EXTENSION OF THE TEN GOLDEN RULES TOWARDS ASPECTS OF HOLISTIC PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The ‘Ten Golden Rules’ for promoting sustainability in product development offer a simple and practical method for integrating ecological principles into the development process. This method has proven particularly successful in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small development teams, as it provides easy-to-understand and cost-effective guidelines that can be implemented without extensive resources. In essence, the ‘Ten Golden Rules’ aim to minimise material consumption, avoid environmentally harmful substances, promote product longevity and improve reusability and recyclability. In this contribution, an approach is developed to take up the perspective of the Ten Golden Rules and expand on them. In order to be able to use it as an up-to-date holistic project alignment tool. A central aspect of the further development of the method is the greater consideration of social sustainability. This extension ensures that not only ecological, but also ethical and social aspects of the value chain come into focus. This includes fair working conditions and transparency in the supply chain. The promotion of modularity and reparability is also increasingly seen as an important step forward in extending the service life of products and minimising waste.