Product design and LCA

In the current climate, pressure from stakeholders is pushing European and global companies more than ever to take responsibility, account for and mitigate the impacts of their products. Climate change, resources and water scarcity are among a number of factors that increasingly drive the need for action within company operations across the entire product life cycle. Now, more than ever before, these issues directly affect product designers as well as Heads of Research, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.

The challenge of balancing performance and cost has become increasingly complex and now is the time to address this challenge before costs, climate change and stakeholder demand deem it too late. There is a plethora of questions which still remain largely unanswered. How do you incorporate environmental impact into existing processes when you are doing a design for the environment? As a product designer, how can you use complex tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to identify key impact areas and make decisions for yourself when needed, in a simple, cost effective manner? Further to that, how can you prioritise your decisions to effectively reduce your environmental impact?

Following a survey conducted by the LCA Sustainable Product Design Conference to industry professionals, it is clear there are many unanswered questions and concerns about the business impacts of integrating life cycle thinking into product design. This was intended to gain an insight into organisations’ understanding and current implementation of LCA in product design.

Leading electronic, consumer goods and industrial companies will discuss issues such as these at the LCA Sustainable Product Design Europe 2010 conference.

Alexis Olans, Global Programme Manager from Adidas, and Richard Curtis, Sustainability & Design Manager from Alliance Boots, will address participants at the LCA Sustainable Product Design Summit, on ‘Prioritising sustainability efforts in the product design process to manage trade-offs and effectively reduce social and environmental impacts: how do you reduce impacts in one area without increasing impact in another area?’ The focus of the session will be on packaging. During day two, Jack De Bokx, Senior Director EHS from Johnson & Johnson, will be heading a breakout group on ‘Reducing your packaging waste throughout the life cycle and supply chain through product design’. These are just a couple of the speakers in the exceptional expert line-up.

In addition to an excellent speaker line-upand international participation, the LCA Summit is delighted to welcome co-sponsors and exhibitors to network at the event, currently, Granta Design and PE International. Granta Design works with leading engineering enterprises to provide practical software tools and data enabling ecoinformed material and process choices. PE International says it provides conscientious companies with cutting-edge tools, in-depth knowledge and an unparalleled spectrum of experience in making both corporate operations and products more sustainable.