Integration of morphological analysis theory and artificial neural network approach for sustainable product design: a case study of portable vacuum cleaner

Abstract

A need for incorporating sustainability requirements during product development phase so as to ensure green initiatives is the vital focus of today's industries. However, proposed approaches are lacking in terms of sustainability aspects and difficulty in selecting the most sustainable product assembly model at the end of the methodologies. Besides, useful tools such as life-cycle assessment (LCA), streamlined LCA and environmental matrix for assessing the environmental impacts associated with a product have been incorporated in order to fulfil those limitations but the variation in price and complexity makes it difficult to match the goal, scope and budget of the product design. Therefore, this study presents an integrated morphological analysis theory and artificial neural network approach for producing products in sustainable manner that caters to environment, economic and social aspects. As a result from the case study, the most sustainable of new portable vacuum cleaner models can be systematically selected.