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Development of cleaner products in Berendsen's international product chains
4 Product Development
- Process and Results
4.1 The typical progress of a development project at Berendsen
Looking at all the development projects carried out at Berendsen, it is possible to establish an overview of the typical course of a development project. This is presented in the figure below.
Figure 12. A schematic overview of the typical product development project at Berendsen.
New scientific knowledge, a customer enquiry, rising focus on a specific topic in the media are typical initiation factors when it comes to further development of existing products. Furthermore all new products in the hygiene product concept are screened to reveal potential problems.
If a potential problem is identified, the supplier is contacted to discuss possible solutions.
The supplier and Berendsen might agree to reformulate the product to avoid potentially harmful substances. Before putting new products on the market, they are tested for their quality, behaviour hygiene aspects etc. to ensure that the new formulation can fulfil the function that it is intended for.
If the test shows good results, the product is prepared for the market, and finally it is put on the market.
When a supplier is not willing to cooperate, alternative suppliers can be chosen. A new potential supplier is often more willing to make changes to capture a new relatively big customer.
4.2 Results
With regard to the specific product cases within the framework of the demonstration project, Berendsen put the following cleaner products on the market during the project period.
4.2.1 Soaps
A number of different new soap products have been developed and introduced to the market during the project period. Focus has been on substitution of preservative, colorant and allergen perfume components.
Table 1. New soaps put on the market during the project.
| Product |
Changes |
Comments |
| Foam soap neutral |
New preservative
Removal of perfume
(Still no colorant) |
In a life cycle perspective foam soaps in general are better for the environment than other liquid soaps. This is due to the fact that the amount of active soap ingredients used per hand wash is much lower. |
| Foam soap mild |
New preservative
Removal of colorant
Change of perfume |
| Cream soap neutral |
New preservative
Removal of perfume
(Still no colorant) |
|
| Cream soap mild |
New preservative
Removal of colorant
Change of perfume |
|
4.2.2 Hand Cleaner
In the relatively early stages of the project, a new hand cleaner was developed and introduced to the market to replace the existing product. However, experience soon showed that in practice the new and cleaner product was not efficient enough to fulfil the quality demands of the customers. Therefore, a new formulation and more efficient formulation was made.
Table 2. New hand cleaner on the market during the project.
| Product |
Changes |
Comments |
| Hand Cleaner |
New preservative
Replacement of perfume
Change of other functional ingredients |
|
4.2.3 Hand Lotion
Concerning the hand lotion it was very difficult to convince the supplier to make changes to the composition of the product. We did not have enough time. However, a change in the legislation meant that the supplier had to remove the undesired preservative from their product. A new and cleaner product has therefore been introduced to the market pushed by the EU legislation.
Table 3. New hand lotion put on the market during the project.
| Product |
Changes |
Comments |
| Hand Lotion |
New preservative |
Berendsen will work to improve this product further in the future. E.g. the undesired preservative MG was substituted by the manufacturer with parabens which Berendsen also considers a potential problem. |
4.2.4 Other Products
The above examples are directly related to the project, but in the same period Berendsen also developed other cleaner hygiene products and put them on the market. The following are some examples.
- Sanitizers
- Air-fresheners
- Hair & Body Shampoo
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Version 1.0 March 2006, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency
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