Sustainability aspects in a Stage-Gate® model for
product development
The
aim of this example is to demonstrate a working procedure on how to integrate
sustainability aspects in product development projects based on ABB’s
experiences.
It is often much more cost-efficient to take sustainability actions (here we
mainly mean environmental actions) already in a product development process than
it is to correct potential environmental problems after the product have been
launched. Sustainability requirement and aspects should therefore be integrated
in the normal operational procedures and toolboxes in the product development
process. One common used approach in product development projects are
Stage-Gate® alike
models.
This strategy shows how sustainability requirements and aspects have been
integrated in ABBs product development process through the ABB Gate model in the
same way as technical, economic and other requirements. The Stage-Gate® model is an
approach aimed at ensuring that product development projects are driven by
business objectives and executed with full management commitment in a
professional way. Several variants of Gate
models are in use today and the ABB Gate model is one these variants.
A Gate meeting is a decision point where the project owner evaluates the project
from a business point of view and determines whether to continue the project or
not..
R&D managers, project leaders and R&D personnel are the main target
groups for this strategy. Conceivable results from using this strategy are lower
production cost based on more efficient use of material and energy and from the
customer point of view safe and energy efficient solutions.
Working
procedure 
Stage-Gate is a trademark of Innovation Management U3 |
