An Approach to Sustainable Product Lifecycle Management (Green PLM)

Sustainable development has been, is and will be one of the worldwide main issues. Many initiatives have been launched to drive global conscientiousness to the problem of the impact of manufactured products. In order to become a “green company”, eco-brands and recycling are well understood but many initiatives are in silos and the unintended wasteful impact to other activities in the company is not always noticed. The key of sustainability also covers all the in-between activities and it depends on a real commitment of society, research and manufacturing firms. The factory of the future must have a Green Product Lifecycle Management strategy sharing responsibilities within the whole supply chain that must be achieved through committed people. The present work describes an approach to green product lifecycle involving mainstay phases: design, manufacturing and service, including usability and renewal. The contribution suggests a framework for sustainable product development that takes the whole product lifecycle into account.