ME EN 5060 - Sustainable Products and Processes

This course will explore the role of sustainability within the framework of product design and manufacturing processes. Enhancing the sustainability of consumer products (especially their manufacture, use, and recyclability) is a critical subject for the coming generation of engineers. Typically, sustainability has been enforced as a later fix or a regulatory response. In this course, we will actively seek means by which sustainability can be made an inherent part of the engineering methodology used in creating and realizing products and processes. Aspects of green product design, sustainable material selection, and environmentally benign and efficient manufacturing processes, and development of sustainability metrics will be discussed. We also assess the applicability of existing frame works such as life cycle analysis (LCA), green manufacturing and design for sustainability (DfS). Case studies relevant to two current products such as automobiles will be discussed. Case studies relevant to manufacturing processes involving material removal, soldering, and composites manufacturing will also be potentially explored. This course is expected to actively integrate sustainability principles within a product manufacturing and process design framework.