[Watch] On-Demand Recording: Sustainability in Manufacturing Virtual Summit 'Environmentally Friendly Materials'

On this panel from the Sustainability in Manufacturing Virtual Summit, experts from the Manufacturing, 3D Printing and Product Development industries discuss using 'Environmentally Friendly Materials' and the impact of sustainability when bringing a product to market.

Here is the on-demand video recording:

Recap and Resources:

• Important to look at full picture when it comes to sustainability and manufacturing – for ex. heavier parts (i.e. metal) impact shipping costs
• “Environmentally-friendly” “materials” language breakdown
  • What do we mean by environmentally-friendly?
  • What category of materials are we talking about?
  • What factors or scale can we employ to categorize a given material, and from there, a product or product line?
• Life cycle assessment (LCA)
  • How to consider product design / development space
  • How do you approach considering cradle to grave or cradle to cradle or entire lifecycle?
  • Impact caused by fabrication vs by usage
  • Triple bottom line: environmental, social, and economic impacts of choices
• Global network in terms of using materials and substrates in 3D printing
  • Where the materials come from (particularly plastics and related materials)
• How do I get started / approach this topic without a PhD in material science, for example?
• Defining what is lifecycle assessment
  • How does one employ those tools?
  • At what stage?
  • How does it apply to the product lifecycle?
• Optimize for Cost / Quality / Schedule AND focus on sustainability in material choices
  • How does it apply here, particularly in capitalist systems?
• Trends in companies using less packaging or switching to less complicated materials and potentially more recyclable materials
• Finding or defining suitable eco-design principles for products
• Challenges for environmentally-friendly materials in mass production (i.e. multi-material packaging that's difficult to recycle)
• Related to policies, what is some of the good that's coming out of sustainability initiative?
• Sustainable Design Resource from Synapse

Moderator: 

• Kaethe Henning, Director of Business Development at Dragon Innovation

Speakers: 

• Martine Stillman, Vice President of Engineering at Synapse Product Development 
• Matthew Fiedler, Co-Founder: Head of Technology at re:3D
• Erin O’Malley, Senior Engineering Program Manager at Sunfolding
• Nicolas Avril, Vice President of Europe at Dragon Innovation

If you have any additional questions in regards to sustainability in manufacturing, feel free to reach out: [email protected]