Integrating Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment into CAD-Driven Product Design: A Systematic Review of Frameworks, Additive Manufacturing Trade-offs and Industry 4.0 Enablers

Abstract

With decarbonisation goals and new ecodesign regulations, life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly becoming a function of computer-aided design (CAD). This paper undertakes a systematic review following PRISMA 2020 statement of research related to integrating sustainability and LCA into CAD driven product design. Peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers published from 2016 to 2026 were retrieved from the databases Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore and ScienceDirect (Google Scholar was used as a supporting database) and synthesized in a thematic synthesis. The evidence is presented in six streams: CAD–LCA integration frameworks; sustainable and generative optimisation; design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) and topology optimisation; process-parameter optimisation as a source for life cycle inventory (LCI) data; Industry 4.0 and digital twin (DT) based assessment; and social and organisational enablers of adoption. The review concludes that most of the life cycle impact occurs at the conceptual stage, and that tools for environmental assessment at the conceptual level are not sufficiently mature at the detailed design stage, when geometry and material are fixed. There is a constant dilemma between the material savings possible with topology optimisation and AM, and the extra energy needed to produce structures using these routes does not necessarily mean they have a smaller footprint. Experimental process-optimisation studies demonstrate that the choice of process parameters has a significant effect on the energy used, scrap produced and the consumption of tools, in the cases of machining, moulding, finishing and material-extrusion printing, but the results from these studies are generally not transferred to inventories to use in design tools. The social aspect and the conditions of organisation and skills for adoption, especially in developing economies are under-represented. There are six research priorities identified: uncertainty-aware early-stage LCA, joint material–energy optimisation in DfAM, process-parameter-linked inventory models, interoperability of CAD, LCA, product lifecycle management, and digital twin platforms, AI purpose-built for ecodesign, integration of social and circularity indicators. A closed-loop system which integrates design, assessment, process and operation data is suggested to inform future work, which can be layered.