PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP: TRENDS AND ISSUES

Product Stewardship has always found a natural champion in the chemical industry. But with far reaching commercial benefits to be won, other industries are taking up the cause.

Product Stewardship is a term used to describe a product-centred approach to environmental protection. It is a watchword that binds the supply chain together and reassures customers that goods are manufactured or supplied in a safe, responsible and environmentally sound way.

At first glance this may appear to be just business as usual under another title. All organisations aim to minimise the potential risks associated with their business activities. However, Product Stewardship fundamentally differs from a standard manufacturing approach — which is often characterised by departmental silos, managing regulation piecemeal, and using poor communication techniques.

Under the traditional approach, it is not uncommon to have four, five or more departments managing different legal Policy Areas impacting just one product. By contrast, Product Stewardship applies a strategic approach to the lifecycle to meet or surpass consumer expectations. The result is a 360-degree view of regulation and production.

A comprehensive change management programme is often required for a company to fully implement Product Stewardship into a position that covers both the ‘mindset’ and the operational reality. This change initiative should align a company’s organisational structure and business processes around specific products and product categories. Change has to permeate a company’s culture, values and performance management metrics — something that does not always happen quickly.

Product Stewardship and the Chemical Industry
A natural affinity has developed between the chemical industry and Product Stewardship. This relationship has always been underpinned by legislation and regulation. The most recent example of this is the wide-ranging REACH (Registration, Evaluation & Authorisation of Chemicals) directive. The chemical industry has been preparing for REACH for some time. However, many other sectors are just waking up to the fact that the impact of this legislation goes far beyond the boundaries of the chemical industry. Changing perceptions Because of the inherently hazardous properties of many chemicals, it has been generally accepted that there is a strong need for manufacturers to monitor levels of hazard and risk very closely. Within the chemical industry, a substance or material’s hazard level measures how dangerous it is, whereas the risk element examines the likelihood of the public being exposed to that danger.

However, regulators around the world are redefining perceptions of hazard and risk to embrace a much wider range of industrial and consumer products. Just a few years ago electronic consumer goods were thought to be relatively ‘harmless’. Now, the public is much more aware of the environmental footprint.

This trend toward a convergence of issues affecting both the chemical sector and mainstream industry is a key factor driving the adoption of Product Stewardship in major companies, and it is from this redefined position (or new perception) of hazard and risk that a company has to consider its stance on ‘duty of care’ or ‘individual producer responsibility’. These concepts lie at the heart of a Product Stewardship approach to business.

Heralding the Era of Product Stewardship
Product Stewardship unites all the functions along the organisational value chain. With the relevant departments on board (not just Health & Safety or Environmental), a company-wide approach to the product lifecycle creates a more cohesive and efficient way of operating.

While Product Stewardship’s 360-degree thinking is as relevant to other industries as it is within the chemical sector, adoption rates differ. For example, the electronics industry is a natural candidate for Product Stewardship best practice given the products it supplies often have hundreds or thousands of components. Managing this complexity requires a strategic approach at every stage of the supply chain. But it is just one example of an industry beginning to challenge the status quo and look for new solutions to familiar problems.

Companies are bound by an increasing body of regulation, recent examples being the WEEE (Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment), EuP (Energy using Products) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directives. There is also a growing awareness of the changes that REACH will bring.

Business and customer pressures are driving companies to make products that can serve the global marketplace and this trend is being reinforced by the regulatory environment. All of this creates further evidence for the need to put the product at the strategic heart of the organisational process — exactly what Product Stewardship aims to do.

Damien McGovern is CEO of Compliance & Risks. He is in no doubt about the need for an enterprise-wide approach: “Increasingly the compliance challenge is becoming more and more complex. Global companies can’t afford to maintain a fragmented compliance strategy,” he explains. “Allowing different production and regulatory teams to operate in departmental silos carries the great risk of requirements falling through the net.”

The realisation that a more strategic approach was essential throughout the product lifecycle and the entire compliance process, formed the thinking behind C&R’s Compliance Knowledge Management System, C2P (Compliance-To-Product). A unique management tool, C2P actively draws in people from right across a company, harmonises business processes and ensures a more collaborative approach.

“Organisations that have adopted C2P to manage compliance — such as industrial and electronics companies — have done so to unite the production, regulatory and compliance teams with business activities across the company,” McGovern continues. “Managing external legal requirements is the tip of an iceberg. The trick is to lap the regulators, to get well ahead and manage internal requirements strategically, but with real time links to evolving external requirements. Quality is conformity to these requirements, and strategic Product Stewardship can best be achieved with a specialised CKM tool — C2P.”

The Benefits for Business
In addition to the immediate impact — utilising resources more efficiently and effectively — Product Stewardship promotes other commercial benefits:

• Identifying specification conflicts much earlier in the New Product Development (NPD) process.
• Helping manufacturers avoid hefty fines and penalties.
• Improving the speed of organisational learning and knowledge transfer.
• Pro-actively addressing reputational risk and stakeholder management.

Product Stewardship is a significant part and driver of an overall strategy to address these topics. With so much to gain enlightened organisations should seize the initiative now.

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