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Design for the Next Generation: Incorporating Cradle‐to‐Cradle Design into Herman Miller Products

Author

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  • Mark Rossi
  • Scott Charon
  • Gabe Wing
  • James Ewell

Abstract

In the late 1990s, office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, Inc., entered into a collaboration with architect William McDonough to create a system for designing cradle‐to‐cradle products. This collaboration led to the creation of a tool—the Design for Environment (DfE) product assessment tool—that evaluates progress towards cradle‐to‐cradle products. The first product Herman Miller designed using the DfE product assessment tool was the Mirra chair. Over the course of the chair's development, the DfE process generated a number of design changes, including selecting a completely different material for the chair's spine, increasing recycled content in chair components, eliminating all PVC (polyvinyl chloride) components, and designing the chair for rapid disassembly using common tools. The areas of greatest success in designing the Mirra chair for the environment were the increased use of recyclable parts and increased ease of disassembly, whereas the areas of greatest challenge were increasing recycled content and using materials with a green chemistry composition. The success in recyclability reflects the use of metals, materials that have a well‐established recycling infrastructure. The success in disassembly reflects the high degree of control that Herman Miller has over product assembly. The challenge to increasing recycled content is the use of plastics in chairs. Unlike the metals, which all contain some recycled content, most plastics are made from virgin polymers. The challenge to improving materials chemistry is the limited range of green chemicals and materials on the market. The Mirra chair exemplifies the value of incorporating the environment into design and the need for tools to benchmark progress, as well as the challenges of creating a truly cradle‐to‐cradle product. Herman Miller recognizes that working toward cradle‐to‐cradle products is a journey that will involve continuous improvement of its products.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Rossi & Scott Charon & Gabe Wing & James Ewell, 2006. "Design for the Next Generation: Incorporating Cradle‐to‐Cradle Design into Herman Miller Products," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 10(4), pages 193-210, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:10:y:2006:i:4:p:193-210
    DOI: 10.1162/jiec.2006.10.4.193
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    Cited by:

    1. Erik G. Hansen & Julia C. Schmitt, 2021. "Orchestrating cradle‐to‐cradle innovation across the value chain: Overcoming barriers through innovation communities, collaboration mechanisms, and intermediation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(3), pages 627-647, June.
    2. Geng, Viktoria & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2014. "The cradle-to-cradle (C2C) paradigm in the context of innovation management and driving forces for implementation," Working Papers 79, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.
    3. Helen Borland & Yohan Bhatti & Adam Lindgreen, 2019. "Sustainability and sustainable development strategies in the U.K. plastic electronics industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 805-818, July.
    4. Fu, Xiaoyong & Zhu, Qinghua & Sarkis, Joseph, 2012. "Evaluating green supplier development programs at a telecommunications systems provider," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 357-367.
    5. Kalogerakis, Katharina & Drabe, Viktoria & Paramasivam, Mugundan & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2015. "Closed-Loop Supply Chains for Cradle to Cradle Products," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain Management: New Designs and Strategies. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics , volume 21, pages 3-34, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    6. Taryn Mead & Sally Jeanrenaud & John Bessant, 2020. "Factors influencing the application of nature as inspiration for sustainability‐oriented innovation in multinational corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3162-3173, December.

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