Page 33 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

12 Cha pte r O n e

Checklist for Getting Started with DFE

Business Motivations
• Do we have one or more business units for whom DFE
appears to be a competitive factor?
• Have our customers expressed strong concerns about the
environmental performance of our products or manufac-
turing operations?
• Do we envision regulatory changes or new standards that
will influence our ability to profitably produce, distribute
and support our products?
• Do environmental excellence and sustainability have a
strong influence upon our company reputation or brand
image?

Environmental Posture
• Do our corporate responsibility policy and mission
statement support the practice of DFE?
• Are we prepared to shift from a compliance-driven to a
pro-active environmental management strategy (or have
we already done so)?
• Have we established corporate or divisional environ-
mental, health and safety, and/or sustainability improve-
ment goals?
• How might our DFE initiative relate to existing envi ron -
®
mental responsibility programs (e.g., Responsible Care )?
Organization Characteristics
• Are we planning (or have we begun) to implement an
environmental management system (EMS) that is inte-
grated with our existing management systems?
• Do we practice concurrent or simultaneous engineering
in our new product development, using cross-functional
teams?
• Do we have a system for managing product and process
quality that can be extended to incorporate environmental
attributes?
• Do we have the right organizational resources in line posi -

tions to support environmental and product steward ship ?