The usual fix
Outdated- Targets
A sustainability report written after the design is done
- Materials
Swapped late, often at a cost or weight penalty
- Energy and emissions
Estimated from catalog data
- Trade-offs Rework
Sustainability or cost: one loses
Your customers and regulators now ask what your product costs the environment, not just what it costs to buy. The European Commission estimates that more than 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined at the design stage. Once tooling is cut, the materials, energy use and repairability are locked in, and fixing them means a redesign. Our sustainable product design work puts those targets into the engineering from the start, alongside cost and performance, so the greener design is also the one that costs less to build and run.
European Commission, "How Ecodesign can help the environment by making products smarter," 2012.
✓
Customers ask how you reduce product carbon footprint in design, and you lack the data
✓
Your product uses more energy or material than competing versions
✓
New rules, such as the EU's ecodesign regulation, are reaching products you sell
✓
Sustainability targets keep losing out to cost and schedule
✓
Your current design is hard to repair, recycle or take apart
Public benchmark
Precedent
European Commission, 2012. "More than 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage."
Mechanism
Materials, part count, energy use and repairability are all set in the design. After tooling, every change is a redesign.
Talent
PPS runs CFD, FEA, DFMA and testing in one loop, so sustainability targets are engineered and checked at every gate.
Your path
The public record shows what the method can do. What it does for your product depends on your constraint, and the assessment tells you.
Lever
Decision it lets you make
Result
Targets
Goals set after the design
Decision
Energy and emissions targets set as requirements
→
Result
Every gate measures the design against them. Engineering project management →
Materials
Parts heavier than they need to be
Decision
Material choices checked with FEA and DFMA
→
Result
Lighter, simpler parts without losing strength. DFMA services →
End of life
Products that are hard to repair
Decision
Design for disassembly and repair
→
Result
Longer service life and easier end-of-life recovery. Product development services →
Energy use
Running cost passed to your customer
Decision
Energy use modeled with CFD before the build
→
Result
Lower operating cost for your customer. CFD consulting services →
01
Design for sustainability engineering that meets your targets, with the data to show it, from simulation to test.
02
CFD, thermal and FEA results behind every decision
03
IP that is yours by default, set in the contract
04
Engineering support after delivery (Gold / Platinum / Diamond)
You send
What we need to start
the current design, your sustainability and cost targets, the rules or customer requirements you must meet, and who builds and tests for you today.
→
You get
What you hold at the end
Sustainability targets written as design requirements
Material and energy trade studies, with the cost of each option
CFD, thermal and FEA results behind every decision
Design package: CAD, drawings, BOM, and PE-stamped calculations where required
Test results that confirm the simulated performance
Design data for your sustainability reporting (materials, mass, energy use)
IP that is yours by default, set in the contract
Engineering support after delivery (Gold / Platinum / Diamond)
We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Bring your own manufacturer or lab, or work with our partner network.
Engineer CDUs, liquid cooling and airflow for lower energy use per rack, modeled in CFD before the build.
Cooling equipment OEMs
See Data Center WorkRaise thermal efficiency in heat exchangers and pressure parts, and extend the service life of what you run.
Utilities and power OEMs
See Power GenerationDesign abatement equipment that captures more while using less energy, with flow validated before build.
Abatement equipment OEMs
See Emissions WorkCut heat loss and wear in kilns, mills and coolers, so equipment uses less fuel and lasts longer in service.
Cement equipment OEMs
See Cement EquipmentRedesign an existing product to cut its total cost, from materials and parts count to energy use in service.
Lower cost, same function
Cut Your Total CostTake a new, lower-impact product from concept through prototype and testing with one engineering team.
Concept to tested design
Explore R&D ServicesPrototyping, HALT, R&D, reverse engineering, and more. See every problem our engineering team solves.
Find your problem here.
Solutions
Prototyping
HALT
R&D
FEA, CFD, CAD, DFMA, and testing under one roof. Engineering is a team sport, and you get the whole team.
One team, every skill.
Under One Roof
FEA
CFD
CAD
DFMA
Testing
Veteran-owned SDVOSB status gives defense and federal buyers a set-aside path to proven engineering.
Verify our SDVOSB status.
Credentials
SDVOSB
VOSB
CAGE 8ZK73
NAICS 541330
Missed something in our QC? We fix it. Supplier can't make the part within three years? We fix that too.
Support for the long run.
We Fix
Our QC Misses
Supplier Gaps
Supply Chain
We price to the value we deliver, not hours logged. You buy a design that works, not more iterations.
Pay for the result only.
Collections
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
How is sustainable product design different from sustainability consulting?
Sustainable product design at PPS treats energy, emissions, materials and end of life as design requirements. Sustainability consulting usually measures and reports a footprint after the fact. Most teams add sustainability late, as a report or a material swap, after the design is frozen and the tooling is cut.
By then most of the impact is fixed. The European Commission's ecodesign guidance states that more than 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined at the design stage. New rules, such as the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, are extending those requirements to more of the goods that manufacturers sell, so late fixes get more expensive every year.
We set your targets at the assessment, then engineer to them in one loop. CFD and thermal simulation model energy use and emissions. FEA and DFMA check that lighter or recycled materials hold their strength and cost. Testing confirms the results. You approve the data at each gate and get a design package, plus the design data your customers and auditors ask for.
Will a more sustainable design cost us more?
Not when sustainable product design is done at the start. The fear is fair: a greener material, a cleaner process or a longer service life can look like extra cost on a quote. That only holds when sustainability is bolted on after the design is set.
Late changes are where the cost comes from. A material swap after tooling means new tests and new tools. Lifecycle assessments like those in the EPA's Design for the Environment program follow a product from raw material to disposal, because the purchase price is only one part of what a product really costs over its whole life.
We optimize for lowest total cost, not lowest unit price. Fewer parts, less material and lower energy use in service usually cut cost and impact together. Where a trade-off is real, you see it in the data at the gate and decide. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Can PPS work with our manufacturer or test lab?
Yes. Sustainable product design at PPS works with the manufacturers and labs you already trust, or with our partner network. Many programs use both. What matters is that one engineering team coordinates them, so the builder and the lab always work from the latest released design and data.
When every vendor reports to you separately, you become the integrator. A material change travels by email, parts get cut to old drawings, and test results arrive without anyone tasked to act on them. Sustainability targets suffer first, even as rules like the EU ecodesign regulation make them harder to drop when a schedule slips and nobody owns the design.
PPS manages your builders and test labs inside one engineering loop. We release the design, track every build and test, read the results and make the fix ourselves. Data and NDAs are set up between all parties at the start. You decide how far we take the design, up to the start of production. The IP is yours by default, as set in your contract.
What do you need from us to start?
To start a project with our sustainable product design, send what you have, in any format. That usually means your design data, requirements, and targets, and who builds and tests for you today. Missing data is the most common reason engineering projects stall, because a model built on guessed inputs gives a guessed answer. That is why we don't start the work until every data set is in.
Once it is, the first step is a free assessment of your project scope. We confirm what the work can and can't answer, and tell you what is still missing. Then we send a roadmap proposal with scope, targets, and approval gates. Every project is scoped on its own, so the roadmap sets the schedule, not a stock promise. NDAs are available before you share any files. For gaps in material data, NIST material measurement data is a good first stop.
Who owns the design and the models?
You own the design, the drawings, and the models from your sustainable product design project at delivery. Some firms keep the models, or license them back to you, so every later change sends you back to them. That locks your product to one vendor and makes design reviews harder, because your team can't open the evidence behind the decisions. At PPS, the IP transfers with the solution. Nothing is held back to tie you to us. You receive the native CAD, the drawings, the simulation model files, and the documented results. Your engineers can then check the work, rerun a load case, or hand the package to a supplier or customer.
We sign mutual NDAs before any of your data is shared, and your files stay in our controlled project folders while we work. If your program has export-control or customer data rules, tell us at the start and we will set up the data handling to match them. For defense programs, the State Department ITAR guidance sets the rules we follow.
What happens if a prototype fails in test?
If a prototype fails in test, we find out why and fix the design. Hard engineering carries unknowns on any project: real loads, material lots, and assembly effects never match a model perfectly. With sustainable product design from PPS, you approve the data at each gate. A test result is then checked against predictions you have already seen, not a black box. A failure in test is data. It shows which assumption was wrong: a load, a material property, or a boundary condition. That data improves the model and the design.
When testing is in scope, we plan the test to confirm the margins that matter most. Then we correlate the model to the results, following ASME verification and validation practice. If the miss was ours, because something slipped through our QC review, we fix it. If the test uncovers a condition nobody knew about, we scope the change with you and update the roadmap. Either way, you get a clear answer and a path to a design that holds.
How are sustainable product design priced?
We price sustainable product design to the value they deliver, not the hours we log. Hourly billing rewards extra iterations, so the cheapest quote often becomes the most expensive project once tooling, rework, and field failures show up. Our incentive is to get the design right the first time. We engage by fit, not as a ladder. Gold (from $35K): you have one project and need help with it. Platinum (from $15K/mo): you have recurring work at a steady rhythm. Diamond (from $800K/yr): you have a long development program, often multi-year.
Gold is never required, and some clients start at Platinum or Diamond. These are starting points, not quotes; your roadmap sets the price. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment. Our engineering consultant pricing page explains how each collection works in more detail.
Environmental Sustainability Insights