innovation and sustainable development

International Association for Management of Technology IAMOT 2007 Proceedings

INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE WOOD FURNITURE DESIGN Olivier CHERY Equipe de Recherche sur les Processus Innovatifs ENSGSI – 8, rue Bastien Lepage – B.P. 90647 – 54010 NANCY CEDEX – France [email protected] Elise MARCANDELLA Equipe de Recherche sur les Processus Innovatifs ENSGSI – 8, rue Bastien Lepage – B.P. 90647 – 54010 NANCY CEDEX – France [email protected] Laure MOREL-GUIMARAES Equipe de Recherche sur les Processus Innovatifs ENSGSI – 8, rue Bastien Lepage – B.P. 90647 – 54010 NANCY CEDEX – France [email protected] Abstract In analysing preconception’s steps the pertinence and feasibility of the result of each step have to be evaluated. Tools and methodologies coming from innovation sciences can be used to perform this evaluation. This paper aims to discover how to integrate the sustainable development concept with environmental, social and economic impacts in these tools through an application in wood furniture design. Firstly, we studied frameworks of reference (such as norms, labels or/and laws) and methodologies available to perform this evaluation. We can quote the Life Cycle Assessment which is a process to evaluate environmental impact, or chain analysis, or risk analysis to measure the impact of activities on the health and the safety for customers and workers. Secondly, we built an evaluation methodology of the sustainability of wood furniture. The wood furniture design was chosen because this activity is largely represented in the Lorraine 1 economic network and moreover, a lot of research laboratories in Lorraine work on this domain. Keywords : Product life cycle; ecoconception; sustainable development; innovation; wood furniture design; wood furniture manufacturing.

1 Introduction Our survey aims to “the technologic innovation of the use of sustainable development”2 (Villeneuve, 2003). Our goal is to elaborate models and work methods that are able to take into account concepts in sustainable development. We focused on the preconception steps of the innovative process (Figure 1).

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Lorraine is a territory in the East of France Translated by the authors of this paper : « (… )l’innovation technologique au service du développement durable »

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IMPULSE M A N A G E M E N T

PRE CONCEPTION

Feasability analysis Preliminary analysis CONCEPTION

BIRTH

Detailed analysis

O F T H E P R O J E C T

Manufacturing

LIFE

USE Evaluation

POST

Extinction

POST CONCEPTION

Destruction or

LIFE

Recycling

Figure 1 : Links between "Life Cycle and Conception" of a product (Chitescu, 2005)

According to our approach, we included each step of the product’s life cycle. Thus, when we perform a functional analysis, which is a useful tool to provide the feasibility analysis, each factor of the outside environment of the product’s life cycle is integrated (Puyou, 1999). In this paper, firstly, we present two evaluation tools that can be used to validate the preconception steps : Quality Function Deployment and Need Functional Analysis. According to Marsot (Marsot, 2002), both of these methods are able to integrate the ergonomic aspects. It is one of the parameters that we have to evaluate in sustainable development 3 . In a second part, the system of reference that helps to take into account sustainable development and the tools and the methods used to evaluate it are highlighted. Finally, we present the initial results of the building of an evaluation methodology of the sustainability in the wood furniture design.

2 Presentation of two innovation tools used to evaluate preconception steps We chose two specific tools to present because the human factors can easily be integrated within preconception steps.

21 Quality Function Deployment

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The ergonomics is one of the topics of the sustainable development’s social dimension

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The first method is called “Quality Function Deployment” and proposes specific methods to be able to guarantee quality according to international norms during the conception’s steps. This method is relevant because it includes consideration of customer’s satisfaction. It can be considered as a bottom-up method. The customer’s demands are translated into conception objectives and into key-points, needed to assure quality in conception phases (Akao, 1993). The “what” and the “how” are highlighted by the consultant in order to help the customer to formulate their demands. It constitutes the first matrix of the whole industrial process, that is to say the “products’ parameters”. The following steps/parameters are the “components’ parameters (matrix 2), the process’s parameters (matrix 3) and the “production’s process” (matrix 4). Each matrix represents a new formulation by the expert/conception from the first requirements but they are reformulated according to the complexity of each step. Thus, all the recurrences and common points are transcribed into the four successive matrixes. Finally, correlations are identified. At the end, the customer’s demands and the product’s characteristics, including norms, are perfectly linked. The major difference between a customer and a user is that the user is the one who does the final activity, which is not necessarily the case of the customer. For instance, a customer may be a manager and the user may be a worker who uses the tool bought by the manager. This notions’ differentiation is very important in our demonstration because the angle of view can be opposite. A user can expect a product to be functional and secured as a customer (whatever his place) expects to be satisfied but his expectations are less specific.

22 Need Functional Analysis The second method is called “Need Functional Analysis” (NFA) and is established according to a French norm 4 . It is an approach that questions the real expectations of users in regards to a product or a service. The approach is unique because there is an animator within a workshop constituted by the conception’s actors. In this case, the animator-expert considers that the user is in the centre of the conception steps. Thus, it permits the design of the product according to the functionalities of the final product. Five steps are required by the NFA: i. Identification of the different steps of the Product’s Life Cycle. Human ressources, materials and equipment are listed and comprise the product’s environment. ii. The second step requires whole functions linked to the potential product and its environment 5 . The formulated functions have to be reduced to essential sentences. For instance, “able to be recycled”, “to be easily cleaned”, “safe” etc. iii. The third step involves design of a functional tree. The previously identified functions are ranked and quantified according to appreciation values exposed within the workshop. iv. The fourth step defines criteria in order to choose technical solutions. v. The fifth step is the formalisation of the functional specifications. The ergonomics is able to be integrated to the QFD tool as a parameter when the “what/how” matrixes are built. Likewise, an ergonomic topic can appear as an element of the environment 4 5

French norm : AFNOR NF X 50-151 :1991 thanks to the workshop by a formulation based on infinitive verbs following by one or several complements.

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of the potential product in the NFA method. We may think that the other aspects of the sustainable development could be easily added to both of the methods. Thus, we could take into account the sustainable development with these methods and evaluate it in the preconception steps. In the next part, we will see the framework of reference and some methods and tools which enable us to consider the sustainable development as a main parameter in the preconception.

3 Institutional references, tools and methods usable in sustainable development Before presenting these references, we have to define the sustainability of a product because it is a concept which is “in process of construction”(Brüntland, 1987).

31 A definition of the sustainability of a product A commonly quoted definition of sustainable development is provided by Brüntland (1987) as: "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Article 5 from Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002) specifies : “Accordingly, we assume a collective responsibility to advance and strengthen the interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development economic development, social development and environmental protection - at the local, national, regional and global levels.” (UNO, 2002) Both of the definitions underline the complexity of the links between : i. all the dimensions (social, environmental economic), ii. all the scales (temporal, spatial), iii. all the actors (man, society, institutions, companies,..) that are encountered in the sustainable development. As Brodagh highlights (2003), the implementation of sustainable development “is also the result of a network diplomacy in which the associations, the scientists, the companies, the labour unions and the local authorities (…) are involved with the agents of the State in international considerations and negotiations” 6 . Our hypothesis is that a definition of the sustainability of a product is inherent to the studied product and its environment. Thus, all actors concerned by this theme have to be listed and met to result in a definition of the sustainability of a considered product. We present further the application of this research through our results in wood furniture design. Our final aim is to determine if some invariables exist in the sustainable development concept.

32 The framework of reference favouring the consideration of sustainable development 6

Translated by the authors of this paper : « (…) c’est aussi l’aboutissement d’une diplomatie des réseaux où les associations, les scientifiques, les entreprises, les syndicats et les collectivités locales (…) sont présents avec les représentants des Etats dans les réflexions et les négociations internationales.»

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Institutional policies and methods can be used to consider the sustainability of a product during its life cycle, such as : i. ii.

iii.

Regulations : European and French environmental laws and labour laws (Document Unique 7 , ICPE 8 ,…) Economical measures and management guides : labels, certification standards : ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment), OHSAS 18001 (Health and Safety), guides such as SD 21000 (Sustainable Development)…(Delchet, 2006). Political measures : environmental taxation, competitive bidding with a sustainable development demand, Agendas 21, subsidy to buy eco products …(Boutaud, 2005).

In our survey, the guides and laws have been listed in regards to a local wood furniture based sector.

33 Towards an enlargement of tools traditionally used in situation analysis Technical tools and methods are exposed here. Thus, several points of view can be used in order to evaluate the system’s sustainability : i. ii. iii. iv. v.

vi. vii.

LCA (Janin, 2000 ; Lavallee et al, 2005 ; Le Van, 1995), Economic Sector Assessment (Floriot, 1985 ; Batalha, 1993 ; Duteurtre et al, 2000), Integration of the ergonomics in the preconception step (Marsot, 2002 ; Chitescu, 2005) (§2), Risk Assessment concerning the workstations (Durand, 2002), Natural and Industrial Risk Assessment : MOSAR (Organised and Systemic Method of Risk Assessment) (Perilhon, 2003), Danger Sciences Approach (Verdel, 2000), (Laurent, 2003), Prospective approach : structural analysis such as MIC-MAC, role playing games as MACTOR, SMIC Prob-expert (Godet, 2004), Data Aggregation methods, multi criteria analysis to design the “sustainability index” of a product (Brun et al, 2005 ; DGITIP, 2002 ; Caillet, 2003 ; Gauthier, 2005).

Performing this study, we propose to enlarge the environmental aspects, discovered in applications such as Life Cycle Assessment, to the whole sustainable development criteria by depending on two added dimensions : the economic and the social ones. Our approach is a Sustainable Life Cycle Assessment ( SLCA ) (figure 2). This SLCA takes into account the potential impacts of the product during its whole life cycle (from its birth to its death) on the EHSE targets. For the first time, we present an approach that leads to the sustainability evaluation of existing products as a postconception study. Thus the indicators developed separately in the three domains of the sustainable development will be used in our approach that results in a “sustainability index” (figure 3).

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Document Unique : all the companies have to perform a risk assessment of their activities and to draw up a report so called “Document Unique” 8 ICPE : name of the French law against industrial risks concerning the environmental aspects.

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Sustainable Conception égrée pre conception

ACV LCA

SLCA EHS

Traitement End of life treatment de fin de vie Raw Extraction materials mati extraction ère 1ère

Maintenance Manufacturing Production

Utilisation Use Distribution

Figure 2 : product Sustainable Life Cycle Assessment (EHSE : Environment, Human and Society, Economy) (our research)

The global approach of our survey is summarized figure 3. Specificity of the project taking into account the sustainable development

Characterization and analysis of the sustainability How to characterize the sustainability : which criteria?

How to evaluate the sustainability which tools?

Proposal of a product’s evaluation based on the sustainable development criteria Use of these results to evaluate new products during the pre conception step

Sustainability index Figure 3 : A global approach to design a sustainability evaluation tool in preconception

We chose a three step approach for this question : firstly, we have to find the definition validated by the whole contributors about the product’s sustainability; then, we have to seek the tools and the methods for evaluating each domain of the sustainable development and

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finally, we produce a selection criteria which allows an evaluation of the product sustainability. These three steps can enrich other and are not viewed as sequential stages.

4 The application : the wood furniture sector in Lorraine

41 The survey’s context We have studied the entire wood furniture sector in Lorraine is studied. Historically, Lorraine was an industrial region based on coal and iron mining until 1979. Nowadays, the companies network is composed by SME. The politicians try to reengage the economical activity in strongly implemented sectors. Thus, Lorraine belongs to a Development Pole that is called “natural fibres East Quarter of France/Alsace/Lorraine” and that is based on three traditional industries : textile, paper-cardboard and wood. The aim of this Pole is to design new products from renewable fibres and result in new functions. Our survey will contribute to give some help’s elements to the managers of this sector. The wood furniture sector is also of interest because, in this sector, tools are available to make easy the ecoconception approach. This sector is composed of a dense network of SME. The companies are suffering in the face of the Asian and Eastern Europe an competition (based on interviews with people in charge of the CRITT-Bois 9 and the UNIFA 10 ). With the integration of the sustainable development the products designed by these companies could be able to make companies more competitive and as well as “sustainable”. Figure 4 shows the common wood furniture based sector in France. Forest management T

Plastic or metallic parts

Raw wood First transformation to wood industry

Wood without fibres or fragmented wood

T

The furniture as a waste

Wood furniture manufacturing : - from raw wood - from fragmented wood Waste recycling : scrap, sawdust

Recycle, reuse

Energetic valorisation

Foam rubbers, cloth, …

T

T

T Use

Sticking, finishes

T Others valorisations : -Compost -Horticulture -Food smoking -Litter -Charcoal

T

Transportation Impact Steps of furniture manufacturing (2nd transformation of wood)

Figure 4 : the wood furniture life cycle (our research)

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CRITT-Bois : Technologic Transfer Center in wood sector UNIFA : French National Furniture Design Union

10

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42 Results 421 Implicated contributors and observed impacts - Definition of the studied system The potential contributors of this “sustainable sector” have been identified in order to define the notion of “sustainable furniture”. We found representative contributors in the following economic sectors : i. ii. iii. iv. v.

companies of in sector and professional unions, technical and conception centres, representatives from worker and user health safety groups, research laboratories, public environmental agencies.

After discussions with the identified contributors, we listed the parameters to take into account (Figure 5). At this stage of the study, the concept of sustainable furniture is represented by : i. ii.

iii.

a piece of furniture which respects the environment during its life cycle, production processes , merchandising and use of the furniture which limits the waste, diseases (Marcuccilli et al., 1998; Rigo, 2004) and accidents involving participants of the “product’s life cycle” (workers, users, carriers, etc…), an economic sector growing stronger, and participating in the development of Lorraine (e.g. citizen firms).

Human impacts Ecological impacts

Ergonomic impacts

WUHS

Economical impacts

Forest management

Sawing First wood transformation Second wood transformation

Product (merchandizing, use)

Recycle Valorisation

Continuity of the activity

Workstation ergonomy

Environmental impacts

Use Workstation ergonomy

Impacts on worker health and safety (noise, dust, chemical products, …) and on user health and safety

Product cost

Creation of activity

Figure 5 : ESHE impacts taken into account in the wood industry (our research)

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422 Tools used to take into account the sustainable development in the wood furniture based sector Figure 6 presents the tools used to take into account the ESHE impacts that exist in this sector. Human impacts Ecological impacts Écologie

Forest Gestion management de la forêt

Sawing Sciage Première transformation First wood transformation 2nd wood transformation Deuxième transformation Product Produit (commercialisation, (merchandizing, use) usage)

Ergonomic Humain impacts Ergonomie

Economical impacts Économie

WUHS SSTU

PECF, FSC

Chains of Chaîne de control contrôle (PECF, FSC) ISO 14001

NF Environnement Environment Ecolabel

Workstation’s Ergonomie au poste de travail ergonomy Droit Labour du Travail law Réglementation Regulations (“Document (Document unique) Unique”)

NF BSC NF MP NF Am

Re co m mSNDD du an Recommendations M daof the E tio French D ns Environmental SMinistry N D

Recycle Recyclage Valorisation valorisation NF BSC = French Norm about Safety and Comfort in Desk design

SNDD = Sustainable Development National Strategy

NF MP = French Norm about Professional Furniture

NFAm = French Norm about Furniture

Figure 6 : Economical, political and regular standards used in the wood industry (our research)

423 Tools and methods to evaluate the sustainable development Main methods and tools are presented table 1. They are used to define the system and to evaluate its environmental , social or economical characteristics. It also details when these methods are able to build evolution scenarios (i.e. decision making aids’ tools ). Methods

Criteria

Life Cycle Assessment Eco conception

Economic Sector Assessment

Environment Environment Use Work health and safety Industrial risks Natural risks EHSE Use Economical Organisational

Prospective approach

Transversal approach

Risk assessment

Conception and ergonomics

System’s description According to LCA According to LCA Systemic tools MADS Danger sciences

Evolution scenarios Decision aid making Comparison – LCA software Comparison Eco Design Complex scenarios elaboration MOSAR

Numerical chains

Comparison

Meso economical approach

Economical intelligence

Structural Analysis Role playing games SMIC Prob-expert

Formulation of technological scenarios Technological benchmarking

WFBS yes yes To be defined To be defined yes To be defined

WFBS : Wood Furniture Based Sector MADS : Analysis Method of System Failures Table 1 : Evaluation of the sustainability of a system : tools and methods (our research)

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Conclusion and perspectives Tools such as QFD and NFA used in innovation processes take into account a part of the social expectations. In the same way, methods, guides, laws, and norms give us partial points of view of the sustainable development evaluation. Performing this study, we are not only interested in environmental aspects, discovered in tools such as Life Cycle Assessment but in evaluating a unique criteria of sustainable development. We chose wood furniture design and manufacturing as an example because it is a strong regional economic field. Nevertheless, the method that we propose is innovative depending on two added dimensions besides environment : economic and social ones. Our final goal is to build a decision making help tool for the managers to choose an innovative scenario depending on its “sustainability index”. Our approach is an Life Cycle Assessment orientated in sustainable development (Sustainable Life Cycle Assessment : SLCA). The wood furniture sector in Lorraine is a good illustration that can be extended in other countries or others economical sectors.

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