Supply Chain Sustainability—Drivers, Inhibitors, Solutions - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 58

usually it needs more specific raw materials or packaging materials. If firms' sup-
pliers also adopt a green perspective then it is possible to lead to strong interde-
pendent relationships within a supply chain, what would be environmentally and
economically enhancing. Accordingly to this idea, well developed systems encom-
pass materials sourcing, manufacturing, final disposal and after sales cooperation.
Green supply chain incorporates environmental criteria, concerns purchasing deci-
sions and long-term relationships with suppliers. Such an attitude may bring trans-
fer of environmental technology and consequently waste and cost reduction in the
whole structure of supply chain. For the forward and backward flows in the supply
chains, different skills are necessary. Reverse logistics is commonly considered as
a part of green supply chain management. It contains planning, implementation
and control backward flows of materials mainly after use of finished goods. The
interaction between production, use and disposal of products brings also greater
complexity and difficulties in taking environmental decisions.
Consequently sustainability concerns also strategic decisions like product
and process design. Eco-design or design for environment consider the product's
lifecycle in order to offer more environmentally friendly products and use envi-
ronmentally sound processes, enhancing reusability, recyclability and remanu-
facturing possibilities, and reduction of the use of hazardous substances (Nunes
and Bennett 2010 ). Eco-design is concerned with strategic issues. It is argued that
environmental considerations must be identified at the very early stage of product
development (Ölundh and Tingström 2008 ). Eco-design must have a clear direc-
tion and environmental targets.
Sustainable new product and process development. Typical new product
development process relies on creation, market research, product design, detail
engineering and environmental influence evaluation. This process may be
recognized as suitable when sustainability scope and targets are clear. In such a
state each project begins with defining a clear scope and a set of sustainability
targets. They provide the boundaries of the project and direction for designers
and engineers (Alblas et al. 2014 ). Targets provide also guidance and direction to
design sustainable products or services. Sustainability issues are then respected in
the whole process and the environmental impacts of products are known in detail
(Alblas et al. 2014 ).
There are many methods and tools for sustainable product design. The well-
known method for a sustainable product design is life-cycle assessment (LCA).
It is a technique to assess the environmental impacts associated with all stages
of a product's life from raw material extraction through material processing,
manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, to eventual disposal or
recycling (Matos and Hall 2007 ). The effectiveness of this method is debated in
the literature. For instance, it is criticized for limited effectiveness in early product
design (Sousa and Wallace 2006 ). This is the result of the use of imprecise,
sometimes predictive or wishful input data based on expectations (sometimes
on the wishes) about future technologies and their efficiency. This is generally
connected with a huge rate of technological and organizational changes observed
in industry, transport and logistics.