An introduction to Life-Cycle Thinking and Management
7. Procurement, transport and sales
All departments within an enterprise have an important role to play in a lifecycle perspective. Procurement, transport and sales employees have central tasks with developing and marketing cleaner products (see Figure 7).
Procurement
The buyer has an important role in selecting the raw materials. Consequently, a buyer requires some tools which integrate environmental considerations together with other factors such as price, quality, functionality, etc.
Buyers are able to encourage environmental considerations at their suppliers via questions and demands. A buyer may request the following information:
 | overview of the supplier's general environmental initiatives and the supplier's environmental policy |
| documentation of the environmental impacts from the previous lifecycle phases |
| specific environmental data regarding raw materials, secondary (passive) materials, etc. |
The buyers tool box:
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Communication may be broadened to include dialogue and collaboration where the enterprise contributes ideas and constructive criticism regarding environmental improvements at the supplier's end. The buyer may take on the role of the critical, environmentally conscious customer who makes numerous demands, or the role of a collaboration partner working toward mutual advantages associated with the development of cleaner products.
Kirsten of "Little Enterprise Ltd." makes enquiries at the supplier about whether the steel can be recycled. She also enquires whether the supplier has an overall environmental policy and if so, what this involves. |
Transport and logistics
Transport is the common link between all phases of a product's life cycle. Energy consumption connected to transport of raw materials, as well as transport of finished products, is generally a minor component of an enterprise's total energy consumption. Similarly, transport is seldom identified as one of the significant areas of environmental impact in a life-cycle assessment.
Nevertheless, a number of conditions within an enterprise may support transport related initiatives.These may include the following: interest on the part of the people responsible for transport, transport as an obvious initiative area, desire to influence the transporter to undertake more extensive environmental initiatives, etc. Furthermore, environmental impacts associated with transport are in general a growing problem, where many hitherto initiatives have fallen short.
Tools for environmental optimisation of goods transport:
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At hospitals, consulting companies, and similar enterprises, transport of personnel between home and the workplace, as well as work-related transport, represent a significant environmental impact. An initiative in this area may begin by investigating the following questions. Can employees get to work on time using public transport? Is there potential for carpooling? Should the enterprise procure electric cars for city driving? Are facilities for bicyclists adequate?
Kirsten has discovered that with a little better planning and a longer product life, some of the transport can be saved - an advantage economically and environmentally. |
Environmental improvements involve many small initiatives which together have a large effect. Furthermore, it is a good idea to find initiative areas which are visible to all employees and which have an important symbolic value. Similarly, small problems can impede larger initiatives - "When the enterprise won't even build a proper bicycle shed why should I bother to get involved…?"
Sales and marketing
It would be a waste of enterprise resources to develop a cleaner product if it is not in demand or cannot be sold. Thus, the employees responsible for sales and marketing have an important role in a life-cycle-based environmental initiative, because they must ensure good information both to and from the customer.
Information from the customer provides sales personnel with detailed knowledge about consumer preferences, weight given to environmental considerations and how the product is used.
An investigation of consumers' use of a product may reveal inappropriate aspects of product use, thus giving product developers new knowledge and inspiration for future environmental improvements. For example, an Australian investigation revealed that 15 percent of the electrical consumption associated with an electrical kettle was unnecessary. It was found that kettle-users often reboiled the water because some small task, which begun while waiting for the water to boil, took longer than the actual boiling time. A whistle, a temperature indicator or better insulation of the kettle are three possible solutions.
Knowledge regarding consumer behaviour and preferences is crucial to developing and marketing cleaner products. Consumer and market surveys provide accurate information regarding consumer preferences and priority given to environmental considerations.There is, however, always a dilemma in market surveys as there is a difference between what a consumer says and how, in fact, the consumer acts.
Although "Little Enterprise Ltd." only has a small customer base, their behaviour and preferences are well known. Hansen enquires within the enterprise if any employee has received environmentrelated questions from customers. He also makes enquiries regarding what environmental aspects their customers prioritise, as well as what customers would like to see prioritised in future environmental initiatives. "Little Enterprise Ltd." has expanded its product-use directions to include information regarding the following: environmentally friendly cleaning; where spare parts for the thermos may be purchased; and how the thermos may be disposed of in an environmentally appropriate manner. |
Tools for sales employees:
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Information to the customers provides the enterprise with an opportunity to increase awareness about a product's environmental impacts. Sales employees must have enough environmental knowledge to be capable of advising customers regarding environmentally friendly use and disposal of the product.
The textile company, Gabriel, provides their customers with guidelines for cleaning of residential and industrial textiles to ensure that the cleaning method is environmentally friendly.Thus, Gabriel has assumed some of the usephase responsibility for the product and wants to contribute in reducing the use of environmentally harmful drycleaning and cleaning agents.
Product misuse may be extremely detrimental to a product's total environmental life-cycle impact. Excessive quantities of laundry detergent are an example of product misuse. Similarly, information regarding product disposal may improve recycling of selected materials or the entire product. The trend is towards making the producer responsible for disposal of its own products.
Sales and marketing departments must have enough environmental knowledge that they can profile their enterprise's products above the competitors. This requires that sales employees are familiar with the criteria for eco-labelling, public procurement guidelines, the consumer ombudsman's criteria for environmental marketing, etc. (see Chapters 8 and 9).
There are lots of places for a sales employee to begin, and further ideas in the next chapter.