Foreword
Anthony Johnson and Andrew Gibson are both experienced engineers whose combined practical and advanced expertise spans some 86 years. Anthony has brought his extensive practical design experience to the book as well as his 27 years of experience in teaching several analytical subjects, along with engineering design, at the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom.
This book expands the normal approach to engineering design to accommodate the approach to modern CAD and analytical techniques, but more important, it incorporates the designer’s approach to creating sustainably engineering products. Thus this book is hailed by several sources as a groundbreaking text.
During Anthony’s Ph.D. research program, he extensively explored sustainability and its application and discovered that there was a dearth of literature covering practical application of sustainable principles for mechanical engineering designers. Anthony continuously asked the question, “How can practical designers apply the principles of sustainability to their newly designed products?” This book attempts to answer that question.
The book contains a methodical approach to design, taking into consideration Anthony’s own practical design experiences and his involvement with various consultancy projects. Sustainability whole-product-life models are put forward, incorporating the six stages of a product’s life, from sustainable sourcing through sustainable disposal. The approach to implementing sustainability within the design process has then been engaged within each of the elements.
Andy Gibson is head of a management training company, Segelocum Limited. Andy has strengths in production and process engineering and has particular skills in the fields of marketing-driven product development, and of the impact on companies of financial and legislative processes; these areas have been the focus of Andy’s contribution.
The book seeks to address the forces that act on engineering designers and the businesses in which they are involved, including legislation, consumer pressure, and marketing opportunities. It describes in some detail the concepts of open and closed life-cycle loops and argues that the modern design must take into account impacts generated during the full life cycle but concentrate on where the correct selection of material or design modification can make the greatest impact. In that light, the book also looks in brief at some of the modeling methods currently used to measure the sustainability of machines and machine elements across the whole life cycle.
