Hesam: A human centered sustainable additive manufacturing tool for early design stages

Abstract

Despite its development over the past several years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) has not yet unveiled its full potential for sustainable manufacturing. The recent awareness of the environmental impact of products we consume have allowed researchers to lay the first foundations for sustainable AM. Sustainable manufacturing of products necessarily requires reducing the impact of all product life phases, from the early design stages, known as cradle, to grave. In this context, the reduction of the environmental impact of prototypes printed during design phases automatically generates a drastic reduction in the environmental impact of the final product. However, the environmental optimization of prototypes requires an analysis of their uses in order to propose a customized a printing configuration. This paper proposes a method and an associated “Human cEntered Sustainable Additive Manufacturing” (HESAM) tool for early design stages, for sustainable AM (environmental aspect), and the adequacy to the end-user needs related to its prototype. The proposed tool allows to significantly improve the environmental efficiency of rapid prototyping, regardless of the designer's level of competence.