Michael Vielhaber
Papers
3
Total Citations
47
H-Index
3
About
Michael Vielhaber is a leading researcher in sustainable product development, with a primary focus on the intersection of lightweight design and circular economy principles. His work addresses a critical tension in modern engineering: while lightweight design reduces material use and improves energy efficiency during a product's use phase, it can paradoxically increase resource consumption at the beginning and end of a product's life. To resolve this, Vielhaber developed a groundbreaking decision-making concept for the early phases of product development, detailed in his most-cited 2023 paper (28 citations), which enables engineers to balance lightweight construction with circularity goals. He has also pioneered lightweight creativity methods for idea generation and evaluation in conceptual design (10 citations), providing systematic tools for developers. Beyond design theory, Vielhaber has contributed to manufacturing efficiency, creating a method for energy-efficient assembly system design within virtual engineering for the automotive industry (9 citations). His work is essential reading for engineers and researchers seeking to reconcile the demands of performance, sustainability, and resource conservation in modern product development.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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