NETWRK
for Electronic
Product Design

Food for Thought

The first conference to generate a series of workshops was held at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London on November 1st 1995. Its topic was:-

'Environmental Issues in Designing Electronic and Electrical Equipment'.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas in relation to the questions raised by the four workshops it gave rise to, and which are summarised here. Discussion will be presented as it develops, and will form a continuing conference on electronic products.

Please note: It will be helpful if you would prefix any comments you may wish to send to the conference with the "question number" to which they refer, as set out below (eg; "2.1", etc) as part of the "subject" header for your message. Each workshop title links to the workshop paper on the subject:-


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Workshop 1: A prototype Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) tool for electronics companies


1.1 What is the relationship between corporate strategy, product development,
Sustainable Product Development (SPD) and the materials selection process?

1.2 How could environmental information be simplified for designers?

1.3 How could information technology be improved or adapted to support the
SPD process more effectively?

1.4 How could life-cycle analysis (LCA) be simplified or adapted to make it a
more practical tool for the designer?

1.5 What are the key barriers to selecting greener materials in the SPD process?


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Workshop 2: Environmental issues in the electronics industry


2.1 What sort of information will designers need to develop more eco-efficient products?

2.2 How can environmental considerations be maximised in the marketing of
electronic and electrical equipment?

2.3 What are the key obstacles to developing a co-ordinated approach to
eco-efficiency within the 'value-chain'?

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Workshop 3: Research into eco-issues and product design



3.1 How important is government policy to energy efficiency in relation to more
environmentally sustainable electronic and electrical products?

3.2 What is the role of service in the development of more environmentally
sustainable electronic and electrical products?

3.3 How can we achieve the 'quantum leaps' in technology required to enable the
development of more sustainable products?


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Workshop 4: Managing eco-design / DfE


4.1 How can sustainable development be simplified to enable designers to
have a more realistic vision of the concept?

4.2 What sort of information should designers be provide with to enable them to
design more sustainable products?

4.3 How can a managed approach to creativity and innovation be incorporated into
the SPD process?

4.4 What are the key barriers to incorporating new thinking into the SPD process?


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