Delft University of Technology

Graduate Student, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering

Strategic Product Researcher and Designer

Thesis Title: Strategic Product Design Challenges for Bio-based Products

About

There is growing interest in bio-based products in the consumer and industrial markets because of the effect of global warming, pollution, rapid depletion of natural resources, government regulation and the desire of human beings to pursue more sustainable lives (e.g. green consumerism). In the widest meaning, bio-based products stand for products that are produced using periodic renewable resources (materials), which are differentiated from products made from petroleum-based materials.

The challenge of strategic product development for bio-based products lie in many aspects: how to manage the environmental impacts, how to overcome the communication barrier between the various stakeholders within the value chain, how to make more publicity and how to preserve and create the value of bio-based materials during the product life cycle.

Therefore, the objectives of this project are (1) to identify the value chain of bio-based products and materials, (2) to know how value is communicated between the stakeholders across the value chain, and (3) to develop a conceptual design model for bio-based products.

During this project, several research activities have been conducted: a background study and literature review on the topic of sustainability and business strategy, an elaboration of the value chain of bio-based products, industrial stakeholder analysis, discussion of green marketing effect and current case studies.

The industrial stakeholder analysis finds the current practice of the bio-based industry and communication gap between the relative stakeholders within the value chain. The green marketing discussion finds an insufficient communication between the industrial practitioners and consumers. The cases studies find several critical success factors (CSFs) for greener product design. Key findings have been integrated for the understanding of value communication within the value chain of bio-based products.

More study has been done to reflect on the previous findings using sustainable product design approaches, including eco-design and relative tools. Finally, a conceptual design model for bio-based products has been proposed, which is a step-by-step design approach that would benefit the application of bio-based materials and the development of bio-based products. Practices of the strategies include: improve the knowledge of bio-based materials, design specific products using bio-based materials, involve stakeholders and use lifecycle thinking in design, assist communication within the value chain and be equipped with sustainable design tools.

The current situation of bio-based materials consists of the industrial and designers’ lack of knowledge, insufficient information sharing between the stakeholders within the value chain and the materials’ less variety, general performance and availability. The design sector is expected to facilitate the innovation and find out good solutions to bio-based products development.

This project contributes to addressing the strategic importance of bio-based materials in the product development/design field. In order to design products that will benefit most people in the world, designers are asked to start to think sustainable issues. Designing for bio-based materials/products is therefore an opportunity for the designer to demonstrate their function in the society.

Keywords: bio-based materials, bio-based products, sustainable value chain, sustainable product design

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