Products that Last. Conny Bakker
©2019 - bis publishers
Products that Last
Acknowledgements This book is the result of the research project Products that Last. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Innovation-Oriented Research Programme ‘Integrated Product Creation and Realisation (IOP- IPCR)’ of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, facilitated by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
The authors would like to thank our business partners in the Products That Last project consortium for their active cooperation and contribution to our research: Ahrend Produktiebedrijf Sint-Oedenrode, Beroepsorganisatie Nederlandse Ontwerpers (BNO), Enviu, Interface Nederland, Océ Technologies - A Canon Company, Koninklijke Auping,
PARK Noordeloos, Philips Electronics Nederland and Vodafone Libertel as well as those companies outside the consortium that helped shape our thinking by allowing us to interview their key people or working with us in student graduation projects. A special thank you goes to the Chair of our project committee Jos Oberdorf (npk design) as well as the RVO programme managers Michiel de Boer and Christien Dohmen and RVO programme consultant Joop Postema.
We would also like to express our thanks to all our TU Delft IDE students, who during their graduation projects or our lectures both challenged and supported us.
products that last – 3
Products that Last
product design
for circular business models
Conny Bakker - Marcel den Hollander - Ed van Hinte - Yvo Zijlstra
4
USER
LONG USE
open loop recycling & waste
Fossil and mineral resources
Materials
processor
refurbishing
remanufacturing
closed loop recycling
product
manufaCturer
sales/service
provider
When viewed from a sufficiently large distance, it becomes evident that both product life extension and recycling are different articulations of long use, the first intervening at product level, the latter at material level.
products that last – 5
FOREWORD
A throwaway culture has characterised and underpinned Industrial economies for more than half a century. Only recently, however, have governments and researchers begun to pay attention to the short lifespan of many consumer goods, prompted by concern at their wastefulness and a growing awareness that their embedded carbon has implications for climate change, demanding a slower throughput of materials in the economy.
Too many goods do not last as long as they could – or should. Some fail, others become unwanted. Certain types of product have declined in quality as companies have cut costs to remain competitive. All too often consumers’ purchasing decisions have prioritised style over substance. Poor design and high labour costs have caused repair and upgrading to be fringe activities.
Most businesses operating in our growth-dependent economic system, in which success is judged by ever-increasing sales volumes, have remained silent in this debate. They fear that if products were to last longer, sales (and thus profit) would inevitably decline. Such logic needs to be questioned: environmental sustainability does not require a decrease in the value of consumption, only in its volume, or weight.
It has become clear that many companies will need to change how they operate if they are to survive while the throughput of products in the economy is reduced. The ‘pile them high and sell them cheap’ business model is no longer credible. Profit must in future be generated through improvements in the intrinsic quality of goods and enhanced after-sales services.
This will be no easy task; it demands change in people’s mind-sets and a willingness to take risks. Products That Last makes a valuable contribution to understanding a vitally important debate and identifying the business opportunities ahead.
Tim Cooper
Professor of Sustainable Design and Consumption, Nottingham Trent University
October 2014
products that last – 7
contents
Foreword by Tim Cooper ..............................................................5
Preface ..............................................................................9
Products that Last Flow diagram . . .................................................10
Long term framing ...................................................................14
Value the opportunity ................................................................18
Loads of reasons ...................................................................26
Mobility Value .......................................................................32
Round and round it goes ............................................................36
Circular energy . ....................................................................44
2. what is the product category life Cycle stage for your product?
Ups and downs ......................................................................50
Data that last ......................................................................54
3. what is your business model archetype?