SysML-based Digital Product Passports enhance smart product lifecycle transparency

Why It Matters

As sustainability becomes a critical design imperative, designers and engineers need robust methods to track and manage product information throughout its entire lifecycle. A model-based approach to Digital Product Passports offers a structured way to ensure data integrity and accessibility, supporting circular economy principles and regulatory compliance.

Key Finding

Using SysML to model product data creates a clear, traceable link to Digital Product Passport information, overcoming common data integration issues.

Key Findings

• Fragmented data sources and disparate system integrations are significant obstacles to practical Digital Product Passport implementation.
• A SysML-based approach can establish traceable relationships between product development models and Digital Product Passport attributes, enabling seamless data flow.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can SysML be used to develop a model-based definition for Digital Product Passports that supports sustainable smart product lifecycles by ensuring traceable data flow from product development?

Method: Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach

Procedure: The research defined essential Digital Product Passport components derived from product development data. It then proposed a SysML-based approach to establish traceable relationships between model elements and Digital Product Passport attributes, demonstrating feasibility with a 3D printer example.

Context: Smart product lifecycle management, sustainable design, digital product passports

Design Principle

Model-driven data integration for lifecycle transparency.

How to Apply

When designing smart products, consider using SysML to create a central model that directly informs the structure and content of the product's Digital Product Passport.

Limitations

The study focused on a single instantiation (3D printer) and may not fully capture the complexity of diverse product types and manufacturing systems.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Imagine you're building a smart product. This research shows that using a special diagramming tool called SysML during design can automatically create a digital record (a Digital Product Passport) for that product. This record keeps track of everything important about the product's life, making it easier to be sustainable.

Why This Matters: This research is important because it provides a structured method for managing product information throughout its entire life, which is essential for creating more sustainable and accountable products.

Critical Thinking: To what extent can the proposed SysML approach be generalized across vastly different product categories and manufacturing environments, and what are the potential challenges in its adoption by smaller design firms?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights the critical role of structured data management in achieving sustainable product lifecycles through Digital Product Passports. The authors propose a Systems Modelling Language (SysML) approach to overcome data fragmentation by establishing traceable links between product development models and passport attributes. This model-based definition ensures seamless data flow, enhancing transparency and accountability from conception to end-of-life, a principle directly applicable to ensuring comprehensive lifecycle documentation in my own design project.

Project Tips

• When defining your product, think about what information will be needed for a 'digital passport' later on.
• Consider how you can use modelling tools to link design decisions to this future data.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this research when discussing the importance of data management for product lifecycle and sustainability.
• Use the concept of model-based definition to justify your approach to data collection and organization for your design project.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding of how digital product passports contribute to sustainability goals.
• Show how modelling languages can be used to manage complex product data.

Independent Variable: Use of SysML for Digital Product Passport definition

Dependent Variable: Traceability of data, seamless data flow, transparency in product lifecycle

Controlled Variables: Product type (3D printer), specific SysML tool used, data attributes defined

Strengths

• Addresses a timely and critical issue in sustainable product design.
• Proposes a concrete methodological solution (SysML) for a practical problem.

Critical Questions

• What are the specific SysML elements and diagrams most effective for capturing DPP data?
• How can this model-based approach be integrated with existing PLM or ERP systems?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the feasibility of creating a simplified SysML model for a chosen product to demonstrate DPP data generation.
• Explore the potential of using open-source SysML tools for this purpose.

Source

Towards Model-based Definition of Digital Product Passports Supporting Sustainable Smart Product Lifecycles · Tehnički glasnik · 2025 · 10.31803/tg-20250331102143