The PLM Green Global Alliance (PGGA) announces that a new study theme focused on Design for Sustainability (DfS) has been established which will be led by PLM Green contributing moderator Erik Rieger from Transition Technologies PSC Germany.

PLM Green’s mission is to educate, advocate, and collaborate across the boundaries of technical disciplines, industries, and international borders to promote the use of Product Lifecycle Management strategies, technologies, and software tools in the transition to a sustainable decarbonized circular economy. There are many applications of PLM that can contribute to this transition as referenced in PLM Green Examples.

Due to the wide variety of these PLM use cases, the PGGA previously created five core study themes hat examine the application of PLM within: Sustainability, Green Energy, Circular Economy, Climate Change, and Life Cycle Assessment. Each special interest activity is led by expert moderators who presently include Jos Voskuil from TacitIT, Klaus Brettschneider from LinxAS, Mark Reisig from CIMdata, Patrice Quencez from CIMPA PLM Services, and Richard McFall from PLM Alliances. The PGGA also acknowledges prior contributions from Ilan Madjar of XLM Solutions, Hannes Lindfred from TrusTrace, Bjorn Fidjeland from PLM Partners, and Lionel Grealou from XlifeCycle.

On the new PLM & Design for Sustainability website page, Erik Rieger shares his expertise and enthusiasm for DfS when he writes:

“In the last century our corporate business cultures and design engineering functions have been focused upon the well-known three dimensions of time, cost, and quality. As a consequence people, processes, and technologies were organized and optimized around these KPIs which became unrelenting drivers of new product development.

Now with the criticality of establishing a more sustainable global economy, it is imperative that design decisions include the fourth dimension of sustainability; what is called Design for Sustainability (DfS). The move to adding then prioritizing sustainability considerations promises to transform not just products, processes, and technologies, but also professions, organizations, and entire industries.

In contrast to other sustainability-related disciplines, DfS has an added burden of complexity: the design phase planning of a product must now include a prediction of its sustainability impact. This impact assessment may come from rigorous analysis using hard data or only estimates often relying upon extrapolations and comparisons.

These DfS decisions will ultimately determine the true sustainability of a product over a lifecycle that can run decades, including its repair, reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. Product data and usage information that is not complete in the early design stages must then be predicted, which becomes the “Dilemma of DfS”. The 80/20 Pareto Principle certainly applies where 80% of sustainability impact is defined during the first 20% of product life when much important data is still unknown.”

Continue reading HERE to learn what DfS challenges and opportunities Erik thinks will be ideal for PLM business strategies and software solutions to address.

Erik, along with the other PGGA moderators, will soon be sharing their 2025 plans where we can expect to learn about upcoming panel discussions, case study examples, SME interviews, conference presentations, and other collaborative events. To stay informed, follow our news on the  PLM Green website and then join the PLM Green LinkedIn discussion group.

Additional information about Design for Sustainability and other themes, along with opportunities to participate and make a difference across our profession, are available HERE.

The PGGA was established in 2020 by Richard McFall in the U.S. and by Jos Voskuil in the E.U. Their motivation as PLM veterans was to create a non-commercial community and international network comprised of working professionals, educators, consultants, researchers, analysts, students, and retirees who share a common interest in both PLM and leaving behind more sustainable economies and ecosystems for future generations to enjoy.

Richard commented, “There is much good news from organizations across the globe that are making sustainability and decarbonization a business priority. I expect that the role of PLM in accelerating Design for Sustainability will prove to be one of the most important use cases of PLM many of us we will see in our careers.”

As a collaborative open group with no cost to participate, the PGGA welcomes the ideas, insights, and participation from across the globe as it will take all of our actions, large and small, to manifest a more sustainable economy. We invite members and followers to submit their own news, examples, questions and topics for coverage by email to info@plmgreenalliance.com.