Duflou et al. (2012) define a supply chain as 'a set of three or more entities (organizations or individuals) directly involved in the upstream and the downstream flows of products, services, finances, and/or information from a source to a customer.' Globalization, a subject that we will discuss in much more detail in Module 12, has introduced a Pandora's box of diverse laws, regulations, requirements, and cultural barriers to the supply chain needed for many product systems. Even the most environmentally committed companies are challenged to ensure that all their suppliers and service providers are complying with their safety and sustainability expectations. In the past decades, we have witnessed a drastic relocation of environmental pressures to countries with looser environmental standards, and consequently, many failed approaches to manufacturing have been exported to more vulnerable places.
On the other hand, the increasing awareness of this export has resulted in a savvier customer who is interested in environmental transparency as well as in equity issues and ethical labor practices. In addition to global issues, consumers have become aware of the potential risks of products that involve highly polluting, hazardous stages in their life cycles. Two terms have emerged to describe the pressures created by this awareness:
- Extended producer responsibility and
- Environmentally preferable purchase.
These two concepts contradict the common argument brought against social and environmentally responsible manufacturing, namely loss of competitiveness, especially in terms of profitability and of time-sensitive order fulfillment.
You may notice that the guidelines for supply chain sustainability in the Fiksel (2013) chapter closely map onto some of the twelve principles of sustainable engineering introduced in Module 1.
The Design for Dematerialization guideline has some of the same strategies as:
- Principle 2 - Waste minimization over waste management: This principle includes reduction of packaging, extensions in the life of the product, and use of recycled inputs.
- Principle 4 - All components must be designed for maximum mass, energy, and temporal efficiency. This principle includes source reduction and process simplification.
The Design for Detoxification guideline has some of the same strategies as:
- Principle 1 - Strive to ensure that material/energy inputs and outputs are not hazardous: This principle includes replacing hazardous materials for more environmentally and healthy options, use of cleaner technologies, and use of biodegradable products whenever possible.
The Design for Revalorization guideline has some of the same strategies as:
- Principle 2 - Waste minimization over waste management: This principle includes design for secondary uses and refurbishing.
- Principle 3 - Design for easy separation and purification: This principle includes design for asset recovery.
- Principle 7 - A product must not outlast its uses: The spirit of this principle is that the optimal life of a product must coincide with its material life, hence minimizing the amount of waste to be deposited in landfills. If the material life of a product outlasts its primary uses, new uses ought to be available, via repurposing, refurbishing, or remanufacturing. The Design for Detoxification guideline contemplates that these new uses ought to be economically sustainable, too.
- Principle 9 - Minimize material diversity: The objective of this principle is to facilitate asset recovery.
The Design for Capital Protection and Renewal guideline has some of the same strategies as:
- Principle 1 - Strive to ensure that material/energy inputs and outputs are not hazardous: This principle aims to protect human and environmental health and safety.
- Principle 12 - Prioritize the use of renewable and readily available resources: This principle seeks to protect the natural capital.
As you may expect, the guidelines for supply chain design also include life-cycle analysis (LCA) introduced in Module 4 and the same guiding philosophy as the guidelines for sustainable product design introduced by Hauschild et al. (2005) and discussed as part of section 6.2 of Module 6. Greening of the supply chain has a broader scope than green engineering and design. A green supply chain takes into account the effect of environmentally sound practices on societies, as well as on job-creation and on businesses' bottom lines. Therefore, the networks analyzed through LCA become much more complicated and intertwined. Here is where your techniques for Mess Analysis and flowcharting become most helpful!