Design software for "green" product development
Sustainable Minds 1.0 software applies ecodesign strategies for product development and lifecycle assessment.
David Greenfield -- Control Engineering, 11/13/2009
Sustainable Minds, a product design software and information services company, has released Sustainable Minds 1.0, a software and information service (available as an on-demand "software as a service" package) that is said to enable companies to create more environmentally sustainable products. The service integrates Web-based software with educational content enabling users to apply ecodesign strategies to generate greener product concepts and use life cycle assessment (LCA) to measure the potential environmental and human health impacts of the concepts.
It is designed for product designers, mechanical engineers, product managers, marketers and sustainability leads in manufacturing companies and consultancies, as well as educational institutions teaching product design, engineering and/or sustainable business.
The software can be used to benchmark existing products, and then in all stages of concept design, from screening possible directions to explore, through comparing final design concepts. This includes all assemblies, sub-assemblies, and parts. It is also said to interoperate with any CAD or PLM system and can import of bills of material (BOM) data. Extensive reporting capabilities can help users understand impacts from an existing or reference product, enabling them to generate new product concepts that improve environmental performance.
"The software provides real time analyses that allow users to make informed trade-offs between standard product design criteria such as performance, cost, and aesthetics, with environmental impact--well before product design is complete, and before changes are costly or impossible to make," said Terry Swack, co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds.
The three major component of Sustainable Minds 1.0 are:
1. Life Cycle Assessment: This feature is said to enable rapid iteration and evaluation of product concepts, in a standardized and consistent way, in the earliest stages of design.
2. Learning Center provides information on environmental sustainability design practices (ecodesign) and LCA, in-context while users work on projects.
3. Community: A place to learn from, and connect with, professionals in manufacturing, consulting and education who are working to design greener products.
Access other Control Engineering content related to sustainable software:
- CA unveils energy and sustainability software package
- Chemical industry enterprise compliance package
- Oracle and Omron jointly deliver environmental sustainability solution
- Edited by David Greenfield, editorial director
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