Brainstorm preparation (Internal interventions)

• Industrial design engineering
• WO
• Studiejaar 6

Preparation brainstorm Internal sustainability

Hi! 

Hi! First of all, thank you for joining the brainstorm session of 29 April and taking the time to prepare. This slide deck will get you started with some (environmental) sustainability definitions and guidelines for the brainstorm session. It will start with some warming up questions that you can answer by just entering your answers in this deck, the program will save it automatically. The rest of this slide deck will explain the 7 topics of Life Cycle Thinking and its application on Nedap Retail's products. During the life cycle steps (slide 9-23) some space is reserved for sharing your first thoughts/ ideas/ questions. If you don't have any, just continue. The main goal of these slides is to get you prepared for the brainstorm and get the idea generation started! Good luck and have fun :) 

About the brainstorm

During the brainstorm of 29 April we will explore the possibilities to reduce the impact of Nedap Retail's products. This brainstorm will be guided by the principles of Life Cycle Thinking in order to cover as much area of environmental sustainability as possible. The collection of the 10 most sold products will be used to evaluate possible future redesigns. 

A follow-up meeting may be needed in order to cover all the topics. We will decide during the initial brainstorm if this is desirable. 

Gate i45 Grey

Gate i37 Grey (v2)

Antenna FL45N Grey

Antenna FL30N Grey

Lumen iL45

!D Hybrid Gate i45 

!D Hybrid Lumen iL45

!D Top

Lumen iL33 CC

Gate i30 Grey

How would you rate your understanding of environmental sustainability?

1. Low, I do not know yet how to use sustainability
2. Mediocre, I know some definitions and trends
3. High, I know how to asses for sustainability
4. Very high, I know how to asses it and already apply it to my work

What are your associations with environmental sustainability? (type in as many answers as you like)

Life cycle thinking 

In order to cover the relevant topics of sustainability for Nedap Retail's products, the following topics will be elaborated subsequently during the brainstorm session. 

1. Optimization of initial life time

3. Reduction in material usage

4. Optimization of production techniques

5. Optimization of distribution system

7. Optimization of end-of-life system

2. Use of low impact materials

6. Reduction of impact during use

Topics > guidelines > strategies

The previously shown 7 topics will be divided into multiple guidelines. Those guidelines will give direction to create more concrete plans for sustainability per topic. However, those guidelines will still be widely applicable and are not specific for Nedap. This translation step will be made during the brainstorm session. We will transform the general guidelines to Nedap specific strategies. 

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Guideline 1: By maximizing the reliability and durability of the product, the quality of the product will be remained for a longer period of time. This could be done by optimizing the quality of the product but also the processes around the product could be optimized in order to remain the quality. 

1. Optimization of initial life time 

When developing a product or service, the life time is more or less determined by the design choices that are made. The life time of a products is characterized by the moment of when it is sold to the moment it is discarded. When products have a large impact on the environment during their production and disposal phase, it is important to increase its life time in order to spread the impact over more time of functional use. 

Guideline 5: By improving the relation between the product and the user, the product will most likely be treated in a better way. This could for example be realized by offering multiple functionalities with one product. 

Guideline 2: In order to increase the life time of a product, maintenance and repair should be available as easy and effortless as possible. So clearly indicate how to maintain and repair parts/ products and standardize it as much as possible. 

Guideline 3: By designing products in a modular way, functionalities could easily be added while the base does not require replacement. This counts both for technical functionalities such as memory and power but also for aesthetic parts. 

Guideline 4: By making the design insensitive to trends, the products could aesthetically last longer. 

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

fSome general information

Guideline 6: By reducing the weight of the product, impact during AND after production could be minimized. Try to find rigidity in structures rather than over dimensioning the product. 

2. Reduction in material usage

It makes sense that using less materials reduces the impact on the environment. However, how do you assure that you do not have to give in on functionality and business? The use of materials does not only covers the use during production of the product but also covers transport and the moment of sales. 

Guideline 7: Try to minimize the (transport) volume of the products to optimize shipments and thereby minimize the impact of transportation on the product. Look for small, foldable, and/ or suitable for nesting solutions in order to find efficiency in shipments.  

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

fSome general information

Guideline 8: By avoiding toxic and ozone depleting materials (such as lead, chlorine, aerosols) less impact will be made on the earth. Also non-ferrous metals like copper, zinc, brass and chromium should be avoided due to their harmful emissions during production. 

3. Use of low impact materials

Besides the amount of material that is used, are the origin and the characteristics of the material of interest considering the environmental impact. 

Guideline 9:The use of exhaustible materials (such as metal and plastic)  should be minimized. Hence, use as much renewable materials (wood, bioplastics),  as possible. 

Guideline 11: Use recycled materials as much as possible to both increase the market demand for recycled materials and in order to reduce the impact of the raw materials. When recycled materials do not meet the requirements of aesthetics or functionality, try to still use them wherever it is possible. 

Guideline 10: Avoid energy intensive materials such as aluminum in products with a short life-time. The less energy products contain, the less energy waste will occur at disposal. 

Guideline 12: Make sure that as many products and parts as possible are recyclable. Do so by using just one type of material per demountable part. If this is not possible or desirable, make use of materials which can be separated easily during recycling (e.g. metal & plastic). Try to avoid stickers and laminates at all times. These will negatively affect the recycling process. 

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

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Guideline 13: Try to find production techniques that are clean and are as efficient as possible with the resources.  Think about bending i/o welding in order to save energy and emissions or use powder coating instead of spray painting to waste less paint. 

4. Optimization of production techniques

Concerning the production of products two rules of thumb could be followed: produce as clean and efficient as possible. The cleaner the processes, the less and cleaner emissions enter the atmosphere. By improving production steps for efficiency, a lot of waste and chemical treatments could be avoided. This both reduces the amount of materials needed and lowers the emissions. Since Nedap is outsourcing their production, it is important to look into the processes of their producers and aim for minimization of environmental impact. 

Guideline 14: Try to combine constituent functions in one component so fewer processes are needed. Also try to use materials that do not require additional surface treatment in order to decrease the amount of steps. 

Example strategy

1. Help the fashion & food retailer with gathering insights in their footprint for the period between production and sales

Guideline 15: Minimize the amount of energy that is needed in for production. Use energy efficient machines and make use of clean energy sources such as wind, water and solar energy. When fossil fuels are needed, try to find a type with low impact caused by emissions (low-Sulphur coal or natural gas).

Guideline 16: Minimize the amount of waste during production. Design the product in such a way that the processes do not need to cut away lots of material. Recycle the scraps as much as possible and make sure that the quality requirements are met to avoid rejects.

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

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Guideline 17: The use of less/ cleaner/ reusable packaging will reduce the impact of  the materials needed in order to transport the products safely. 

5. Optimization of distribution system

After the production will the products be distributed over various locations. This could either be directly to the store or most of times first to some kind of distribution center/ warehouse. Besides the obvious impact of the fuel needed for transport are there various points of interest. 

Guideline 18: By optimizing the logistics, a lot of impact could be minimized. Avoiding unnecessary long distance transport and non- space- efficient shipments would be a good start.  Standardizing the shipments and make bulk orders would make the logistics more efficient and therefore reduce the impact. 

Guideline 19: Transportation should be as clean and energy efficient as possible in order to reduce the impact of the product. Where transport by plane should be avoided where possible, is transporting by train or container ship preferable over transport by lorry. 

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

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Guideline 20: Minimize the energy usage and use clean sources where possible. Make use of low energy consuming components and make use of energy saving modes. If energy is used for moving a product, reduce the weight of the product to save energy. 

6. Reduction of impact during use

Products that have a relative long life time make usually most of their impact during their lifetime instead of production and disposal. So generally speaking: the longer the lifetime of a product, the more sustainable gain could be achieved during use. 

Guideline 21: Minimize the use of consumables and make them as clean as possible. 

Guideline 22: Reduce wastage of energy and other consumables by providing clear use instructions and make the use as intuitive as possible. Installing a default mode that saves energy/ consumables could help the user to make the right decisions in order to save energy.

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

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Guideline 23: By allowing reversed logistics, hence retrieving the product after its life time, the disposal could be managed way more efficiently. Reversed logistics allow for reuse, redistribution, remanufacturing or rightly disposing the product. This results in more control over the disposal process and prevent from disposing still good products and materials.  

Guideline 24: provide possibilities to reuse the product after its first life time. Make sure that the functionalities and aesthetics are assured after its first life and make sure the quality can be guaranteed for a long period of time. 

7. Optimization of end-of-life system 1/2

A product could be optimized for sustainability during the design process but if the disposal of the product is neglected, a lot of those good intentions will not come true. The real question is, is the product done when his life time is finished, or could the product be used again? Or could some parts be used again? Most of times, a lot of environmental impact could be avoided when a product is not disposed after its first life time but used elsewhere or with a new purpose. This is especially useful when the product have a high impact during mining and production since these steps could potentially be skipped for the next product. 

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Guideline 26: optimize the product for recycling by making the different materials easy to separate during recycling processes and minimize the amount of different materials. If toxic materials have to be used in the product, concentrate them in one area that is easy to detach to prevent spoilage of the other materials. 

7. Optimization of end-of-life system 2/2

Guideline 27: If some parts are not suitable for recycling, make sure that they are safe to incinerate. Minimize the amount of toxic substances and make sure that the emissions are minimized. 

Guideline 25:When it is not possible to reuse the product, make sure that the product or its parts could be remanufactured. The parts or subassemblies of the products should be easy to dismantle in order to make the remanufacturing as resource efficient as possible. Make use of detachable joints and clearly indicate them to ease the separation. Also place parts that are most likely to fail close to each other to fasten the replacement. 

Any first thoughts and/or questions on this topic? Leave them here! (if none, continue to the next slide)

Any other questions/ remarks?

Program brainstorm

1. Introduction (5min)
2. Warming up exercise (10min)
3. Brainstorm session to create strategies per topic guided by the guidelines (70 min)

Thanks for preparing, see you at the brainstorm!