DESIGN FOR EASY REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH
IN PRODUCT DESIGN
As innovation continues to dominate in today’s climate, there have been multiple
inventions created for the continued development of many commodities; such as product design.
In particular, sustainable product designs have been becoming more and more of a trend as
companies attempt to become more sustainable in recent years. An article that has a correlation
to this is the article made by Wolf, N. & and Becker, T. (2023) titled, “DESIGN FOR EASY
REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH IN PRODUCT
DESIGN”, uploaded at the official website of Milani. Nadine Wolf and Timon Becker are both
official authors of Milani and have created multiple articles for the company. The article was
chosen as it provided real-world examples of products that have been given a sustainable design
as well as an innovative design for repair and maintenance. As the paper is concerned with
product and service design, it shall provide support to the statement that product and service
design is essential not only for customers but also for businesses.
Businesses and product designers have put more focus on sustainable designs with their
products at present-day. These designs make it so that the products’ lifespan is extended and that
the costs are lowered due to the innovation in both repair and design (Wolf & Becker, 2023).
This aspect has been followed through the article including the examples that the authors have
provided. An example given was products offered by a small family-owned German technology
company named SHIFT. According to the article, SHIFT’s smartphones and headphones’ key
components such as batteries and screens can be replaced quite easily without losing the
warranty attached to the products. Moreover, another example with the Swiss Company
Thermoplan, they have ensured that the process of replacing different parts of their coffee
machines can be done without extensive need for technical knowledge (Wolf & Becker, 2023).
Lastly, Philips, one of the world leaders in healthcare technology, offers their products as
services instead of selling them outright. This means that Philips only charges the buyers with
maintenance and repair costs while Philips handles the rest. These examples not only help with
customer satisfaction, as they can provide customers with different product or service
innovations that they may not acquire from other businesses, which can be used as a competitive
edge by the business itself.
The article discusses concepts that are parallel to the lesson, one such example is
sustainability. The examples given in the article follow aspects such as reducing costs through
sustainability, reusing parts, and/or recycling parts for repair and maintenance of the product.
The article provided its argument for sustainability and provided valid examples that have
highlighted and supported its argument, which makes its statement quite well structured.
Sustainability is important as we continue to create new products within the market as costs can
range highly as we continue to find new ways to innovate; thus, finding ways to reduce costs
through sustainability is integral. This can be done through one of the major aspects of a product
or service, which is its design. The article provides a wider outlook on the ways that a product
can be designed and how it can affect the business majorly, though, it also provides me with the
question of what is the threshold to know whether we are sacrificing too much of the product if
we aim for sustainability.
Product and service design is essential for both the business and its customers. It provides
the business with an edge over their competitors such as having a method for better repairing and
maintaining their products that they offer to their customers; which is a plus for the customers
and their satisfaction. Product and service design is what gives value to the business’s products
as it adds features that are valuable to the customer. This ensures that the customer is able to gain
a favorable experience from using the company’s products and use features that they like; which
was explained in the article. The article also provided me with the question that was stated
earlier; the threshold of sacrifice. In conclusion, product and service design is key for a business.
Reference:
Wolf, N. & Becker, T. (2023). DESIGN FOR EASY REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE: A SUSTAINABLE
APPROACH IN PRODUCT DESIGN. MALINI. https://milani.ch/en/ueber-uns-en-us/blog/design-for-easy-
repair-and-maintenance-a-sustainable-approach-in-product-design#:~:text=This%20extends%20the%20life
%20of,landfill%20impact%2C%20and%20conserves%20resources.
