System Engineering in the Product Development

Since life cycle assessment (LCA) can be more than an environmental impact assessment approach, chapter Life Cycle Sustainabiftty Assessment A Holistic Evaluation of Social, Economic, and Environmental Impacts discusses life cycle sustainabiftty assessment. This extends the holistic environmental LCA to account for the economic and social pillars of sustainabiftty. Lastly, chapter Embedding Sustainabiftty in Product and Process Development—The Role of Process Systems Engineers describes the practical role of process systems engineers in the implementation of sustainabiftty in product and process development. It shows some key aspects and tools that practitioners should take into account to design and develop more sustainable products and processes during material selection, process design, process and product modeling, and supply chain implications. 

Socio-technical systems CE considers the product development process as a socio-technical process. The interaction between technical and social characteristics is seen as a driver for problems that emerge in complex engineering programs. Current complex projects with actors from different disciplines and culture display dynamics that cannot be fully anticipated as of now [24]. Dealing with such systems under rising complexity requires technical as well as social/ organizational methods and tools [25, 26]. 

The key steps in the product development process are shown below in Fig. 14.5. Most activities are focused two types the systems engineering associated with requirements definition, ending with compmients specifications, and on the actual design and verification process, ending with a successful in-house design verification test (DVT), a field readiness demmistration test (FRDT), and a factory... 

The engineering of eukaryotic genes in eukaryotic organisms (yeast) is still in its infancy and its application is not as well developed as that of the bacterial systems. This is due to the increased complexity encountered in the structure and function of eukaryotic chromosomes. However, many advances have been made in the development of this system, particularly for the production of materials that require post-translational modification of the protein, and where other additional materials must be added before a fully functional molecule is produced (e.g. glycoproteins). 

The most successful application of the RIM-process is in the production of polyurethane-based materials. Other systems, such as composites based on polycaproamide, epoxy resins, and unsaturated polyesters can also be processed by reactive injection molding. New reactive systems have also been specially created for the RIM-process260 because of the exceptional opportunities it offers for manufacture of finished articles from engineering plastics with a high modulus of elasticity and impact strength. The automotive industry, which is the main customer for RIM-articles, can utilize this technology to manufacture of massive parts such as body panels, covers, wings, bumpers and other made of newly developed plastics. 

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