A mold insert case study on topology optimized design for additive manufacturing

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) of injection molding inserts has gained popularity during recent years primarily due to the reduced design-to-production time and form freedom offered by AM. In this paper, Topology Optimization (TO) is performed on a metallic mold insert which is to be produced by the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technique....

Sustainability in the front-end of innovation at design agencies

In the two last decades a considerable amount of research has been conducted on the Front End of Innovation. This is the stage of the product development process where the design brief is formulated. This phase is argued to be crucial to the success of the final product. While the Front End of Innovation in general has been a hot research topic,...

Structuring of early design decisions in large infrastructure tenders: How to find the optimal design?

Decision making in the tender phase of large infrastructural projects is a complex task for contractors as they have to make design decisions with long term effects and based on complex client requirements. Further complexity is added by the constrained environment of a tender and the uncertainty of winning the tender. As the context and the...

Design for end of life: A design methodology for the early stages of an innovation process

The first phases of the engineering design process, such as the problem definition, the information gathering and the idea generation phase, are commonly considered as important steps in product development, since the cost of a product is assumed to be largely determined within these design steps. Besides limiting the product costs, designers...

The energy performance of office buildings throughout their building process

Many innovative techniques and policy measures have been introduced to reduce energy consumption. Despite the high ambitions and societal pressures, the adoption rate of energy measures in office buildings is still low. Using adoption theories this paper provides a framework to analyse the adoption process of energy saving techniques in building...

Formal and informal contracting with the competitive dialogue procedure

Recent developments in the construction industry led to the need for both more and changing formal contractual arrangements and for improved informal cooperation. In this context, the Competitive Dialogue (CD) was introduced by the European Commission in 2004. This procurement method consists of several discussion rounds between the principal...

Cost information in energy bills for households effecting the adoption of energy techniques

Financial appraisal is an important aspect in adopting techniques that reduce the (fossil) energy use of buildings. When financial appraisal of an energy technique takes place, fixed prices for the form and amount of energy are often used and are multiplied by the estimated amount of energy savings. However, after a certain time period an energy...

The CO2PE!-initiative (cooperative effort on process emissions in manufacturing): International framwork for sustainable production

Manufacturing processes are responsible for a substantial part of the environmental impact of products but are still poorly documented in terms of their environmental footprint. The lack of thorough analysis of manufacturing processes has as consequence that optimization opportunities are often not recognized and that improved machine tool...

Play it forward: A Game-based tool for Sustainable Product and Business Model Innovation in the Fuzzy Front End

Dealing with sustainability in the fuzzy front end of innovation is complex and often hard. There are a number of tools available to guide designers, engineers and managers in the design process after the specifications of the product or service are already set, but methods supporting goal finding for sustainable innovations are rare (Hassi et...

Play it forward: A Game-based tool for Sustainable Product and Business Model Innovation in the Fuzzy Front End

Dealing with sustainability in the fuzzy front end of innovation is complex and often hard. There are a number of tools available to guide designers, engineers and managers in the design process after the specifications of the product or service are already set, but methods supporting goal finding for sustainable innovations are rare (Hassi et...

Multidisciplinary teamwork as a crucial competence in modern engineering education programs

The current process of designing and developing new industrial products has become more differentiated and complex. This has resulted in the need for multidisciplinary teams from the initial product development stage. Because engineers are mainly educated in designing typical technical product related aspects, the need for multidisciplinary...

Sustainability in Design Engineering Education; Experiences in Northern Europe

In recent years, the implementation of sustainability into the curricula of engineering has become increasingly important. This paper focuses on the experiences of integrating sustainability in Design Engineering education in the academic bachelor programs at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, at the University College of West...