The biggest opportunity to influence costs (financial and environmental) comes in the development of new products as the decisions made in development lock in on-going costs for the entire product life cycle. These costs are often not consciously decided, they are decided for us when making design decisions without understanding or considering the environmental impacts. Lean product and process development can enable the understanding of the environmental impact of design choices across the entire life cycle with the greatest opportunities to lower carbon emissions in the making (1/3 of man-made carbon emissions) and use (2/3 of man-made carbon emissions) of products.

This starts in the study/concept phase of development where a combination of lean practices and modified sustainability practices can be utilized to consider the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycles including predictive life cycle analysis, chief engineer immersion, and concept papers. In the execution phase of development focus shifts to creating actionable plans to meet the targets set in the concept paper, including milestones and glide paths to meet the targets. Other lean practices that enable effective teamwork to meet the targets include synchronizing work across functions and obeya. Further building sustainability knowledge into design standards supports the teams to develop products with lower carbon emissions.

Designing Environmentally Sustainable Value Streams Presentations

Designing Environmentally Sustainable Value Streams Publications

Designing Environmentally Sustainable Value Streams Articles:

• Pathways to reduce emissions
  Our planet matters. Elon Musk’s plans aside, it’s the only one we have. Right now, our failure to take climate change sufficiently seriously is compromising the ability of the world’s population to live well and to prosper in the years to come. As lean practitioners we have the ability to impact our planet for good. With that ability comes the responsibility to follow those pathways that lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
• Coach’s Corner: Designing the Entire Value Stream From Concept to Product End Life
  When people think about the environmental impact of the products they use, most think about the implications of their use and their disposal at the end of life. As design improvements continue to reduce emissions during the use phase, the importance of reducing the emissions during production becomes more evident. One-third of emissions come from making products. Designing your value stream to have a lower environmental impact in production could reduce your costs, lower your carbon footprint, and influence future purchasing decisions as consumers become more environmentally conscious.  
• Cutting Carbon Emissions and Product Costs Through Lean Product and Process Development
  When managing or improving a business we often focus on the areas that have the biggest contribution to the bottom line. The biggest opportunity to impact these costs comes during the design phase since decisions made during design lock in the on-going costs. These costs aren’t just financial, but environmental as well. Many of these costs are not consciously decided, but rather are decided for us when making design decisions without understanding the environmental impact. While kaizen events or lean management projects will reduce production costs after launch, cutting environmental costs post-launch is harder. And many post-launch improvement efforts are rightly viewed as re-work that we can eliminate by designing efficiencies into the original design.