Multiple Environmental Benchmarking Data Analysis and its implications for design: a case study on packaging

For almost a decade Philips Consumer Electronics has been performing environmental benchmarking as a way of evaluating and improving the environmental performance of its products. This benchmarking is performed on product-only level and aims at five focal areas; energy, weight, packaging & transportation, potentially hazardous substances, and recyclability. It is believed that by combining the results from individual benchmark studies more general business performance conclusions may be drawn. In the past some preliminary studies have been done in this field. This paper reports on a more extensive study concerning the focal area of packaging & transportation. This analysis has yielded insights that could not have been obtained from product-level reports. It has been found that there are two distinct groups of products in the Philips CE portfolio, both asking for their own specific design and management approach. A second study is performed to determine what distinguishes these two groups. Finally, a case study on Philishave packaging was performed to verify the findings.