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Product Developers (product + developers)
Selected AbstractsImplementing life cycle assessment in product developmentENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 4 2003Gurbakhash Singh Bhander The overall aim of this paper is to provide an understanding of the environmental issues involved in the early stages of product development, and the capacity of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques to address these issues. The paper aims to outline the problems for the designer in evaluating the environmental benignity of a product from the outset, and to provide a framework for decision support based on the performance evaluation at different stages of the design process. The barriers that prevent product developers from using LCA are presented, as well as opportunities for introducing environmental criteria in the design process by meeting the designer's information requirements at the different life cycle stages. This can lead to an in-depth understanding of the attitudes of product developers towards the subject area, and an understanding of possible future directions for product development. This paper introduces an Environmentally Conscious Design method, and presents trade-offs between design degrees of freedom and environmental solutions. Life cycle design frameworks and strategies are also addressed. The paper collects experiences and ideas around the state-of-the-art in eco-design, from literature and personal experience, and provides eco-design life cycle assessment strategies. The end result of this presentation is to define the requirements for performance measurement techniques, and the environment needed to support life cycle evaluation throughout the evaluation of early stages of a product system. [source] Introducing Templates for Sustainable Product DevelopmentJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2008A Case Study of Televisions at the Matsushita Electric Group Summary We have previously developed a method for sustainable product development (MSPD) based on backcasting from basic sustainability principles. The MSPD informs investigations of product-related social and ecological sustainability aspects throughout a concurrent engineering product development process. We here introduce "templates" for sustainable product development (TSPDs) as a complement. The idea is to help product development teams to arrive faster and more easily at an overview of the major sustainability challenges and opportunities of a product category in the early development phases. The idea is also to inform creative communication between top management, stakeholders, and product developers. We present this approach through an evaluation case study, in which the TSPDs were used for a sustainability assessment of televisions (TVs) at the Matsushita Electric Group. We study whether the TSPD approach has the ability to (1) help shift focus from gradual improvements of a selection of aspects in relation to past environmental performance of a product category to a focus on the remaining gap to a sustainable situation, (2) facilitate consensus among organizational levels about major sustainability challenges and potential solutions for a product category, and (3) facilitate continued dialogue with external sustainability experts, identifying improvements that are relevant for strategic sustainable development. Our findings indicate that the TSPD approach captures overall sustainability aspects of the life cycle of product categories and that it has the above abilities. [source] MULTIPLE TIME-INTENSITY ANALYSIS AND ACCEPTANCE OF RASPBERRY-FLAVORED GELATINJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 5 2009ALESSANDRA B. PALAZZO ABSTRACT Face to face with the scenario of current human nutrition, there is an ever-growing preoccupation with the provision of healthy and rapidly prepared diets, gelatin being an important product, taking into consideration its properties, such as muscular regeneration and bone strengthening. The objective of this work is to evaluate different brands of raspberry-flavored gelatin, both traditional and diet, by multiple time-intensity analysis for sweet, acid and raspberry flavor, as well as an acceptance test with 120 consumers. The statistical analysis included variance analysis, Tukey tests and Internal Preference Map. The results showed that there was no significant difference between all the samples to the time in which the maximum intensity of sweetness and acidity occurs. The results indicated a greater acceptance of the traditional samples, which were preferred by the majority (85% regarding intention to purchase). The aspartame/acessulfame-potassium edulcorants were those that recorded behavior most distant from sucrose, compared with sodium saccharine and sodium cyclamate edulcorants. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The time-intensity analysis is important to provide how the flavor behavior is for the consumers during the food ingestion and is used in order to obtain the temporal profile of an attribute in a certain product. This analysis is different from the conventional descriptive analysis because it allows the verification of changes in the perception of a product's attribute over time. The sensory results showed in this study should be useful to researchers and product developers who are working with different edulcorants in food, especially in gelatin products. Observing both multiple time-intensity curves and affective data at the same time, it is possible to determine which intensity and duration of sensory characteristics have influenced the consumer's preference. [source] DEVELOPMENT OF SAMPLE PREPARATION, PRESENTATION PROCEDURE AND SENSORY DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF GREEN TEAJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 4 2008SOH MIN LEE ABSTRACT Although the infusing condition of green tea is critical in determining green tea quality, the green tea industries lack a validated standardized tea preparation procedure. The objectives were (1) to develop an effective sample preparation and presentation procedure to conduct an objective sensory analysis; and (2) to elucidate the effects of green tea types and infusing conditions on the sensory characteristics of green tea. The optimum infusing times for green tea at two temperatures (60 and 80C) were determined using the just-about-right scale evaluated by consumers. Then, a descriptive analysis was conducted. The panelists developed 16 descriptors, and determined the reference samples and the tasting procedure. The optimum infusing time,temperature combinations are approximately 3 min at 60C or 1 min at 80C. The intensity of fermented-like flavor increased, but cut grass and floral flavor decreased with the lower-graded tea leaf. Samples infused at 60C,3 min were sweeter but less bitter than samples at 80C,1 min. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The sample preparation method and evaluating conditions developed in this study have been validated using both analytical and consumer studies. The protocols showed to be powerful in discriminating the sensory characteristics between the samples when conducting objective sensory analyses. The sensory lexicons and standards established should be useful to researchers and product developers who are working with flavors of green tea. Additionally, the sample preparation method and evaluation procedure introduced in this study are relatively straightforward, thus, making it possible for the general sensory scientist group to use an effective standardized method when conducting objective sensory analyses of green tea. [source] Development of EuroFIR-BASIS , a composition and biological effects database for plant-based bioactive compoundsNUTRITION BULLETIN, Issue 1 2008L. Black Summary Bioactive compounds, such as those derived from plant foods, are of growing interest to the scientific community and food industry because of their putative health-promoting properties. Increasing evidence reports beneficial effects of bioactive compounds, particularly against cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. EuroFIR-BASIS (BioActive Substances in Food Information System) is a unique online database that collates international research on the composition and biological effects of plant-based bioactive compounds into a single, comprehensive reference resource. EuroFIR-BASIS covers multiple compound classes and 330 major European food plants with data sourced from quality-assessed, peer-reviewed literature. The database is internet-deployed to ensure widespread accessibility and facilitates searches against a number of different variables. EuroFIR-BASIS is intended for use by a wide audience, including scientists, researchers, epidemiologists, food regulatory authorities and product developers in the food industry. The database has been designed to accommodate continual expansion as research develops to ensure that it remains a current and useable resource. [source] Improvement reviews in new product developmentR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2003Bryan Lilly This research examines how organizations can use improvement reviews to enhance learning from product development experiences. We review learning related literature and highlight learning barriers that firms should attempt to minimize when conducting reviews. We then discuss two studies aimed at better understanding the effectiveness of improvement reviews. The first study suggests that improvement reviews can facilitate learning by leading to a reduction in the recurrence of people-related problems, though reviews had no impact on reducing market or product related problems. The second study involved depth interviews with new product developers. Interview comments provide insights into improvement review best practices and shed light on why improvement reviews are sometimes ineffective. A set of managerial recommendations is provided. [source] Evaluating Oversight Systems for Emerging Technologies: A Case Study of Genetically Engineered OrganismsTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 4 2009Jennifer Kuzma The U.S. oversight system for genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) was evaluated to develop hypotheses and derive lessons for oversight of other emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology. Evaluation was based upon quantitative expert elicitation, semi-standardized interviews, and historical literature analysis. Through an interdisciplinary policy analysis approach, blending legal, ethical, risk analysis, and policy sciences viewpoints, criteria were used to identify strengths and weaknesses of GEOs oversight and explore correlations among its attributes and outcomes. From the three sources of data, hypotheses and broader conclusions for oversight were developed. Our analysis suggests several lessons for oversight of emerging technologies: the importance of reducing complexity and uncertainty in oversight for minimizing financial burdens on small product developers; consolidating multi-agency jurisdictions to avoid gaps and redundancies in safety reviews; consumer benefits for advancing acceptance of GEO products; rigorous and independent pre- and post-market assessment for environmental safety; early public input and transparency for ensuring public confidence; and the positive role of public input in system development, informed consent, capacity, compliance, incentives, and data requirements and stringency in promoting health and environmental safety outcomes, as well as the equitable distribution of health impacts. Our integrated approach is instructive for more comprehensive analyses of oversight systems, developing hypotheses for how features of oversight systems affect outcomes, and formulating policy options for oversight of future technological products, especially nanotechnology products. [source] Harnessing the Creative Potential among Users,THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004Per Kristensson User involvement in the development of new products may offer a novel approach to improved methods of meeting customer needs. These users are considered to offer possibilities for generating original, valuable, and realizable ideas leading to successful innovation. However, the merit of users' ideas compared to ideas generated by the company itself has not been investigated empirically. In the present study, advanced users, ordinary users, and professional product developers were given the task of creating ideas for future mobile phone services. The main purpose was to examine the benefit of involving users in suggesting new product ideas in an innovation project. An experimental three-group design was used in order to assess the output in terms of its original, valuable, and realizable merit. The results indicated that ordinary users create significantly more original and valuable ideas than professional developers and advanced users. Professional developers and advanced users created more easily realizable ideas, and ordinary users created the most valuable ideas. The results were discussed from the viewpoint of divergent thinking. It was suggested that divergent thinking was facilitated through the opportunity to combine different information elements that appeared separate at the outset, such as personal needs coupled with the functionality of mobile phone services. [source] Environmental strategies and green product development: an overview on sustainability-driven companiesBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2009Vito Albino Abstract To respond effectively and efficiently to the environmental sustainability challenge, an important role can be played by companies, through appropriate strategies and operations, such as green processes and product development. In this paper, we investigate whether the development of green products is supported by the environmental strategic approaches adopted by sustainability-driven companies, and whether there are economic sector or geographical area specificities. To this purpose, first we develop a taxonomy of environmental strategies and we define measurable proxies for both the environmental strategic approaches identified and the green product development. Then, we study a sample represented by the companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSWI). The methodology used is based on the content analysis of companies' websites and relevant documents, such as environmental and sustainability reports. The main result is that the levels of adoption of different environmental strategic approaches are higher for green product developers than for green product non-developers. Moreover, the most implemented strategic approaches for green product developers vary depending on the economic sector, while a more homogeneous behaviour is found from the geographical perspective. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Consumer integration in sustainable product developmentBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2007Esther Hoffmann Abstract Changes in production and consumption patterns are a crucial element of the sustainability agenda. Communication between product developers and users, and user integration in product development, can serve as a means for organizational as well as individual learning processes, resulting in sustainable product development. Recent approaches to innovation research describe the role of users in the innovation process as essential. However, conventional market research gives consumers a passive role as a mere object of research instead of considering them as possible innovators themselves. Improved methods, such as INNOCOPE (innovating through consumer-integrated product development), tested in this study with a cycle manufacturer and resulting in a new product, a pedelec, are needed for effective communication, activating consumers and enabling them to promote sustainability goals. Through co-operative product development processes key factors facilitating and obstructing the adoption of sustainable innovations may be identified. Such processes can enhance the emergence and diffusion of sustainable product innovations and different forms and bodies of knowledge can be combined. Integrating users' contextual everyday knowledge of the product with the technical knowledge of companies may lead to mutual learning, technical innovations and changes in consumer behaviour. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] | ||||||||||