SUCCESS CRITERIA FOR IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY INFORMATION IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The novel contribution of this article is the result from a group creativity session with product designers in the automotive industry supply chain with the purpose of developing success criteria for the implementation of sustainability information use guidelines. The guidelines highlight relevant information from each stakeholder, and may be used to support and strengthen sustainable product development in firms in addition to using traditional product and process data. A number of 79 unique ideas were identified by the participants, 60 of these being both feasible and relevant for implementation purposes. These 60 ideas were then grouped into nine separate categories. The ideas generated from the participants range from traditional implementation issues such as management commitment, customer or regulatory demands and sufficient competence within sustainability issues, to more novel ideas including the development of a task force for sustainable development within the industrial cluster that the case firms are part of. Moreover, increased collaboration with academia was highlighted as important for the successful implementation of sustainability information use guidelines.

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