Achieving sustainable new product development by integrating product life-cycle management capabilities

Concerns about sustainability matters have been growing significantly during the last decades. The triple bottom line approach – an often applied operationalization of sustainability integrating the economic, social, and ecologic aspects of sustainable development – has gained attention in companies, especially with regard to sustainable products. Nevertheless, the integration of sustainability in new product development is still in an early stage. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the impact of the three product life-cycle management pillars, i.e. product data management, process management, and engineering project management, on facilitating the integration of new product development and sustainability. An explorative multi-case study with a total of 23 interviews in six automotive companies has been conducted. The case studies show that sustainability requirements increase complexity in new product development, in which globally-dispersed design teams, product variation, and time-to-market pressure already have to be managed. In order to mitigate these challenges in new product development, the incorporation of the three product life-cycle management pillars may be beneficial. By doing so, globally-dispersed processes become streamlined across departments and companies, development accuracy due to a joint database is enhanced, and the utilization of cross-company capabilities focusing on sustainable product development is established. This research provides practical implications and argues for integrating product life-cycle management into sustainable new product development.