Leveraging Sustainability in Product Design and Manufacturing to Drive Revenue Growth, Fuel Innovation and Reduce Risk

Research confirms that embracing sustainability in product design and manufacturing not only yields environmental improvements, but offers key business benefits as well

Sustainability is a subject that has received a great deal of attention over the past several years, but it isn’t always well-understood. The definition that is most commonly used is taken from The Brundtland Commission’s 1987 report, Our Common Future, which states that “sustainable development seeks to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future.” But what does that actually mean? And, in particular, what does it mean for manufacturers?

What is sustainability? Essentially, sustainability in design and manufacturing has a lot to do with “doing better with less,” and embracing a broader view of product development – looking at the full lifecycle of the product and the impact that its design, manufacture, use, and retirement can have across the triple bottom line – that is, its impact not only on business, but on the environment and society, as well.  

That said, sustainability isn’t just about “doing the right thing” for the environment or for society. It’s also about doing the right thing, financially. In other words, environmental and/or societal benefits must be paired with financial benefits in order to truly succeed. The good news is that manufacturers are increasingly finding that there are key business benefits associated with “going green.” 

 source: Four Winds Research (copyright 2012)

Figure 1. Key Performance Metrics – Sustainability in Product Design and Development  Organizations that are actively engaged  in sustainable product design and development cite impressive levels of improvement over their poorer performing peers in  product innovation, quality, safety and revenue growth alongside anticipated environmental and energy gains. (Research findings are based on interviews and survey responses from over 125 organizations, worldwide.)

Why is sustainability in product design and manufacturing important? Concerns about rising energy costs and efficient use of resources; availability of, access to, and/or price volatility of critical materials; and the potential risks, opportunities and costs posed by industrial and consumer waste, are just a few of the reasons that manufacturers may want to begin thinking more seriously about sustainability. Sustainability truly isn’t just for “treehuggers” anymore.

A common view among engineering, design and manufacturing executives alike is, “I believe sustainability is important, but how can our company justify supporting a more sustainable approach to product design and manufacturing?” (especially if my company isn’t even involved in the development of a sustainable or “green” product line?) The short answer is, “because designing with sustainability in mind can yield many benefits – not just environmental ones.”

Unfortunately, a common misconception is that profitability must be sacrificed in order to achieve sustainability-related goals and objectives. Yet for a growing number of organizations, sustainability has served as the catalyst to drive both greater innovation and revenue.

What are the benefits of more sustainable product development? Research based on in-depth interviews and survey responses from product designers, engineers, manufacturing executives, and sustainability experts from over 125 organizations worldwide, reveals that embracing sustainability in product design and manufacturing not only yields anticipated environmental improvements, but drives greater innovation, quality improvement, energy savings, and revenue growth, as well. (see Fig. 1)

Moreover, a company doesn’t have to be expressly involved in the development of “eco-friendly” products to reap these benefits. The sustainable product design and manufacturing process itself is where many of the opportunities to improve business and environmental performance reside – and where significant savings and benefits can be realized. For example, eco-efficiency efforts can result in lower production costs and greater operational efficiencies, as well as reduced shipping and transportation costs.

Taking a more sustainable approach to product development also lowers risk (i.e. less threat of a product recall posed by the “hidden” presence of toxic materials in the supply chain) and reduces uncertainty (i.e. more sustainable sourcing results in less exposure to potential supply chain disruptions due to resource scarcity or materials shortages). Furthermore, the process of rethinking a product’s design so that it is more durable or more easily recycled; or so that it contains fewer parts, less packaging or more recycled content – also drives innovation and quality improvement.

How can manufacturers most effectively tackle the sustainability challenge? So, if sustainability is good for the environment – and good for business, the question then becomes, how can organizations most effectively incorporate sustainability in their business efforts? With respect to sustainable product development, the application of sustainability principles, tools, and strategies during the product design phase is critical, since it is during this early phase of the product lifecycle that decisions can have the greatest impact on cost, performance and sustainability.

It’s all part of next-generation product design, a topic that is explored in greater detail in our current research study, “Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing: What’s Happening Now… and What’s Ahead?”

P&G's Sustainability Efforts Across the Supply Chain Save Nearly $1B; FREE Scorecard and Analysis Tool Now Available

P&G recently announced that it would be making its environmental sustainability scorecard analysis tool freely available for use by any company. An Excel-based tool, this supplier scorecard was developed to allow companies to measure and interpret key environmental sustainability metrics across their supply chains and identify progress as well as opportunities for improvement.

As reported in a recent article on the subject, The Scorecard Analysis Tool is the latest publicly available component of P&G’s Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability Scorecard, which was designed to improve the environmental footprint of P&G’s supply chain, fuel innovation, and encourage suppliers to make environmental improvements in their own supply chains. The scorecard measures absolute or intensity improvements in nine key metrics including energy use, water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions on a year-to-year basis. It also assesses P&G’s external business partners’ sustainability innovation ideas and promotes collaboration, according to the company.

For those organizations that are interested in exploring ways to cut costs, drive innovation and reduce environmental footprint, the tool is worth taking a look at. After all, it’s free and if P&G’s results are any indication, the sustainability efforts that it helps to promote could lead to significant cost savings and other benefits.

In particular, P&G reports realizing nearly $1B in bottom-line savings in 2011 as a result of sustainability efforts supported across the supply chain. The company also reported that its 2011 supplier scorecard enabled the first year-on-year data analysis and identified the following trends:

• The greatest improvements in the Company’s environmental footprint came with its logistics and chemicals suppliers.
• Suppliers from developing markets such as China, India and Brazil tended to show the most improvement with US suppliers not far behind.
• Nearly half of the companies earning the highest rating came from Europe.
• The two measurable areas with the greatest improvement across the board were Hazardous waste and Water Usage (Output / Discharge). Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Scope 1) and Fuel Energy were tied for third.
• Overall, when combining all suppliers and categories, there was an improvement in 55% of the measurable categories

The bottom line is that sustainability efforts at P&G, both within the company and across its supply chain, are paying off. And that’s a story that we expect to be hearing from more and more organizations moving forward, as they begin to put key sustainability metrics in place.

To learn more, see:

P&G Shares Data, Results and Analysis Tool from Supplier Scorecard

How Sustainability Promises to Address the Needs of Manufacturers and Suppliers in our “Material World”

… and how sustainability-driven innovation is already powering China’s automotive industry

For many companies, the path to sustainability starts with the use of sustainable materials. Autodesk partner Granta Design offers some guidance in this area, as it is the primary force behind the Autodesk/Granta design jointly-developed tool, Eco-Materials Advisor. But another company, Materials Connexion, is also very involved in helping companies to make sustainable materials choices. And it has, apparently, been very successful behind the scenes in this effort, supporting both the development and use of sustainable materials in products at companies like BMW, Procter & Gamble, Nissan, Nokia and Samsug – just to name a few.

That’s encouraging, but it’s only a start. As noted in a recent article on the subject–a truly sustainable approach to product design and development should adhere to the “Cradle to Cradle” CertificationCM guidelines developed by renowned design firm McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, or in other words, should:

- take into account not only the safety of materials, but the ability to reuse or recycle these materials and achieve “zero waste” goals;

- use less energy (and/or use energy from more renewable sources) in both the creation and use of these products;

- conserve water and other natural resources in the creation and use of products, and

- support socially-responsible manufacturing, production, and use

In short, sustainability isn’t just a materials issue – it also takes into account the environmental impacts (both positive and negative) of design and manufacturing processes; involves efficient use of natural resources, in general; and seeks to protect human health and safety, including adoption of “fair” labor practices – just for starters.

It’s perhaps worth noting here that even without any specific mention of “carbon footprint,” the concept of sustainability becomes clear in this context. It’s really about designing products in such a way that there is less waste and less energy used throughout the product’s lifecycle; and about using materials and processes in the creation of these products that are safer and less toxic. It’s about designing products that can be more easily disassembled for recycling or designing products that are made of more recycled content. It’s about durability, green chemistry, and less packaging. A key aspect of sustainability is protecting people and the environment. But it’s important to emphasize that sustainability is also about the bottom line. The good news is that research has confirmed that taking a sustainable approach to product design and development can yield significant business benefits, as well. 

The reality is that sustainability is a journey – ideally, with each new generation of a particular product, that product will become more sustainable – it will have less of a negative impact (and more of a positive one) on the environment as it improves over time, and in so doing - it will - use less energy, fewer “scarce” materials or resources, and ultimately, will actually generate the equivalent of environmental, social and economic “credits” rather than debits.

In this sense, China may be well ahead of its Western cousins. Already looking ahead to a future in which its rapidly expanding urban populations will require a significant shift in personal mobility capacity – the development of a more sustainable, more eco-friendly form of transport is already well-underway. For example, in 2010 when the Chinese car firm, SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.) unveiled its green YeZ concept car, a vehicle that was designed to not simply reduce carbon emissions, but to actually yield a negative carbon footprint (by using a photosynthesis-like process to “inhale” CO2 and release oxygen as a beneficial by-product), it appears that China has already taken a big step towards truly sustainable transport.

Interestingly, the Toyota Prius failed to meet the demanding environmental restrictions that the Chinese government had set for its automakers in its quest for the ideal “green car.” So the Prius didn’t even make the cut, much less experience the eco-friendly leadership status that it has achieved in the West, according to observers.

So, what does sustainability look like moving forward? It’s far more than more eco-friendly packaging or the use of more sustainable materials. Looking ahead, sustainability is destined to pave the way for some truly radical re-thinking of how we will use energy, how we will travel, live, and work, in general; and how we will manage our resources so that there will, in effect, “be enough to go around.” But mostly, sustainability – and all the improved efficiency, cost-savings, innovation and revenue growth that comes with it –will be good for business. And that’s what will, ultimately, allow it to flourish – and to deliver the environmental and societal benefits that visionaries have always hoped for.

See also:

You’re Not as Green as You Think

Materials Connexion – “Who We’ve Helped”

Why SAIC's Yez Concept Car is a landmark automobile
Shanghai Motor Corporation

The Secret Formula for Success: It’s Not What Makes it Green, It’s What Makes it Great

Consumers want better products, not necessarily greener products, according to Method Co-Founder Adam Lowry.

Product performance is what counts. Not the fact that a product is green. That’s the view that even Method's founders (the creators of a popular brand of eco-friendly cleaning products) take – and it’s a smart one, based on the fact that the company’s revenues are on the rise, and it has been profitable since 2004. As noted in a recent article on the subject:

Begun in 2000, Method's annual revenue now exceeds $100 million and the company has been profitable since 2004, says Method co-founder, Adam Lowry. What's more, the company just had its best year ever and is growing "faster than anyone in this industry."

The secret to their success? As the article goes on to explain, Method’s “sleek, stylish bottles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and the contents are non-toxic, yet effective.” That’s the winning combination – the product is both green and effective.

Clearly, the most important aspect of any product is its performance. Even if its green credentials earn it a place at the table - it's the product's performance that will keep it there.

Simply put – performance is what counts. That’s why – at the end of the day – no matter how many LCAs (life cycle assessments) you’ve done, and no matter how many sustainable materials you’ve evaluated – the bottom line is that the product that results has to be able to deliver the kind of quality and performance that your customer needs, wants or is accustomed to.

Even sustainability advocates are often quick to point out that green is not a panacea.

Indeed, the fact that a product is “greener” may actually be of little interest, or of little consequence to many. The fact that the product actually costs less or is cost-competitive, performs better, or is less likely to fail – that’s what customers are often looking for – not whether the product has a green label.

Unfortunately, for all too many consumers – green has become synonymous with “won’t perform as well,” “won’t last,” or “costs too much.”

How to get past all these potentially negative impressions of green? Better products. Not just greener products.

How to get there? Product design tools that allow engineers and product designers to create great products -- that can also be made greener without sacrificing performance.

The good news is that engineering and design tools are evolving to make this possible.

Paired with early stage eco-impact assessment tools like Sustainable Minds’ LCA, SolidWorks Sustainability, PE International’s GaBi software, Trayak’s Eco-Designer or Autodesk’s Eco-Materials Advisor, today’s popular 3D modeling, analysis and simulation software programs can offer a comprehensive approach to sustainable product design – one that doesn’t require designers to sacrifice product performance to achieve environmental gains.

It’s all part of next-generation product design, a topic that is explored in greater detail in our current research study, “Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing: What’s Happening Now… and What’s Ahead?” (Available Soon!)

See also:

Want To Sell A Green Product? Don’t Call It Green

“Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing: What’s Happening Now… and What’s Ahead?”

Green Power: Achieving Energy Independence, Protecting the Environment, and Saving Lives

Could Agave (the plant that’s used to make Tequila) be the key to energy independence? And what about wastewater as a source of electricity?

In a recent round-up of some of the most compelling advances made in the field of chemistry in the past year (See: Cutting Edge Chemistry in 2011), one particular area of research caught my attention. As it turns out, there is evidence to suggest that nature – and in particular, the leaf (artificial or otherwise), may have a great deal to teach us about how to effectively harness energy from water.

In fact, there are a number of approaches that chemists are presently exploring as a means of generating power from alternative energy sources, as noted in the article:

• At the Spring ACS meeting in Anaheim, US, Dan Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, presented his artificial leaf that splits water when exposed to UV light. Crucially, while Nocera's device produces less energy than other options, it costs less than $50 (£31) to manufacture compared with around $12,000 for current commercial devices, making it the 'fast food of energy production', he says.

• Nocera's leaf can apparently work with human waste water, but what about other approaches? A team led by Ioannis Ieropoulos and John Greenman at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the UK have developed microbial fuel cells that use bacteria to break down urine and produce electricity.

• The agave plant is well known as the plant that makes tequila, but David King's team at the University of Oxford's Low Carbon Mobility Centre, UK, has shown that it can also be used as a feedstock to make bioethanol23. Crucially, unlike other feedstock plants agave thrives in arid conditions and would not need arable farmland to be given over to its production.

What’s worth noting here, I think, is that as far-fetched as some of these ideas may seem, it is just such innovation that the alternative energy sector (and their colleagues among forward-thinking manufacturers) requires to produce a significant shift away from dependence on sources of energy that require the use of fossil fuels. And while many may still debate the value of exploring such alternative forms of energy, one very clear danger of not exploring safer, less environmentally-toxic, alternative energy options is the potential threat that a fossil-fuel driven lifestyle poses not only to our economic security, but to our environment and, ultimately, to our health.

Indeed, the link between cancer in humans and our growing level of exposure to environmental toxins, is becoming increasingly evident. One of the biggest culprits, according to ecologist and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, PhD (author of Living Downstream and Raising Elijah), is the release of toxic chemicals from the extraction and use of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. Most recently, Steingraber and her peers have been focused on raising awareness about the potentially tragic consequences of employing fracking techniques to extract natural gas, a practice which has proven especially dangerous and all too common in recent years. 

Translated? Green energy may not only help us to save the environment – it could well prove to save lives.

See also:

Living Downstream

Cutting Edge Chemistry in 2011

2012 Megatrend: Green Supply Chains Driving Global Economic Growth

In a recent article, Bill Roth – sustainability advocate, green business coach and author of “The Secret Green Sauce,” cites five megatrends that promise to contribute to a trillion dollar global sustainable economy in 2012.  One of the key mega-trends that he references is the greening of supply chains – and the impact that this will have on the global economy. 

As noted in the article, Roth explains:

Green supply chains are driving global economic growth.

• Corporations, not governments, are now driving the push toward sustainability as they harvest increasingly significant profit growth through design and process innovations that cut production, delivery, packaging and disposal costs while also reducing a company’s/product’s environmental footprint. This is a global trend led by international companies like Walmart, GE and Coca Cola. 
• Its commercial impact is now evident in the increasing scale of Request For Proposal bid questions on sustainability metrics and performance results documentation. This global mega-trend is creating new revenue growth opportunities for smaller businesses that can offer price competitive lower environmental footprint products and solutions. 
• It is also decentralizing decision-making as large corporations gain success using Green Teams to find and implement ideas that reduce costs and a company’s environmental footprint. 
• Where CFOs once questioned the ROI of producing a corporate CSR report, the importance of these documents is now clear. CSR reports have an increasingly important role as a source document used by third parties that communicate to consumers and equity investors on the sustainability of a company and its products, which has an implicit impact on the bottom line. The combined impacts of the greening of the supply chain have now made this process the economic engine of the global sustainable economy.

In my estimation, what is most noteworthy here – is that green supply chains are, by definition, driving support for sustainability not just at the corporate level but at the product level, as well. And this has significant implications for providers of sustainable product design tools and technologies. Such tools promise to grow in popularity as both downstream and upstream supply chain requirements increasingly demand that more sustainable products be produced and more sustainable materials be used in the production process.

Such sustainability strategies enable companies to reduce their environmental footprint AND achieve significant profit growth through design and process innovations that cut production, delivery, packaging and disposals costs, according to Roth -- an observation which I whole-heartedly agree with. 

Sustainability metrics are also increasingly becoming a required “line item” on RFPs, according to Roth, and the formation of Green Teams to find and implement ideas that reduce costs and improve environmental footprint ratings, are on the rise. This trend, too, is one that I have witnessed, and that I expect we will continue to see more of.

Moreover, investors are paying more attention to the sustainability of a company and its products, according to Roth. And that, ultimately, promises to be one of the greatest contributors to the adoption of sustainability practices among many companies – but especially among those that may not prove to be motivated by the need to “do good” unless such good is rewarded financially. 

Increasingly, it seems, doing the right thing is being paired with financial gain, as well. This is a topic that we will continue to explore further in the coming months.

See also:

Five Megatrends Creating 2012’s Trillion Dollar Global Sustainable Economy

What’s the Future of Sustainable Design?

“I believe sustainability will be part of what we define as "good design." Good design considers environmental impact. That's where design is going.” – Steve Bishop, IDEO

“Good design leads to market success and less impact on the environment.” – Vancouver-based product design firm, Form3

“The social and environmental aspects of design have become as important as the functional attributes of modern products.” – LUNAR Design

In a recent interview with The Atlantic, IDEO’s Steve Bishop offered his views on sustainable design. As global lead of environmental impact at the design and business innovation firm IDEO, Bishop helps companies build brands, develop new products, and design new innovation processes inspired by principles of sustainability.

As noted in the article, Bishop believes that sustainability will simply be a part of good design, and good design will take environmental impact into account.

IDEO’s Steve Bishop is not alone in his view of what constitutes “good design.”

Vancouver-based product design firm Form3 also embodies this view in its core values. Comprised of a group of “highly trained, dedicated, and experienced industrial designers,” product design firm Form3 was founded in 1997 with its mission simply to design better products. In this context, the creation of better products meant taking eco-design considerations into account, alongside cost, aesthetics and product performance.

The design firm believes that the ability to design a better product comes from 3 broad considerations of form:

How will the product be made? Better quality results in a longer life. We carefully choose materials and manufacturing processes that minimize cost and reduce the impact on the environment.

How will the product look? Aesthetic and formal considerations help to make a product stand out in the marketplace. We strive to give a product a beautiful form that is appropriate for a given cultural context and that people will respond to in an appropriate way.

How will the product work? There are technical challenges to overcome and functional reasons for the shape of a product. We design products that work well, are comfortable and easy to use, and have a form that provides cues for its function.

Form3’s fundamental design philosophy is simply that, “good design leads to market success and less impact on the environment.”

Palo Alto, CA-based LUNAR Design shares a similar passion for sustainability and good design. In fact, the company has targeted sustainability as one of its key practice areas – and has called this practice, LUNAR Elements. A brief description is included below: 

The social and environmental aspects of design have become as important as the functional attributes of modern products. Our sustainability practice, LUNAR Elements, pioneers principles in green design and implements them on programs today. From materials research to Life Cycle Analyses, LUNAR helps clients minimize their footprint to maximize their positive impact for their customers, their markets, and our world.

As a part of its sustainability practice, the firm developed “The Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability” which provides an overview of sustainable product development and the product lifecycle. Encouraging input from others, this "open source" guide offers some useful recommendations for those seeking to design in a more sustainable manner. To learn more, see: http://www.lunar.com/fieldguide/tips.html.

In short, sustainable design is gaining favor as a critical foundation for simply good design. And that’s encouraging – because as one industrial designer recently confided to me, “The last thing I want to do is to design for the landfill.”

Bravo! May we actually be moving towards more durable (or more easily recycled) products – and may these products increasingly contain more recycled content, less toxic materials, and boast greater energy efficiency.

What do you think? Tell us. It’s not too late! We’re still seeking participants for the study. To learn more, see, “Participate in a New Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing Research Study and Be Eligible to Win an iPad 2!

It’s all part of next-generation product design, a topic that is explored in greater detail in our current research study, “Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing: What’s Happening Now… and What’s Ahead?”

See also:

Form3
Lunar Design
IDEO's Steve Bishop on the Future of Sustainable Design Thinking
“The Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability”
Participate in a New Sustainable Product Design and Manufacturing Research Study and Be Eligible to Win an iPad 2!