Determination of Sustainable Design-Centered Factors for Manufacturing Bioprinting Material of Polylactic Acid

Sustainable design-centered manufacturing (SDM) is a competitive advantage for new product development. In this research, we determine the SDM factors for Polylactic Acid (PLA) production from cradle to gate. PLA is a mainstream material for bioprinting. We utilize a holistic method to determine the most sensitive and significant sustainability factors among economic, environmental, and social pillars, by adopting ISO 14040 and 14044 frameworks, life cycle cost analysis, and regression analysis methods. The results show that three major sustainability impact factors are profit, water consumption, and health and wellness effects, and the corresponding strategies are proposed. As a result, SDM can help increase profitability, create positive social impacts, reduce waste of resources, and utilize resources with efficiency.Copyright © 2015 by ASME