Thesis on "Product Life Cycle Management"

Thesis 12 pages (3216 words) Sources: 15 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Product Lifecycle Management

Best Practices in Product Lifecycle Management Pertaining to Electronic Waste Reduction and Environmental Compliance

The environmental and health-rated risks of electrical and electronic waste have progressed from global concern to legislated and enforced compliance. The Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) (Smock, 2004) European Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) (Kunert, 2005) and many compliance initiatives in the U.S. enforced through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and government agencies (Telle, 2009) are significantly changing the product lifecycle management (PLM) strategies of companies. This focus on PLM continues to be a catalyst for Design for Environment (DfE) initiatives within many of the world's leading manufacturers becoming more attuned to how to make the product development process more in compliance from a cyclical standpoint (Mascle, Zhao, 2008). PLM frameworks are being most influenced by DfE initiatives that involve the ongoing attempts of manufacturers to include safe chemicals and production processes in printed circuit board, and motherboard production (Preston, 2001). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the integration of these concepts and the resulting contributions to the reduction of electronic and electric product waste globally.

Introduction

Having progressed rapidly from global health concern to mandated compliance, the many initiatives in place today including Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) (Smock, 2004) European Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) (Kunert, 2005), an dozens of American mandates enforced by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Telle, 2009) are together reordering the areas of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) not only in American-based manufacturing corporations but globally as well. This transformation has forced PLM into an entirely new series of dynamics and frameworks. The most notable addition to traditional PLM functions in manufacturers who have set the strategic objective of complying with electrical and electronic waste initiatives is the adoption of DfE across the entire lifecycle of their products (Preston, 2001).

DfE has in fact become engrained in the PLM systems and processes of many of the world's leading electronics manufacturers including Hewlett-Packard (Chaudhri, 2006) who has created their entire environmental compliance and sustainability strategy around the integration of DfE and PLM which began with their printer cartridge recycling program and progressed to a corporate-wide initiative, the HP Green Business Technology Initiative launched in 2003 which continues today (Kenney, 2007). HP deliberately redefined their entire PLM process to include DfE process workflows and to the extra steps to include reverse logistics processes, sustainability, and recycling decades ahead of its competitors. As compliance became required to compete globally, HP was able to capitalize on their significant lead in these areas.

DfE's impact on PLM was specifically focused on the new product development process, which had to take into account how products were specifically designed for global markets. DfE is today an essential part of the new product development processes in PLM strategies and platforms that global high tech manufacturers rely on, in addition to other industries who are government by compliance-based legislation.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Framework is today an essential part of PLM frameworks and strategies globally for companies in industries related to electrical and electronic products manufacturing due to the following factors. First, the LCA successfully replicates the key phases of the PLM framework (Abramovici, 2007). Second the LCA has been defined from the context of how to calculate Return on Investment (ROI) of specific DfE initiatives over time (Finnveden, Bjorklund, Moberg, Ekvall, 2007). Third, each discrete phase of the LCA Framework can be successfully integrated into a broader PLM and compliance-based organizational structure as companies strive to make their organizations more efficient in meeting and exceeding minimum audit requirements (Kenney, 2007).

Integration of DfE and Product Lifecycle Management

Given the costly penalties for a lack of compliance to global laws in place defining the minimal levels of electrical and electronic waste, the urgency manufacturers have globally to turn their compliance initiatives from costly expenses into competitive advantages is critical. Ironically however manufacturers who don't integrate DfE into their PLM methodologies and strategies not only get fined more by government agencies, they lose competitive advantage in terms of time-to-market against competitors as well. This first best practice of PLM being used for reducing the costs of electrical and electronic waste reduction is based on transforming DfE initiatives into a long-term competitive advantage in the context of product lifecycle frameworks used for developing, managing and discontinuing products. The perspective on DfE in fact needs to change to align with this best practice in many manufacturers. Rather than seeing it as a cost or necessarily evil, best practices in companies integrating DfE into their PLM frameworks see this integration as a competitive advantage. (Mascle, Zhao, 2008).

Designing for environmental compliance through the integration of DfE and PLM frameworks have led to the development of cost savings at the manufacturing and services levels, which were anticipated but not know to be as significant as they have materialized into (Adami-Sampson, 2007). Hewlett-Packard has been one of the thought leaders on this first best practice, integrating DfE into their core business and product planning programs, measuring the contribution to compliance and corresponding cost reductions achieved (Chaudhri, 2006).

The HP Green Business Technology Initiative was initially funded based on these cost reductions made possible in packaging materials from reverse logistics which were found to be significant contributors to DfE effectiveness (Mascle, Zhao, 2008).

A second significant benefit of the integration of DfE into the PLM framework of organizations that are attaining best practices are their ability to quickly translate business processes that had been inefficient in the past into a substantial competitive advantage over time. Having greater insight into process improvement and the propensity to increase performance as a result of process re-engineering (Hammer, Haney, Wester, Ciccone, Gaffney, 2007) is one of the most significant benefits of companies who adopt the process of PLM and DfE integration. The pay-off from this focus on process-driven performance in high tech manufacturers that are leading them to integrate DfE into their broader PLM strategies are ensuring compliance becomes attainable in each product generation (Mascle, Zhao, 2008).

The integration of DfE then into the PLM process is acting over the long-term to set a new baseline of minimum compliance over time, attaining the strategic objective of transforming the costs of compliance into a competitive advantage over time. Manufacturers are increasingly adopting a closed-loop system of feedback on the extent to which their products meet or exceed compliance requirements as part of the DfE integration to PLM frameworks. This is leading to the ability to measure the performance of DfE product-based initiatives in the context of product generations, including the development of closed-loop monitoring and feedback systems of DfE profitability and performance as part of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system Sato, 2009). This has become a knowledge capture and knowledge management system that encapsulates lessons learned previous DfE initiatives in other areas of the company also benefit all product development cycles. The PLM system then has become key to the reduction of compliance costs by managing development programs to DfE and waste management guidelines as defined globally in the RoHS (Smock, 2004) and WEEE (Kunert, 2005) initiatives. In essence, the integration of DfE into the PLM frameworks of these organizations has "designed in" compliance, making it a competitive advantage over merely a cost of doing business.

Another benefit manufacturers are deriving from the integration of DfE into their PLM frameworks is the ability to gain the advantages of reverse logistics globally through their supply chain partners (Kumar, Putnam, 2008). This has specifically been the case in the first stages of the PLM process, and has led to several cost reduction benefits including greater initial compliance, alleviation of audit costs and greater profitability per product line. Table 1, DfE Benefits and Impact Analysis from PLM Integration provides an overview.

Table 1: DfE Benefits and Impact Analysis from PLM Integration

DfE Engineering & Product Development Goal

Anticipated Environment Impact

Reduction in Product Lifecycle Management Costs Possible

Reduction in overall footprint of the device including product weight

Reduces lifetime energy consumption; less end-of-life waste

Significant reduction in sourcing and quality management costs; lower logistics costs; potential for higher production yields

Energy STAR compliance

Significant reduction in energy use; less greenhouse gases, reduction in carbon dioxide generation

Significant cost reductions in end-user product lifecycle operating expenses

Engineer in greater product reliability and quality

Less material costs, less waste for landfills due to better reverse logistics of product components

Lower Total Cost of Ownership; lower lifetime product costs

Packaging design biodegradability and reverse logistics

Reduce the impact of products have on landfills

Using reverse logistics processes rely on outbound packaging materials as part of delivered product; also return of consumables using packaging

Optimizing Bulk Pack Configurations

Minimize carbon-based impact of transportation

Significant reduction in materials and logistics costs

Design for Recycling (DfR)

Reduction of per unit costs due to reuse of components

Lower compliance costs through designed-in use of materials; lower overall manufacturing costs

Design for Disassembly

Higher recycle rates due to more intuitive disassembly and recycle designs

Reduce recycling costs;… READ MORE

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