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Hot-Spot Finding

Summary

Hot Spot - A simple LCA tool

A simple tool for localisation of environmental focus areas - Hot Spots - has been developed. The tool is named Hot Spot tool, and its primary objective is to integrate the life cycle approach into design and product development, and to render visible the environmental Hot Spots. The tool was developed by COWI A/S in cooperation with the companies Sahva A/S, Royal Greenland A/S, Kansas Wenaas A/S and System B8-møbler A/S, which have also been in charge of testing the tool within their organisations. The tool can be used by all professional groups participating in the development of products; i.e. designers and product developers plus management, production, purchase, sale and marketing. The Hot Spot tool consists of a number of elements, which - during product development - can make allowance for the individual groups‘ need for knowledge on the most important Hot Spots in the product‘s life cycle. Therefore, the Hot Spot tool has been to the satisfaction of the participating companies, which all wish to make use of the tool for future project development.

1.5 Background and aims

The development of the Hot Spot tool was initiated from a need for a simple and operational tool for integration of the life cycle approach into design and product development in Danish companies by making the user capable of defining the phases in the life cycle of the product that are most harmful to the environment, as well as by making visible the environmental problems and advantages in the project called "Hot Spot finding". In order to ensure that the tool was made operational for use in Danish companies, four very different companies were appointed to participate in joint work to define the specification of demands on the tool, of the development of the tool and of testing of the tool. The four participating companies are:

1. Sahva A/S, development and accomplishment of surgical appliance works
2. Royal Greenland A/S, development and production of fishery products
3. Kansas Wenaas A/S, development and production of working clothes
4. System B8 Møbler, development and production of office furniture

1.6 Demand specification

The demand specifications for the tool given by the four companies were characterised by one very important common denominator: the tool was to be operational in relation to existing product development phases and routines within the companies. It should not become a bottleneck in the development work, and the tool should support the development process enabling the participating employees to render visible the environmental Hot Spots exactly when they need this information. In other words, the tool must assist in asking the right questions on lifecycle related factors at the right time during the development of the products. This means primarily for integration in the phases of ideas and strategy and of concept development, where the degree of freedom is largest, and where materials and production methods are determined. Furthermore, the companies wanted the tool to be able to render visible the environmental significance, giving the companies the best possible basis for decisions regarding the assessment of their efforts.

The primary target group for the tool was defined by the companies to be the project manager in charge of the product development as well as designers and product developers. The result of the tool should, primarily, be understood and assessed by the companies‘ management, and, secondarily, by relevant employees from the production, purchasing, sales and marketing departments.

1.7 Project results

After development and testing, the Hot Spot tool now consists of four subcomponents as follows:

Lifecycle tree
The lifecycle tree aims at creating a general overview on the product‘s lifecycle, by outlining the main processes included into the product throughout the whole of its lifecycle - that is from extraction of raw material, production, employment to disposal of the product. The lifecycle tree is outlined on the basis of the knowledge held by the formal project group, and it is supplemented with information obtained by the individual participants from the project group.

SWOT screening
The SWOT screening aims at revealing the strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and threats, from the point of view of clients, authorities as well as other external parties. When these elements are analysed the project group must - based on their knowledge and existing criteria within the company - assess, which environmental strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and threats can be seen as Hot Spots in the future optimisation/development of the product.

MECO screening
MECO screening is a simple quantitative analysis aiming at exposing the most important environmental impacts (Hot Spots) within the lifecycle of the product. During this process, the environmental coordinator as well as a person having a thorough knowledge of the product quantify the products‘ consumption of Materials, Energy, Chemicals and Others (working conditions, risks etc.) - in short: MECO. The MECO method was developed by the Institute of Product Development - DTU (Handbook in environmental assessment, Environmental project, No. 813, 2003 ). When the largest consumption of Material, Energy and Chemicals as well as the most important condition within the category "Other" has been found, the areas in which work should be continued must be assessed.

Environmentally sound design rules
The aim of the environmentally sound design rules is to give inspiration for environmentally sound product optimisation and development without prior analysis. This is taking place by 16 design rules identifying environmentally prioritised areas within the phases of raw material, production, employment, transportation, and disposal.

1.7.1 Use of the Hot Spot tool

The experience gained during this project shows that the four subcomponents can be used separately or together, depending on the companies‘ objectives for use of the tool.

However, it is recommended both to outline of the lifecycle tree and to prepare SWOT and MECO screening, since these tools are able to define most of the environmental "Hot Spots" for production..

1.7.2 Hot Spot tool in HTML format

According to the original plans, the development of the tool was to be reported on paper, but it soon became clear that the best way of presenting the tool would be in a HTLM format available on the Internet.

On this basis, the project group prepared a demo model of the first design of the tool in HTML format. Unfortunately, resources within the project have not been sufficient to complete the development of the tool in this format, even though this solution was greatly called for by the participating companies.

1.8 Conclusion

The four participating companies gave the following assessment of the Hot Spot tool, characterising it as follows:

• Establishing a general view, systematising and visualising the environmentally related factors within the products‘ lifecycle.Hot Spot finding, visualising environmental problems and advantages
  
• Consisting of tools which can be used separately depending on the need for knowledge, supplementing each other during identification of essential environmentally prioritised areas.
  
• Easily adjustable to the individual needs in companies within the different lines of business.
  
• Applied to Hot Spot finding within other aspects in the lifecycle of the product beside the environmental matters, for instance concerning logistics, raw material accessibility, marketing possibilities, finances, optimisation of production etc.
  
• Furthermore, it can be employed for Hot Spot finding in existing product lifecycles.
  

The companies’ favourable attitude towards the tool is explained by the very broad scope of the tool. The four sub-components enable the companies to apply exactly the knowledge level they need. At the same time the four sub-components are targeted towards different professional groups and levels in the organisation:

• Being a simple process where all parties in the project get a common understanding of the product and its lifecycle, the lifecycle tree seems to approachall levels and professional groups.
  
• Likewise, the SWOT screening is targeted towards all professional groups and levels, but mostly addresses groups in an organisation which are working with company strategies, objectives and activities directed outwards. These professional groups have confidence in the use of this systematic approach, as they are used to this method in their daily work. Therefore, they feel that this approach contributes to demystifying the environment and integrating it on equal terms with other parameters in the product development. The management considers environmental aspects made visible through a SWOT screening to be clear and tangible, allowing them to to take part in the process.
  
• The MECO screening is targeted especially towards specialists within the environment, as the tool implies a certain environmental know-how and understanding. Still, it is also the experience from the project that other professional groups see the approach as useful, allowing them to have a general view.
  
• The environmentally sound design rules seem to be targeted primarily towards designers and product developers who need guide lines and check lists on how to integrate the environment and the life cycle approach in the product development.
  

The tool is addressing more than one professional group within the companies and makes allowance for different levels of ambition that Danish companies can have. The Hot Spot tool is, thus, one of the simple do-it-yourself LCA tools which are in so great demand in the public environment discussion - a tool which can contribute to anchoring the lifecycle based environmental performance, not only within environment and product development, but also, in the long term, within all activities that are carried out in Danish companies.

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