Introduction of the Research Project EcoING …
547
realization of the authentic working environment, because a representative depiction
of the actual working processes within product development has hardly been realized
so far (Song et al. 2016, p. 2103) and appears much more complicated compared to
the production sector. The complexity primarily results from the fact that product
developers in this context must anticipate the product usage as well as all other life
cycle phases and the expectations and possibilities of all involved parties (e.g. from
the management, the manufacturing or from suppliers, customers or legislatures),
in order to define a reasonable and appropriate combination of product properties.
Each product development is thereby associated with individual goals, activities and
constraints, resulting in a unique sequence of processes.
3 Outlook on the Content of the Learning Factory
Due to the challenges of teaching Ecodesign (Sect. 2.1), the concept of the new
Ecodesign course will be based on authentic learning scenarios, which enable
students to experience, discover and understand the processes involved in the development of environmentally compatible products. Within the learning scenarios,
the students acquire experiences working with practical examples. Suitable, multilayered product examples were selected on which strategies for improving the environmental impacts during the usage phase could be applied and which would enable
a transfer of the gained knowledge to other more complex product groups. The
following products are intended as demonstrational objects within the course:
• A vacuum cleaner is used as a representative example for energy-dominated
systems, on which strategies for reducing the energy consumption during the
usage will primarily be illustrated.
• A washing machine will act as an example of a material-converting system, which
will be used to demonstrate strategies for reducing the material consumptions (in
form of consumables and auxiliaries) during the usage.
• An automatic coffee machine will represent an example for an improvement of
the service life. To identify strategies to improve the life time of the product, all
usage, maintenance and service processes have to analyzed and the maintainability
and reparability of the entire product as well as of single components that may
lead to an early and unscheduled decommissioning have to be investigated.
The infrastructure of the learning factory will consist of both physical and virtual
components, which are closely interlinked and developed simultaneously to form
an optimal didactic symbiosis. The Ecodesign learning factory is divided into two
connected rooms—the Design Space and the EcoLab—which represent the two
views: product development (defining product characteristics) und product usage
(observing product properties) (see Fig. 3). The EcoLab depicts a realistic living
environment that can be deliberately and systematically manipulated like a laboratory set-up. In this way, different phenomena of the product usage can be observed
separately (e.g. the influence of the room preparation on the usage time of the vacuum
547
realization of the authentic working environment, because a representative depiction
of the actual working processes within product development has hardly been realized
so far (Song et al. 2016, p. 2103) and appears much more complicated compared to
the production sector. The complexity primarily results from the fact that product
developers in this context must anticipate the product usage as well as all other life
cycle phases and the expectations and possibilities of all involved parties (e.g. from
the management, the manufacturing or from suppliers, customers or legislatures),
in order to define a reasonable and appropriate combination of product properties.
Each product development is thereby associated with individual goals, activities and
constraints, resulting in a unique sequence of processes.
3 Outlook on the Content of the Learning Factory
Due to the challenges of teaching Ecodesign (Sect. 2.1), the concept of the new
Ecodesign course will be based on authentic learning scenarios, which enable
students to experience, discover and understand the processes involved in the development of environmentally compatible products. Within the learning scenarios,
the students acquire experiences working with practical examples. Suitable, multilayered product examples were selected on which strategies for improving the environmental impacts during the usage phase could be applied and which would enable
a transfer of the gained knowledge to other more complex product groups. The
following products are intended as demonstrational objects within the course:
• A vacuum cleaner is used as a representative example for energy-dominated
systems, on which strategies for reducing the energy consumption during the
usage will primarily be illustrated.
• A washing machine will act as an example of a material-converting system, which
will be used to demonstrate strategies for reducing the material consumptions (in
form of consumables and auxiliaries) during the usage.
• An automatic coffee machine will represent an example for an improvement of
the service life. To identify strategies to improve the life time of the product, all
usage, maintenance and service processes have to analyzed and the maintainability
and reparability of the entire product as well as of single components that may
lead to an early and unscheduled decommissioning have to be investigated.
The infrastructure of the learning factory will consist of both physical and virtual
components, which are closely interlinked and developed simultaneously to form
an optimal didactic symbiosis. The Ecodesign learning factory is divided into two
connected rooms—the Design Space and the EcoLab—which represent the two
views: product development (defining product characteristics) und product usage
(observing product properties) (see Fig. 3). The EcoLab depicts a realistic living
environment that can be deliberately and systematically manipulated like a laboratory set-up. In this way, different phenomena of the product usage can be observed
separately (e.g. the influence of the room preparation on the usage time of the vacuum