Abstract
Increasing productivity and efficiency of resources is a major approach within the framework of sustainability in manufacturing. This paper proposes a design method to simplify the structure of a product as a key technique for increasing resource productivity. Our method removes redundant components and their connections by extracting a minimum structure as an ideal minimized formation of connectivity. Designers then redesign the product by embodying the minimum structure to meet design requirements. The method was implemented to verify the advantages of the methodology and presents several potential redesigned geometric models. This paper also illustrates a case study using models of a vacuum cleaner and an inkjet printer in order to discuss effectiveness of the proposed method.
