Sustainable product prototyping

 If we are to move towards sustainability, we need to imagine what a more sustainable world will be. Most of us really haven’t thought that through. Quite understandably, the majority of people do not understand the academic concept of sustainable prototyping. Indeed, research for the Department of Environment in the UK, indicated that ‘sustainable prototyping’ was seen as a government construct to keep people out of environmental issues. However, if we re-phrase the question and ask people what sort of world they would like to live in; we are likely to come up with some answers that are likely to be entirely consistent with ‘expert’ viewpoints of sustainability. Sustainability is not about rearranging the eco-designed deckchairs; it is about questioning the purpose of the ship. It will require re-thinking and new thinking. As with the Zen master and his pupils it may require a whack on the back with a hard stick! A strong image, but a provocative one!

How do we translate these issues back into something applicable to product and service prototyping and design? A key issue is we must not forget customers. Many companies have forgotten to talk to customers and have focused inwardly on the technological and engineering improvements required for, primarily, eco-design i.e. using less energy, using fewer components, using less packaging, etc.

The Kambrook kettle is a good example of an attempt to create a dialogue with customers and understand customer behavior. The market research led to a new perspective, which led to the prototyping of a greener solution (JSPD, Issue 2). Husqvarna AB’s solar-powered lawn mower is a different type of example (JSPD, Issue 3). From a sustainability viewpoint, it is not the answer, but it demonstrates that new ideas can reach the marketplace if the conditions are right. These slightly ‘off the wall’ concepts create discussion, and make at least some people think about new solutions! People must have examples that catch their imagination. If you cannot see it, you cannot do anything about it! The door must open…

The lawn mower is an interesting example. The first question is do we need it? Behind this is a key question: what are needs? Maslow developed a 'hierarchy of needs' which illustrated a series of levels that could only be attained when the previous level has been satisfied:

• Physiological

 • Safety

 • Belongingness

 • esteem

 • Self-actualization

From a Northern perspective much of the discussion over sustainable product prototyping and design (SPPD) and eco-design relates to self-actualization (essentially, developing oneself to your fullest potential). However, from a Southern perspective, SPDD relates to basic needs i.e. food to live and ‘design for necessity’, i.e. shoes from car tires. There are shifts happening in the North where some are asking themselves ‘do we really need it?’ This may mean that green consumers in suburbs shift from using solar-powered lawn mowers with no human intervention to being rural or semi-rural sustainable consumers using mechanical lawn mowers that cut the grass and keep you fit!

Lawn mowers: power systems

• Human-powered

• battery

• solar

• clockwork?

The process of product creation starts with an idea and develops into a concept. Therefore if people who generate ideas have no concept of sustainability, then we may only get random advances.

Allowing for constraints of 'time to market', costs, etc. there should be wider stakeholder input into the product prototyping process, with sustainability thinking injected as early as possible into the process. Considering the issues at the design stages is too late, as many decisions will have been made and opportunities missed.

SPDD is a much broader agenda and requires innovation across e3s issues (environmental, economic, ethical, social). This means not just developing innovative new products, but innovative and new ways of using and re-using products i.e. shifting ‘products to services’. SPDD will mean developing new processes to deliver those products/services whilst working and cooperating with internal and external partners much more closely.

Ursula Tischner and Professor Ab Stevels focus on designing for environmentally-driven sustainability, and particularly highlight designing for eco-efficiency. Professor Stevels suggests that there are four sequential steps of eco-design, with the fourth level being longer-term design for a sustainable society. Jonathan Williams provides an example of a new tool that has been developed that analyses product-related eco-efficiency, particularly amongst electronic products.

Annica Bragd analyses the lessons learnt by a Swedish gardening equipment manufacturer, when developing, marketing and launching battery and solar-powered lawn mowers. A key lesson learnt is that stakeholder education is essential, particularly amongst customers and distributors. The interview with Professor William McDonough starts to broaden out the SPDD agenda to include a more holistic concept that includes social and ethical considerations. Colin Beard and Rainer Hartmann highlight some new perspectives on sustainable design, in which environmentally-positive (e+) design thinking will become a more creative and influential avenue for designers.

O2 Global Network pages update readers on new eco-design prototyping, including Philips decision to progress its 'end of life' management strategies. There is a focus on O2 Japan, including a report on the Tennen Design conference that highlighted the need to consider 'values' in eco-design thinking.

The Journal continues to search for case studies and articles explore both eco-design, and particularly new and ‘blue sky’ thinking in the areas of sustainable consumption and sustainable product prototyping and design. The aim is to build the Journal’s international focus as a platform for debate and analysis.

Feedback and comments are always useful.

Learning from the introduction of green products: two case studies from the gardening industry Research Assistant, Gothenburg Research Institute, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Annica Bragd is a Research Assistant at Gothenburg Research Institute, ( GRI), a research institute at the Gothenburg School of Economics and Commercial Law at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Annica Bragd’s studies link the fields of product prototyping and marketing to environmental management practices. She is currently working on her licentiate thesis on ‘The Organizing of Environ-mentally Sound Products’, which deals with the organizing of green products. Annica is pursuing a doctoral degree in Marketing and holds an MBA in Business Administration from the University of Gothenburg.

The prototyping of environmentally sound products or green products is being increasingly considered as an important strategic issue by Swedish companies. But so far very few companies have detailed practical experience of handling these projects. This indicates that there is a real need for systematic documentation of the experience and knowledge generated in the green product prototyping and marketing process.

This article presents a study of a Swedish manufacturing company in the gardening industry, with examples of technologically innovative products and the problems and opportunities associated with the green product prototyping process. The study highlights that the learning associated with green products seems to be different in comparison to conventional products. Therefore the article argues that there is a more complex and multi-dimensional learning process taking place in the introductory phase of green products.

Introduction

What are green products?

In reality green products do not exist: products are either more or less green, or greener; all consumer or industrial products cause environmental harm.

Therefore it is easier to describe products as having green characteristics such as being non-polluting, energy efficient, recyclable, and noiseless, etc. Over the last decade there have been a range of green products that have been launched into a wide variety of consumer and ‘business to business’ market sectors.

What experience have companies’ generated from developing green products? Of course, the answer(s) to this question are of considerable interest to companies working with green products today. During 1996 an empirical study (Bragd & Wolff, 1996) was carried out, where the above question was the central theme. The aim was to obtain a general view of the management of green products, in the context of the corporate learning.

Solar Mower

Environmental considerations break down traditional lines of responsibility

Within the company and change the boundaries in relation to its external environment. This process, based on the rationale that continuous improvement, new technology and innovation are essential prerequisites for the prototyping of environmental activities. The empirical study comprised 70 interviews from two manufacturing and one sales company. The interviewees were product developers, marketing staff, environmental co-coordinators, purchasing staff, product line managers, project members, retailers and customers. This article is based on the findings of this study and will focus on Husqvarna AB’s green product experience resulting from the launch of two lawn mowers. Following the case studies there is a discussion regarding the learning process resulting from these projects. Practical examples conclude this article, showing where improvements can be made in relation to the introduction of green products.

Background

Environmental activities of proactive Swedish companies

The complexity of environmental activities and the new approaches taken by Swedish companies explains why academia and business are interested in further exploration. Environmental considerations break down traditional lines of responsibility within the company and change the boundaries in relation to its external environment. Corporate environmental activities taken as a result of green issues are as a result of both externally regulated processes and internally-driven forces. Environmental driving forces can be very different, for example they can be competition-driven to obtain ‘first mover’ advantage, or consumer-driven, regulation-driven, or media-driven i.e. over environmental risks. For example, at the beginning of the 90s in Sweden, there was intensive public debate over high emission and noise levels. Another key driving force is management’s belief in the strategic importance of environmental issues and the commitment of the staff.

A key aspect of the prototyping of the green product market in Sweden was the entrance and involvement of the municipalities. In 1995, several municipalities became involved in the green product debate when they produced environmental reports on how to deal with environmental issues in their organizations. The environmental reports declared that the municipalities would buy greener products. This was a very important step, and it pushed forward the prototyping of new green products in Sweden.

Husqvarna AB

In the following section, Husqvarna AB’s experience in green product prototyping will be discussed using two of its technologically innovative products. The origin of Husqvarna AB’s environmental activities derives from many years of experience of improving ergonomics and the work environment. The company transferred its experience from the research and development (R&D) of chain saws to lawn mowers. From 1993 the company developed several applications of catalyst technology for small engines and became known in various countries for its involvement in green products. Today the green range includes innovations from step-by-step improvements to new niche products.

Husqvarna AB is taking part in an internal as well as an external learning process in relation to green product prototyping. The learning process has covered both product development and marketing processes. One of the lessons learnt at a corporate level has been that the company has had a focus on technology and a technology-oriented product strategy. The management has now recognized this and is now going through a change process, towards a market-orientated approach. This process of reorientation has been triggered primarily by the work on green products.

From a ‘technology orientated’ gardening company to the demand for shorter product prototyping time, shorter introduction processes and quicker ‘time-to-market’ has put increasing pressure on companies in the gardening industry, and more broadly on Swedish industry. To increase their competitiveness many companies are becoming increasingly technology-orientated. These companies strive to produce high quality products and continuously improve products, as they believe their customers strive for quality.

Therefore the production of marketing plans comes second to the prototyping of the technology. Research has highlighted many examples of limited internal communication between the marketing and the product development departments, which leads to an inefficient use of resources. In the long-term the technology is unlikely to be fully utilized or transformed into a competitive advantage, if there is no understanding of the customer. The absence of marketing concepts, the lack of long-term product strategies and bad product cost estimations are also evidence of a bias towards strong technology-orientated strategies.

The second case study, the Solar Mower is an example of weak market orientation. A key lesson was that, in order to make the customer pay a higher price it is not enough to just present the raw technology. The presentation of the technology must be supported by an appropriate image i.e. modern and environmentally-sound. In addition, it must be aimed at a specific target group. The experiences gained from this product made the company aware of the need to revise current marketing and selling practices as well as explore different forms of distribution.

A move towards a ‘market-orientated’ gardening company

One reason for re-focusing on a more market-orientated approach was that the company could not act on all market opportunities and satisfy every customer’s need. However focusing on tight target marketing does not guarantee the success of every new product. It is more likely to act as a risk reduction exercise and contribute to an earlier discovery of product failures, if market research and information has been gathered effectively. This was highlighted by the author’s research which indicated that green products appeared to need a higher level of market differentiation. To take advantage of opportunities, organizations developing green products will need to be adaptable to both technological change and market changes. The organization must also learn to understand green customer preferences and environmental legislation in different markets. Also, the marketing and communications activities associated with green products need to be adapted to locally-based green consumer demand and to the level of environmental awareness not only linguistically, but also conceptually.

Case studies

The case studies present two green products: a battery-powered lawn mower and a solar-driven lawn mower. The structure of the case studies is a short background followed by a description of the driving forces, the product prototyping process and the marketing activities. The experiences gained from the prototyping of the products conclude the studies.

Battery-powered lawn mower

At the beginning of the 90s, a fierce public debate took place in Sweden in relation to lawn mowers as polluters.

Case study one: the battery-powered lawn mower

Background

The battery-powered lawn mower was the first so called green lawn mower launched by Husqvarna AB. The positive experience resulting from the launch of the product was one reason why the company started to further examine the eco-profile of a broader range of gardening products. This product, an acquired patent in 1992, showed that it was possible to mow grass using a battery-driven engine. However, to be competitive additional technological improvements were needed such as weight loss, performance improvements, power increase and considerable noise reductions. When the product was launched in 1993, it was presented as an outstanding product compared to competitive electronic lawn mowers, due to its wireless rechargeable battery-driven engine with 1.5 hours of running time. In addition, the product had no exhaust fumes and low noise levels. At the time, competitors had no alternative products. This ‘first mover’ advantage has now been eroded due to several reasons:

• decreasing prices of lawn mowers

• fierce competition

• the product is easy to mass distribute and does not need a maintenance service

• new mass market distributors have entered the market for battery-driven tools        and machines.

This product is a business success in that it corresponded to a market need, but was priced high due to high production costs. The ‘second generation’ of Husqvarna’s battery-driven mowers was launched in 1996. From a green point of view, the product prototyping work was different compared to the ‘first generation’. The product development group decided to develop a machine that used minimum energy without loss of performance, quite contrary to the ‘first generation’ lawn mower, where ‘horse power’ was an important part of the selling argument.

Driving forces

At the beginning of the 90s, fierce public debate took place in Sweden in relation to lawn mowers as polluters. The core of the debate was that a lawn mower pollutes more during one hour than a car travelling between the two biggest cities in Sweden. Clearly this was a debate that Husqvarna AB had to respond to, particularly as the issue increased and triggered the environmental consciousness of company employees, which led to discussion over environmental aspects of the products.

Another driving force was the prototyping of new battery-driven tools, where producers of electrical supplies and tools were pushing the prototyping of the technology. A key issue was the visionary leadership of the managing director who strongly believed in the prototyping of batteries and encouraged the staff to progress research and development in this area.

In 1995, ‘Carb 95’, the Californian state’s legislation on engine emissions i.e. lawn mowers came into force. It lead the company to look for alternatives to conventional lawn mower engines, as the US was an important export market and the Californian market was an important ‘reference group’ for future product success.

Product prototyping and development

Husqvarna AB had developed a competence in mechanical construction work and had many years of experience in the engineering industry. The battery mower was basically an electrical construction and the technological competence had to be bought externally, which led to high levels of initial investment. The battery-powered mower is a green product in the sense that it is free from exhaust fumes and it is noiseless, and the chassis material is made of recyclable plastic. What is interesting is that initially there were no green product prototyping strategies, as the product prototyping group did not consider the above mentioned as environmental characteristics but as product features. This was partly to do with the batteries, which were not perceived to be green or even as greener forms of power. The product developers argued that the mower should not be marketed as an environmental product.

The selling arguments used were touted as a rechargeable battery-driven

mower, which does not disturb the neighbours, is light weight,

equipped with vibration damping grip, does not emit exhaust fumes and has a low noise level.

The technological experiences gained from the ‘first generation’ were not passed onto the ‘second generation’ due to a management decision to shift product prototyping and production from Sweden to Norway. however, the manufacturing of the ‘second generation’ products used an approach that was completely different to that used in the rest of the industry. The new idea was to produce a machine that minimised the use of energy and power without performance loss. This was a different way of thinking in the gardening industry because competition was usually based on products with lots of horsepower. The product prototyping group was particularly concerned about how to minimise the use of natural resources and how to extend the battery’s life cycle i.e. by automatically turning the battery off before it ran out. The new new product prototyping group displayed a clearer understanding of environmental issues and looked to implement this in new eco-designed products.

Experiences of the battery-powered mower

The following seven points present implicit and explicit experiences from the introduction of the battery-powered mower. These experiences have emerged from the interviews and are an interpretation of the material. The core of the debate was that a lawn mower pollutes more during one hour than a car travelling between the two biggest cities in Sweden.

from a strategic point of view this experience may be the most important. Because of satisfactory sales and faith in the prototyping of battery technology the company chose to continue with the battery-driven mowers, which contributed to the discontinuation of electric mower prototyping.

“Time-to-market” is both resource and quality demanding’ – in this case the product was resource intensive. The ‘time-to-market’ issue was an essential consideration due to the seasonality of the gardening market. The industry is fragile because if the product is not in outlets by the Spring, there is a risk of missing a season of sales, which clearly can jeopardise the success of the product. The balance between increased ‘time-to-market’ and quality aspects for the launch of new products is a difficult task.

Re-learning of marketing experience and knowledge’ – this includes the distribution network and the development of new learning and re-learning processes within Husqvarna AB’s organization. This includes the learning of new selling practices and the revision of past practices. There was a gap between past selling practices and the requirement for the selling of green products. At ‘point-of-sale’, there was a need for product information, especially on environmental aspects. The benefits of eco-designed products need to be fully communicated if business success is to be achieved. Appropriate education, training and information programs are essential if green products are to win market share.

Cost estimations of green products are misleading’ – cost estimations and pay-back are inaccurate measures of the overall impact of the product. The problem is related to the lack of predictability of future revenues of green products. There is also a need to develop new accounting practices that ‘factor-in’ externalities i.e. use of natural resources.