Product Sustainability Made Simple
Cleaner product design can drive more than sustainability goals. Download to see how better decisions can support growth, efficiency, and long-term business value.
Introduction Better, cleaner, and more profitable products — it’s time to progress product sustainability beyond lofty strategy messaging into the hands of leaders like you who design, manufacture, service, and retire products. Product footprints don’t improve until you act, and with about 80 percent of a product’s footprint determined by design decisions (including manufacturing and service planning), you’re the eco and business heroes that profitably make it happen. Sustainability is a new and fast-moving topic for most folks. So, don’t worry if you lack veteran knowledge; if you read this book, you’ll soon be able to collaborate with the best experts. Sustainability practitioners are a welcoming group. Think of university and college intramural sports. If you want to pick up soccer, that may be tough because most players started when they were small children. But most everyone is new at ultimate frisbee, so you can quickly get on the field and contribute to the team. Product sustainability is like ultimate frisbee. You just need to grasp the fundamentals to begin playing. Throughout this book, I emphasize three main points that I believe to be true: » Product footprint reduction is sustainable when it’s profitable. You can likely reduce half or more of your product footprints in the next five to ten years with actions you should take anyway for financial benefit. Additional techniques and technologies are scaling for you to profitably tackle much of the rest in the 2030s. » Leave politics out of the discussion. Political sentiments come and go. Technology’s march toward better products with less cost and less footprint is irreversible and universally praised for its durability, energy bill savings, and supply chain resiliency — no matter what side of the fence you’re on or if you’re in the middle. 2 Product Sustainability For Dummies, PTC Special Edition These materials are © 2025 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. » You don’t need to overhaul how you work today. David Genter, retired systems design engineering director, notes that product life cycle practitioners are already balancing cost trade-offs across several dimensions of quality (performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality). You just need to add a ninth dimension: sustainability. So, grab your secondhand, PFAS-free, 100-percent-recyclable polyethylene frisbee, and let’s get started! About This Book This book contains six chapters that explore the following: » Level setting product sustainability to frame the topic and where you should focus » The problems caused by our products and the legal landscape driving footprint reductions » The business case — aligning footprint reduction with financial priorities » Design for Sustainability (DfS) principles » Managing footprints with full life cycle thinking » Ten life cycle tips to profitably reduce product footprints Each chapter is written to stand on its own. So, if you see a topic that excites you, feel free to jump ahead to that chapter. You can read this book in any order that suits you. Foolish Assumptions Sustainability is a broad topic, but product sustainability is more focused. Therefore, I made some loose assumptions about you, the reader: » First, you want to understand sustainability for discretely manufactured products. These include equipment like planes, trains, automobiles, footwear, X-ray machines, Introduction 3 These materials are © 2025 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. toaster ovens, smartphones, elevators, bulldozers, valves, and pretty much anything else solid that hurts if you dropped it on your foot. I don’t cover process manufacturing in this book, which would include oils, gasses, chemicals, food, beer, material commodities, and other recipebased products. » Second, you fit one of two backgrounds, product life cycle practitioner or corporate sustainability (or an executive over these functions). On the product life cycle side, you could generalize or specialize in a broad range of functions like engineering, manufacturing planning, service management, IT, product management, sourcing, compliance, or more. » If you’re not in discrete manufacturing with product or sustainability roles, this book is still a good re