Supply Chain Sustainability—Drivers, Inhibitors, Solutions - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 71

Examples of further environmental innovation include the “design for
disassembly initiative” of BMW, 3 M company's Pollution Prevention Pays principle,
Chevron's Save Money and Reduce Toxics (SMART) program (Ramanathan et al.
2010 ).
Another example is sustainable innovation process for the “Mirra” chair. The
American-based furniture company Herman Miller developed a tailored “design
for the environment” (DfE), a product assessment tool that measures the extent to
which a product meets environmental standards and expectations, paying special
attention to: material toxicity, ease of disassembly, recyclability (Rossi et al.
2006 ). DfE was applied to the innovation process for a new ergonomic chair called
the “Mirra”. The 180 components of the Mirra were analyzed and rated according
to how damaging they were to humans and the environment (Rossi et al. 2006 ).
It was a huge challenge to find fully non-toxic materials and to gain the support of
numerous suppliers. During the innovation process, Herman Miller also organized
some 200 face-to-face meetings with suppliers to explain what it was trying to
achieve with the DfE process and the Mirra (Rossi et al. 2006 ). Finally, changes
were made to chemicals and components. But designers were unable to achieve
100 % in all three categories (Rossi et al. 2006 ).
Another example is the jump from coal to renewable energy in China and India.
In China the lack of financing for developing a local wind-turbine manufactur-
ing industry has been overcome with favorable government policies (Watson and
Sauter 2011 ).
Toyota has a wide range of product and process-based initiatives. Starting with
“green building” practices in August 2006, Toyota built the first Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified automotive dealer facility in
the USA. This facility uses 20 % less energy and 35 % less water than conven-
tional object. These energy conservation measures have led to reduced costs and
other benefits for the dealer (Nunes and Bennett 2010 ).
Toyota has extended its partnership with Panasonic to develop lithium batteries
to replace nickel cadmium ones in its hybrid vehicles. Lithium batteries, which
are currently used in laptop computers and mobile telephones, are much lighter,
have a longer life and greater storage capacity. In order to use eco-friendly parts in
production, Toyota is evaluating new materials from renewable resources such as
eco-plastics, natural fibre and recycled plastics (Nunes and Bennett 2010 ).
More environmental supply chains are created by Toyota's environmental
requirements for suppliers of parts or materials (Greener Supplier Guidelines and
Green Purchasing Guidelines) and also by better logistics systems to reduce emis-
sions in urban areas, avoid traffic jams, etc. Toyota has also moved shipments from
truck to rail and reduced the number of miles trucks run empty between shipments
(Nunes and Bennett 2010 ).
Other green supply chain initiatives related to supplier collaboration and
logistics include improved packing and reusable metal shipping containers rather
than disposable cardboard and wood pallets (Nunes and Bennett 2010 ).
To reduce the environmental impact from its production sites and processes,
Toyota has adopted initiatives such purchasing of green (wind-generated) power