THE WAY TO DO ECODESIGN IN COMPANIES - INSTALLING A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESS
DS 32: Proceedings of DESIGN 2004, the 8th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Year: 2004
Editor: Marjanovic D.
Author: Wimmer, W.; Bey, N.
Section: ECO DESIGN WORKSHOP
Page(s): 1565 - 1570
Abstract
A multinational company producing office furniture requested an appropriate tool to integrate "environment" into their product development. This lead to the company adaptation of the ECODESIGN Product, Investigation, Learning and Optimization Tool and initiated a continuous improvement process for integrating sustainability into every-day practice. The corner elements of the initiated process are analyse, improve, communicate, and educate. Based on a LCA according to ISO 14040 products were improved with the PILOT and the environmental performance was communicated to the market using ISO TR 14025. Additionally an e-learning course was implemented to train staff, and distribute environmental knowledge within the company.
Keywords: design for Environment, ECO design, environmental product declaration, product improvement