Page 221 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

198 Cha pte r T e n

supplies, often outweighed the initial purchase costs. Gradually, the
practice of LCM spread to the private sector as a means of managing
the full enterprise-wide costs of durable products and productive
assets, such as factories. The concept has also been adopted by the
software community with reference to the development, maintenance,
and support of enterprise computing assets. Since the mid-1990s,
LCM practices have expanded to include concurrent engineering and
the full spectrum of financial and nonfinancial impacts.
More specifically, product life-cycle management (PLCM) is an
overarching business process that interfaces with all of the functional
processes involved in designing, developing, producing, marketing,
selling, supplying, and supporting a line of products. Not every com-
pany chooses to formalize this process, and some may give it alterna-
tive names, such as product stewardship or value chain management.
But it is impossible to fulfill the aspirations of DFE without a cross-
functional process that monitors the performance of products over
their life cycle, ensures that the design intent is being realized, and pro-
vides feedback for purposes of product improvement. Under the um -
brella of PLCM, the practice of DFE involves the following activities:
• Characterize the environmental burdens associated with a
product, process, or service including energy and materials
used and wastes released
• Assess the financial and nonfinancial impacts of those envi-
ronmental burdens from the perspective of internal and exter-
nal stakeholders
• Assess the balance between the above impacts and the value
contributed to the enterprise and to society by the product,
process, or service
• Evaluate opportunities for value improvements or reduc-
tions in adverse impacts, and establish goals
• Propose design or process changes that will address the goals

Figure 10.1 depicts PLCM as a continuous improvement cycle
in which product development is followed by product deployment;
and, eventually, products are retired, replaced, or upgraded.* Perfor-
mance metrics play a key role in this cycle, from the initial establish-
ment of design objectives to the product review and release decisions
to the ongoing monitoring of product performance. The elements of
the cycle include:
• Life-Cycle Objectives—Establishment of specific product ob -
jectives, requirements, and performance targets as a basis for
innovation, whether for product enhancement or new product

*Note that the product development portion of the cycle is analogous to Figure 5.1.