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Companies can tout that they have the greenest products or services known to humanity, but if they don’t meet consumers’ needs and inspire them to plunk down hard-earned cash, they won’t have a sustainable business.
To spin a familiar adage, it’s like the greenest tree that falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it fall. The company will be green for a week or two before they go out of business. That’s not a sustainable proposition since the whole concept of sustainability is based on a company surviving and making a profit while being mindful of the health of its employees and the community and the environment.
A furniture maker can design the most functional chair possible, but if part of the process needed to make the chair pollutes the environment or exposes customers to harmful chemicals, then what really is accomplished?
Design has an inherent role in creating sustainable products for sustainable companies. The choices a designer makes on the front end of the development process can determine how a product or service impacts both the environment and the people making it and using it. But more importantly, a good design finds solutions for the needs of customers in a way that mitigates other risks.
Local sustainability expert Bill Stough, CEO of Sustainable Research Group and an advisor to TBL, says that up to 70 percent of a product’s environmental cost is embedded in its design. He counsels companies that if they reduce that cost, they not only reduce their environmental impact, but they also reduce their costs due to waste and can become more profitable. Steelcase’s Dave Rinard put it this way: “As manufacturers, we are not in the waste products business.” Good design is key to ensuring that.
Increasingly, there’s recognition among leaders of the role design plays in West Michigan’s economy. But moreover, there’s a realization of the role that all designers play in making businesses sustainable. Therefore, I’m encouraged that the design committee of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum is reaching out and exploring potential future collaborations with Design West Michigan. It can bring nothing but positive energy to the table.
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Speaking of Stough, his company was just selected along with Aquinas College’s Center for Sustainability to develop the state of Michigan’s online clearinghouse of green chemistry resources. Green chemistry ensures that the design of chemical products and processes isn’t harmful to humans and the environment. The project, once completed, will be an invaluable tool for product designers because they can have an easy way to check that the materials they’re using are safe.
Also on the materials front, on Sept. 20 Kendall College of Art and Design will debut a new materials library curated by the global Material ConneXion consultancy. The samples support Kendall’s art and design programs, but will be open to use by local businesses.
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Word has it that the subject of a previous TBL cover will give a keynote address at an upcoming sustainability themed luncheon in Kalamazoo at noon Oct. 1. John Viera, director of sustainability and environmental policy at Ford Motor Co., will address a Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce gathering and provide insight into how he helped the company green its operation and product offering and at the same time save $1.2 billion in a span of two years. Interestingly, Viera started his career as the lead engineer of the Ford Expedition SUV — that’s hardly a gas-sipping Fiesta. Needless to say, he’s got a unique perspective on what it takes to be more sustainable as a company. His talks come highly recommended.
— Joe Boomgaard, Managing Editor
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