concept of a green project management. It is of utmost importance for the engineering managers to focus on a progressive approach to project management thereby emphasizing on a suitable project execution thereby taking into account different ideas from various stakeholders. The incorporation of the greening project management practices further seek to lay focus on the use of certain resources that would help to focus on supporting the future changes thereby incorporating the engineering tools and techniques for better management.

4.0 Conclusion

The study focuses on addressing the importance of maintaining a sustainable management thereby incorporating the engineering tools and techniques thoroughly. Further, emphasis has been laid in obtaining various sources using journal articles, website articles, governmental publications and the industry report, all of which intends to give a better view about the topic. A thorough suggestion has been made based on the various types of grey literature that are obtained from the online sources based on the sustainability and engineering management. Emphasis has been laid on the suggestions that are to be provided to the engineering managers that would help them to achieve an effective sustainable engineering management practice within thereby emphasizing on the special areas of specialization within the field of engineering.

Reference List

Anshin, V. (2013). Strategic and Organizational Aspects of Project Systems Management Considering Sustainable Development Concept. Russian Journal of Project Management, 2(3), pp.3-12.

Belkhir, L. (2013). Studying the Effectiveness of Teaching Sustainability in Project-Based Multi-disciplinary Graduate Level Engineering Course. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association.

Engineering.purdue.edu. (2018). [online] Available at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/PRECISE/Publications/IntegratedSustainableLifecycleDesignAReview/JMD091004.pdf [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

Google.co.in. (2018). sustainable engineering management practices - Google Search. [online] Available at: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=sustainable+engineering+management+practices&oq=Sustainable+Engineering+Management+practices&aqs=chrome.0.0.822j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

Mok, K.Y., Shen, G.Q. and Yang, J., 2015. Stakeholder management studies in mega construction projects: A review and future directions. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.446-457.

Online, K. (2018). The Importance of Sustainability in Engineering Management. [online] Online.kettering.edu. Available at: https://online.kettering.edu/news/2016/07/07/importance-sustainability-engineering-management [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

Poff, N.L., Brown, C.M., Grantham, T.E., Matthews, J.H., Palmer, M.A., Spence, C.M., Wilby, R.L., Haasnoot, M., Mendoza, G.F., Dominique, K.C. and Baeza, A., 2016. Sustainable water management under future uncertainty with eco-engineering decision scaling. Nature Climate Change, 6(1), p.25.

Glaser, B., BALTRėNAS, P., Kammann, C., Kern, J. and Baltrėnaitė, E., 2017. special issue on biochar as an option for sustainable resource management (EU COST Action TD1107 final publication).