planning for an environment-friendly carcushman/courses/engs171/...known as bionics, incorporates...

Technovation 20 (2000) 205–214www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation

Planning for an environment-friendly car

Udo Mildenberger, Anshuman Khare*

Universitat Mainz FB03, Lehrstuhl fu¨r ABWL und Produktionswirtschaft, Jakob-Welder-Weg 9, 55099 Mainz, Germany

Received 18 December 1998; received in revised form 9 June 1999; accepted 19 June 1999

Abstract

During the process of developing a new product, consciously or unconsciously, a number of decisions are made that affect theenvironment, thus making a company responsible not only for the technical performance but also for the “environmental perform-ance” of a product. This research paper broadly speaks about this development process and lists the various tools available to themodern decision maker for balancing the ecological, economical and technological aspects of production.

The focus of this paper is on the environmental issues in the automobile industry and environmental impacts presently associatedwith the automobile life cycle. The paper reviews existing tools and opportunities for reducing these burdens in the future throughdecision-making by industry and other stakeholders.

The paper ends with a very latest example from the German automobile industry on the assumption that this automobile (SMARTfrom MCC AG), in the present context, is perhaps an outcome of a very vigorous development process where the impact of theproduct outside the automobile sector was considered. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:Life Cycle Management (LCM); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); Automobile life cycle; Life cycle cost tools

1. Preamble

During the process of developing a new product, con-sciously or unconsciously, a number of decisions aremade that affect the environment, thus making a com-pany responsible not only for the technical performancebut also for the “environmental performance” of a pro-duct.

Decision makers (managers and engineers) wouldargue that it is extremely difficult to ascertain todaywhether a product would be considered environmentallyfriendly in ten years’ time. Fig. 1 attempts to roughlypresent a timeframe over which a decision is valid indifferent parts of the world depending on their econ-omic standard.

The German car-maker BMW offers a more concreteexample of how long range the effects of a decisiontoday are. It takes about 3–4 years to design a car andit is manufactured over a period of 7–8 years. Thesevehicles would be in use for about 10–12 years. In all,

* Corresponding author. Tel.:+49-6131-392007;+49-6131-393005.E-mail address:[email protected] (A. Khare)

0166-4972/00/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S0166-4972 (99)00111-X

a decision taken today will have its effect for about aquarter of a century. Maybe more, when one con-siders the long term repercussions of irresponsibledisposal of waste (BMW, 1998).

It is true that of the products that are on the markettoday many were not considered to be harmful to theenvironment when they were designed. On the otherhand, R&D staff have already done much — oftenunconsciously — for the environment. Electric ovens,refrigerators and freezers today need about 30 percentless energy than 20 years ago; in many machines thepower per kg of weight has been increased significantly,more precise machinery allows a more efficient use ofmaterials, to quote just two examples (North, 1992).

In order to systematically consider the environmentalaspects, the R&D methodology has to balance the eco-logical, economical and technological aspects of designand production. It may be given the task to review andfurther develop existing products and processes. Thisconcerns:

O the design;O the applied materials;O the manufacturing process; and

206 U. Mildenberger, A. Khare / Technovation 20 (2000) 205–214

Fig. 1. Life of a decision taken today.

O the product’s performance characteristics (e.g.energy consumption).

This paper attempts to present environmental issuesin the automobile industry and environmental impactspresently associated with the automobile life cycle. Thepaper reviews existing tools and opportunities for reduc-ing these burdens in the future through decision-makingby industry and other stakeholders.

2. Analysis of product life cycle

Fig. 2 outlines the research and development method-ology for environment friendly products. The processstarts with the setting up of R&D aims and tasks whichinclude a review of existing products and processes withenvironment related criteria. It is at this stage that anattempt could be made to conceive new environmentbenign products and processes.

Once R&D’s aims and tasks have been defined, ananalysis of the present system follows. This may com-prise the existing products of a company or may beextended to the products of competitors. It should startwith an environmental impact analysis for the product’sentire life cycle. It relates the total cycle of a product’slife to the environmental impact caused in each phase.Traditionally, R&D staff have limited themselves to onlyconsidering the phase of active use of product. It is onlyrecently that the whole life cycle of the products forms

part of R&D specifications. The use of renewablematerials and “clean technologies” is of importance inall phases of the life cycle. The design of the productshould be accompanied by the conception of the recyc-ling procedure.

Besides this environmental impact analysis on the pro-duct’s life cycle, a number of other analytical methodscan be carried out. An industrial engineering tool knownasvalue analysisor value engineering(Wellenreuther,1996) is also particularly suited to making better use ofmaterials and therefore saving not only money but alsonatural resources. Value engineering analyses the func-tions or “value” of each element of a product. As aresult, products are simplified and reduced to their essen-tial parts.

3. Specification for green products

The next stage of R&D methodology deals with thegeneration of specifications (requirements list), for bothproducts and processes. In such detailed lists the require-ments a product or process has to fulfil must be spelledout for each phase of the life cycle. Minimum require-ments are often defined by government regulations orthe relevant national or international standards, e.g.,norms of the International Standards Organization, ISO.Requirements to be given special attention are:

O avoidance of scarce, non-renewable materials;

207U. Mildenberger, A. Khare / Technovation 20 (2000) 205–214

Fig. 2. R&D methodology for environment friendly products (Based on North, 1992).

O recycling of the product;O energy efficiency of the product;O avoidance of hazardous substances;O minimization of energy, water consumption and pol-

luting substances during the production process;O durability of product.

4. New solutions

After such “green” specifications have been set, thecore process of R&D work begins: the creation of newideas for products and processes. In the first stage —using brainstorming techniques — ideal solutions for agiven problem should be developed. From these sol-utions a number of real problem solutions are derived.

In order to develop environment-friendly products,there is much to be learned from nature, which makesthe most effective use of its resources. The discipline,known asbionics, incorporates principles or processesof nature into engineering. Bionics, for example, studiesthe reasons why trees are so resistant to wind, how birdsfly, or how natural membranes function to clean water.

The use of alternative materials and designs is afurther potential to be explored by R&D staff. It is thisphase of creation that the manufacturing processes of theproducts under discussion should be roughly defined andthe resulting by-products analyzed.

5. Evaluation and testing

Once the product and process alternatives have beendeveloped, they need to be evaluated to see if they reallymeet the set specifications. Evaluation in this contextmust consider the technical, ecological aspects alongwith the economical aspects. Methods to help decisionmakers to choose between alternative solutions areKosten-WirksamkeitsandKosten-Nutzen-Analysen(CostBenefit Analysis).

6. Implementation

After a prototype or a pre-series have been success-fully manufactured and tested in the R&D laboratoriesor workshops, the responsibility for implementation aswell as measurement and control of performance will behanded over to Industrial Engineering or Production.

The after-sales services as, for example, theimplementation of a recycling procedure, may be com-missioned to sales or a specialized engineering depart-ment, or even a subcontractor. These arrangements, how-ever, depend largely on size and the organizationalstructure of the enterprise.

Apart from integrating environmental considerationsinto each step of the R&D methodology (Fig. 2), thereare other measures which can assist a company withinnovating products and processes faster than their com-petitors, for example by:


O shortening development cycles;O flexible research programs to keep up with the fast-

changing agenda;O promoting creativity (e.g. by assigning environmen-

tally committed staff to R&D project or by incorporat-ing outside researchers or members of environmen-talist groups into R&D teams);

O integrating an environment-related component intoexisting company programs (e.g. quality and pro-ductivity improvement programs, valueengineering); and

O environment related information into R&D infor-mation and design systems (for example, into Com-puter Aided Design (CAD) systems).

7. The automobile industry

The automobile industry is the largest manufacturingenterprise in the world and is one of the most resource-intensive industries of all major industrial systems.Further, the global automotive manufacturing is oligo-polistic in structure, dominated by a relatively smallnumber of large producers.

The awareness of the overall environmental impact inthe automobile industry has been growing as Europeanand U.S. regulations, e.g. for vehicle emission, havebecome more stringent. To rank the level of awarenessis difficult because different automobile companies leadin different areas. Generally, the automobile industry asa whole tends to work on similar issues, includingimproving aerodynamic shapes and lowering weight.Manufacturing processes are also being cleaned up, withspecial attention being given to the reduction of emis-sions and material of concern. Procedures are now aimedat ensuring that factory waste is recovered for furtherprocessing, and an increasing portion of R&D budgetsis being allocated to the development of alternative fuels,and electric and hybrid vehicles. Vehicle manufacturersare placing increasing emphasis on recycling, including:developing new technologies to facilitate the use ofrecycled materials; designing vehicles with recycling inmind; designing and specifying components that can bemade out of recycled materials; and increasing the useof recycled materials. For better handling of end-of-lifevehicles, European and U.S. auto-makers have built upcooperative partnerships to establish a recycling infra-structure, to set up pilot disassembly facilities, and todevelop disassembly manuals. Car manufacturers havestarted stating explicit fuel economy targets for theirvehicles and have set environmental standards for theirservice stations.

The awareness of Life-Cycle Management tools andapproaches is growing among the European and theAmerican automobile industries. This is expressed in

terms of studies and projects conducted to examine thelife-cycle impacts of different materials, processes, andconcepts in business practices. All automobile manufac-turers are active in conducting internal Life-CycleAssessment (LCA) and are involved in ongoing cooper-ative LCA projects in Europe (EUCAR) and the US(USCAR). They have launched “Design for the Environ-ment” training programs for product and manufacturingengineers within their respective organizations and fortheir suppliers. To a lesser extent, manufacturers areactive in environmental accounting.

8. The automobile life cycle

The life cycle of an automobile begins with conceptand design and concludes with retirement (end-of-lifescrapping); this section is a reflection on the total lifecycle of an automobile.

Today, a vehicle consists of approximately 15 000parts. Steel, iron, glass, textiles, plastic, and non-ferrousmetal dominate automobile construction. They accountfor more than 80% of the material used in today’svehicles. A common trend in the material compositionof a car is toward increasing the use of light-weightmaterials, especially numerous types of plastics and lightmetal alloys (such as aluminum and magnesium).

The environmental impacts and concerns that arisefrom the acquisition and processing of virgin resourcesthat serve as input for automotive material include thesubstantial consumption of resources (material andenergy). In addition, copious amounts of energy are con-sumed in heating, cooling, and producing millions oftons of steel, aluminum, plastic, and glass. Processingthese materials involves a variety of heavy metals, toxicchemicals, chlorinated solvents, and ozone depletingchemicals. The largest contribution to non-hazardouswaste among the life-cycle stages is mining waste (e.g.overburden) associated with energy generation and ironore production. The residue from auto shredding oper-ations is the second largest contributor.

Beside the painting and coating operations, the metalcasting operations are the main manufacturing oper-ations where air emissions occur. More than half of allreleases and transfers of pollutants originate from thepainting and coating operations. Furthermore, the paintshop is one of the main consumers of primary energywithin the manufacturing process along with iron cast-ing. The largest solid waste streams generated by anautomobile assembly plant are wastewater treatmentsludges, waste oil, plant trash, and scrap metal.

The utilization of an automobile accounts for approxi-mately 80% of the total primary energy consumption ofthe life cycle of an automobile. Most of the CO2 and CO(CO production in a catalyst equipped car is relativelysmaller) emissions are released during the utilization.


VOC emission during the use of the automobile (e.g.exhaust and evaporation) is greater than that generatedin any other life-cycle stage. The second largest con-tributor to VOC emission is automobile painting.Besides the resource consumption when running avehicle and the necessary infrastructure (e.g. highways,service- and gas stations), the maintenance and serviceoperations contribute significantly to the environmentaleffects of automobile use.

Environmental impacts in the scrapping stage consistof waste generated during different processes and energydepletion (or loss) resulting from these activities. Theimpact is strongly dependent on the material compo-sition of vehicles and the infrastructure in place to pro-cess the vehicles. The changing material content of auto-mobiles presents a difficult issue: on the one hand,greater use of light-weight material such as plasticsimproves fuel efficiency and reduces air and/or exhaustemissions. On the other hand, design changes thatincrease the amount of plastics result in lower levelsof recyclability.

Opportunities for environmental improvement existduring each life-cycle stage of an automobile. This papersuggests that the manufacturer focus on regulation, poli-cies, agreements, and process and design improvementsthat influence either one stage or the entire life cycle.

For example, European and American regulations andpolicies that impact different stakeholders in the auto-mobile life cycle differ in numerous ways; examples are:

O In the US taxes on gasoline are considerably lowerthan in European countries. This results in muchlower gasoline prices in the US than in any Euro-pean country.

O The USA relies on a regulation to discourage themanufacture and sale of fuel-inefficient vehicles. Itintroduced the Corporate Average Fuel Economy(CAFE) in 1975 requiring that producers of domesticand imported cars achieve certain mandated averagefuel-economy standards on a fleet-wide basis.

O Nearly all European countries have introduced “End-of-Life Vehicle” (ELV) policies with targets for theincreased reuse and recycling of ELV parts andmaterials, and the reduction of waste disposed in land-fills. In the United States no national and state legis-lation on ELV recycling or management has beenpassed.

Significant changes in the material and process selec-tion and management are necessary to reduce the overallenvironmental impact throughout the entire life cycle ofan automobile.

Fig. 3 summarizes programs, partnerships, and poli-cies that encourage life-cycle management; concepts andtools in various stages of development that can facilitatelife-cycle; and various life-cycle management

approaches from academia, research institutes, andindustry (Kuhndt, 1997).

9. Life-Cycle Management

The development of Life-Cycle Management (LCM)strategies and principles was undertaken because otherstrategies, for example, focusing on a single life-cyclestage, sometimes yield sub-optimal results. Reducingenvironmental impacts at specific points in a productlife, for example, reducing energy consumption in theusage phase, may be of little or negative value if otherchanges also occur such as increasing energy consump-tion in manufacturing and recycling.

LCM is broadly defined as:

O A framework to redesign product systems to reduceoverall environmental impacts.

O A decision-making activity by multiple stakeholdersin different stages of the life cycle of a product.

O A framework that is based on information about pro-duct life cycle (e.g. physical flows of mass andenergy, monetary flows).

Industry and government can establish several typesof programs, partnerships, and policies that encourageLCM as shown in Fig. 3.

Decisions are reached by an iterative process involv-ing various tools and resulting in action. They may beguided by concepts such as “Industrial Ecology”(Frosch, 1996), “Cleaner Production” (Rolfe et al.,1995), “Eco-Efficiency” (NRTEE, 1997; Schmidheinyand Zorraquin, 1996), “The Natural Step” (Robert et al.,1995), and “Factor 10”.

To capture a broad picture, one can focus on somegeneric types of life cycle tools, including:

O analysis tools, such as Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)and Life-Cycle Cost (LCC) tools that provide theenvironmental profile of product and process prioritiz-ing areas for improvement, and on

O improvement tools, such as Life-Cycle Design (LCD)tools that implement improvement throughout thedesign methodology.

During the past years, the automobile industry hasperformed on its own or in cooperation with differentparties (e.g. their suppliers, trade associations, univer-sities, etc.) a number of Life Cycle Assessments to com-pare materials (e.g. aluminum vs steel), processes (e.g.water-based painting vs. powder painting) and concepts(e.g. electric vehicle vs internal combustion vehicle).Often the result of these studies do not show a clearadvantage of one over the other material, process, orconcept. Therefore, it might be more suitable to use these


Fig. 3. Programs, partnerships and policies that encourage Life-Cycle Management.

results to develop optimization strategies for the ana-lyzed materials, processes, and concepts.

Although significant progress has been made towardsstandardizing LCA, results can still vary significantly.Such discrepancies can be attributed to differences insystem boundaries of different industries, rules for theallocation of input and outputs between product systems,data availability, and different conversion models fortranslating inventory items to environmental impacts.Plus, one has to keep in mind not only the impact of theproduct, but also the after affects which are often feltin the sectors outside the primary industry (automobileindustry in this case).

Life-Cycle Management is needed for all decision-making processes in order to avoid shifting the burdenfrom one medium (for example, water consumption, pol-lution, etc.) to another or one life-cycle stage to another.The compromises made cannot be evaluated or it cannotbe deducted that the action would have an impact onanother process up ahead or on another industry. Toavoid tradeoffs in material and process selection,decisions should be based on the results of studies usingLCM tools. These results should include theenviron-mental profile (e.g. resource-intensity, toxicity,recyclability) andcost profile(internal and external cost)of different materials throughout the life cycle.

The environmental profile can be analyzed with LCA;but to support LCM, the availability and quality ofmaterial, energy, solid waste, and emission data cur-

rently limit the application of LCA for each life-cyclestage.

Therefore, a more integrated approach to selectingmaterial and processes with minimal environmentalimpact should involve cooperative relationships betweendifferent players in different life-cycle stages to coverthis data gap. Through a collaborative effort of suppliers,automobile manufacturers, and end-of-life managers andbased on LCA findings, LCC results and other infor-mation (e.g. reparability and durability), guidelines andchecklists for life-cycle design (LCD) should bedeveloped. These guidelines and checklists will, then, beavailable to design engineers at the manufacturer andat the supplier to optimize existing and new productsand processes.

The idea can be presented broadly if one thinks ofinformation sharing networks. Just like there are noboundaries to the environmental problem, there wouldbe no boundaries to the information generating and shar-ing processes.

Unlike traditional cost management tools,Life-CycleCost tools(LCC tools) are arranged to register the costsof a product during all life-cycle stages. In this way, theyconsider not only the direct production costs, but alsothe indirect (environmental) costs during consumptionand disposal of a product. The LCC tools are, therefore,able to optimize the total efficiency of a product. Forenvironmental aspects this is very important, because thelevel of the environmental costs are determined to a large


extent in the design phase; in the consumption and dis-posal stage, there are only small possibilities to influencethese costs. Unfortunately, because the current marketsystem does not reflect external costs, a design that mini-mizes the environmental burden may appear less attract-ive than an environmentally inferior alternative. There-fore, industry will mainly optimize life-cycle costs withthe means of reducing direct and indirect costs. Govern-ments can, then, complete this calculation and act onbehalf of the public through assessing the cost and bur-den to society.

The design phase of products and processes presentsthe greatest opportunity for applying LCM tools and,therefore, should be a focal point for establishing part-nerships. However, besides this, further stakeholderinitiatives are necessary. Examples are:

O Consumers have a major role in reducing the environ-mental impacts associated with ownership and oper-ation. Governments, in partnership with automobilemanufacturers, can launch more programs to educatecustomers, for example, in driving behavior and pro-per maintenance of the vehicle.

O Automobile manufacturers should vigorously and sin-cerely pursue goals and targets for future fuel con-sumption of their vehicle fleet.

O Automobile manufacturers should share responsibilitynot only for the product (the car) itself, but also forservice-related issues (e.g. car care products).

O Suppliers, manufacturers, and government shouldtake responsibility for further development of alterna-tive concepts, such as alternative vehicles, alternativefuels, and alternative transport systems.

O Worldwide information generating and informationsharing networks and partnerships are necessary toimprove the situation in end-of-life management.

A more sustainable automobile life cycle will alsorequire re-thinking the whole value chain of the productsystem and envisioning how one can create new serviceswith minimized environmental impact. If, for example,the current common purchase of the product, “auto-mobile”, were to be replaced by meeting the mobilityneeds through the more resource-saving variants(reasonably priced and convenient modes of publictransport, for example), most stakeholders would lookfor different means of providing services than is com-mon today. For example, with suitable attitude changes,the automobile industry could focus on, e.g.

O eco-leasing and eco-rent, whereby the automobile isno longer to be purchased by the consumer but rentedfor usage over a certain period;

O car-sharing and car-pooling, whereby the automobileindustry sells mobility.

Incidentally, the first option is available today in some

parts of the world, but not very popular as the consumersoften opt for ownership for financial flexibility and otherless tangible reasons. The second option is also not muchpracticed and needs promotion. The reasons are not onlyeconomical but also intermingled with individualbehavior patterns and social factors.

The government could focus onglobal system optim-ization, e.g.

O providing alternative transportation modes that aremore efficient than the automobile (specially in termsof pricing, punctuality and reliability);

O providing infrastructure that reduces the demand formobility by bringing living, shopping, and businessareas closer together (however, this issue in city-plan-ning remains a debatable issue due to pros and consof having everything at one place).

Complex manufactured products like an automobile donot offer straightforward opportunities for product-ori-ented assessments due to their direct and indirect impactson other sections of the economy. However, this productdoes have a good potential for life cycle-based improve-ments. The development of a sustainable(environmentally effective) automotive industry willdepend on using the output of tools, such as life-cycleanalysis, life-cycle costing, and life-cycle design, to ana-lyze and to improve the management of resources. Frommaterial selection through processing and fabrication torecovery and recycling, working relationships, partner-ships among different stakeholders are necessary forreducing the total environmental impact of producingand using personal transportation.

10. The Daimler-Benz example

Daimler-Benz, one of Germany’s leading car manu-facturers, has attempted to address the environmentalconcerns of the EC as well as that of others with thenew Micro Compact Car (MCC) AG (Daimler-Benz,1998). This has been widely welcomed. The story belowis adapted from the Daimler-Benz’s EnvironmentalNewsletter 7/98.1 It is perhaps one of the most compre-hensive examples today of a manufacturer moving outof its own boundaries to provide the customers with aneco-friendly solution for mobility.

In August 1998, experts from the German TrafficAssociation selected the SMART (the name of the MCCAG car) as the winner of the 1998 ecology check. Thereasons why the new city coupe´ was able to top the list

1 Daimler Benz concedes in thePrivacy Statementthat there is apossibility of some inaccuracies relating to technical data. The authorshave also not questioned the accuracy as the intent of the paper is tofocus on the managerial and non-technical issues.


of environmental automobiles included low pollutantemissions, low fuel consumption and a comprehensivemobility concept.

10.1. System concept

The city coupe´, Smart, has a fuel consumption of 4.8liters per 100 kilometers, measured in a standard, three-part mixture of urban cycle (city traffic) and constantspeed operation (country and highway traffic). However,the Smart is designed primarily for city traffic (where itproves sufficient as a two-seater — on journeys to work,for example, cars only carry an average of 1.2occupants). On city trips of this nature, the fuel con-sumption of the Smart is about 5.8 liters per 100 kilomet-ers. With carbon-dioxide emissions of less than 120grams per kilometer, its two gasoline engines (33 and40 kW) can be considered as particularly clean.

Daimler-Benz, however, has not only addressed theissues related to emissions and fuel consumption, but thewhole subject of environmental compatibility is con-sidered in its entirety keeping in mind the responsibleattitude toward ecologically designed products. Whethervehicle development, factory premises, vehicle pro-duction, utilization or future recycling, environmentalprotection decisively influences all phases of productlife cycle.

Such an environmentally conscious approach evenplayed a role in the establishment of the factory premisesin Hambach in Lorraine in 1996; for example, exclusionof environmentally harmful building materials. Con-struction workers were trained to separate waste pro-ducts on a regular basis. This was not an easy task giventhe cultural and language problems: 1000 workers fromFrance, Portugal and Algeria were present on the con-struction site, and Daimler-Benz did not stop at simplydistributing brochures. A total of 300 tons of buildingwaste, hardware, concrete as well as material used forfacades and shells was separated rigorously. That isequivalent to 60% of all building waste generated annu-ally by the company. All buildings are free of formal-dehydes and CFCs, while the facades consist of a pane-ling made of a raw material (Trespa) originating fromEuropean woods. Smartville is the name of the 70-hec-tare industrial estate (13 hectares of which consist ofbuilt-up land), which blends harmoniously with the Lor-raine countryside. An ecological landscaping conceptwas prepared for this purpose with attention to theexpansive green patches at the parking lot in front of thefactory gates, where young mirabelles, apples trees anda diversity of meadow flowers grow.

10.2. Production concept

The environment is enjoyed by roughly 1600 people,many of whom are not MCC employees. Roughly 12

system partners and providers of logistics services haveset up business premises in Smartville.

As a result, it has been possible to introduce an inter-site environmental management system. All suppliers arelisted in a basic manual for environmental protection.This is the first time that such a measure has beenimplemented for an industrial estate. The success of thespecified environmental measures, which are obligatoryfor all parties, is checked regularly by a speciallyappointed work group.

Another task of this work group is to continuouslyadapt the management system to changing environmen-tal conditions and laws, and optimize related measures.

The just-in-time production concept alone makes itprofitable for suppliers to establish themselves directlyon the production site in Smartville. Main modules suchas the chassis, axle assemblies and cockpit (instrumentclusters and dashboard assemblies) are assembled by thesystem partners at their own workshops.

These modules are transported via conveyor belts tothe final assembly halls, thus eliminating the need forlong supply routes (Fig. 4):

O The Tridion passenger compartment cell and cockpitare connected together at the “engagement station”.

O The car body, running gear, and drive unit are coupledat the “wedding station”.

O The windows, roof and cockpit are added at the “fur-nishing house”.

O Decorative elements and accessories are fitted in the“embellishment studio”.

O Doors, hatches and bumpers are installed in the“design shop”.

O A short test run and various functional checks are per-formed in the “fitness studio”.

O After that, the vehicle is rolled into the quality shopfor final inspection.

10.3. Easily recyclable design concept

The modular design of Smart allows each vehicle tobe fully assembled in just 4.5 hours. The developersattached the highest priority to an easily recyclabledesign. If an automobile can be assembled quickly, thenconversely, it should be possible to dismantle it easilytoo. This has been MCC’s approach from the beginning.For example, the plastic paneling has a simple press-fit.This also allows the colors of the Smart to be alteredquickly by interchanging the body panels, should theowner desire a different look.

An easily recyclable design also has other advantages,such as materials that can be re-used. The tubes, coversand interior fittings are made of materials like polyethyl-ene and polypropylene. Furthermore, only pure plastics(refers to plastics that are used in a way so that it is easy


Fig. 4. The micro compact car AG from Daimler-Benz (Ref: http://www.daimler-benz.com).

to separate while dismantling and easy to recycle) andmetals have been used. The joint sealings on the bodyand the underseal of the Smart are free of PVC.

The entire chassis of the vehicle is powder-painted.The compact design of the Smart allows the powder-based paint to be applied evenly.

Priming is performed without lead. The subsequentpainting process does not involve the use of heavy met-als like cadmium or chrome. In addition, no solvents areemitted, nor are any special waste products such as paintsludge generated. Needless to say, excess powder is col-lected and re-used.

In order to save raw materials, recyclates areemployed in the production of the two-seater whereverpossible. Accordingly, the interior paneling of the doorsconsists of 100% recyclates. With the total proportionof recyclates as 15%, the Smart is 95% recyclable.

10.4. Mobility concept

However, the easily recyclable design is not the onlyaspect which led the jury of the German Traffic Associ-ation to put this small car on top of its environmental list.

What impressed the experts most of all, was themobility concept of the Smart. The “Smart plus” servicepackage offers drivers a pool of different types ofvehicles. For example, Avis offers economical terms forrenting small vans in order to move house, or off-roadvehicles to go on vacation.

Together with regional transport authorities, planshave been made to offer the Smart in conjunction withthe related public transport facilities. “Smartmove tours”is currently being tested in several large cities. Forinstance, when train passengers arrive at their terminus,they could use their train tickets to cheaply rent a citycar on-location. Airline passengers could use their flightticket to book a Smart at their destination airport.

10.5. Recycling concept

Hand in hand with the development of a Smart deal-ership network, a “Smart Center Recycling” system willbe offered throughout Europe. This system is intendedto allow the removal of residual material from the Smartcenter. Needless to say, this material is passed througha recycling process.

However, MCC’s ecological product responsibilityextends even further: the modular design alone is aguarantee that dismantling can be performed economi-cally once the Smart’s service life is over. In this way,the modular concept allows the completion of materialutilization cycles.

10.6. Summary

With all these measures, MCC has been able to dem-onstrate an unprecedented degree of responsibilityregarding the design and production of an environmen-


tally compatible product. It is a feat in keeping with itscorporate philosophy and something that sets an examplein the automobile industry.

The comprehensive nature of MCC’s environmentalprotection campaign ensures that the Smart, which wasdeveloped in line with state-of-the-art technology, willachieve the highest possible degree of environmentalcompatibility both during and after its service life. Withits dynamic environmental management system, whichis continually undergoing improvement, MCC has laida cornerstone for environmentally friendly, individualmobility.

The result is impressive. The Smart has a high recycl-able content not only in the vehicle interior and exterior,but also in technically complex sections such as thecockpit, where a recyclate proportion of more than 10%has been achieved. The use of identical thermo-plasticsubstances as well as easy dismantling ensure optimalrecycling properties. This module also replaces 20 con-ventionally designed components, thus savingadditional resources.

Acknowledgements

This research work is funded by the Alexander vonHumboldt Foundation in Germany and is being carriedout at Universita¨t Mainz with University Professor Dr.Klaus Bellmann at the Lehrstuhl fu¨r ABWL und Pro-duktionswirtschaft. The graphics in this paper are pub-lished with permission from Daimler-Benz AG.

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Udo Mildenberger works as a Research Scientist at the “Lehrstuhl fu¨rAllgemeine Betriebswirtschaftslehre und Produktionswirtschaft” atJohannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany). He teaches Cost Analy-sis and Cost Management, Production and Technology Management andSystem Theory (with special focus on System Dynamics). His doctoralresearch was in the field of inter-organizational production networks. Inaddition to this, his research interests lie in the field of modern industrialorganizations, learning organizations, and environment related productionmanagement from a more theoretical system theory and resource basedviewpoint. He has delivered lectures at the Banking University, Frankfurt,Germany and at the Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland. Hehas published one book and about 30 research papers and articles in Ger-many and abroad.

Anshuman Khare works as a Research Scien-tist for the University Grants Commission, Indiaand is placed at the Motilal Nehru Institute ofResearch and Business Administration, Univer-sity of Allahabad, India. He teaches QuantitativeAnalysis and Business Policy. His researchinterests are Japanese Business philosophy andresponsible manufacturing. He has done hispost-doctoral research at Ryukoku University,Kyoto, Japan on a Japanese Government Schol-arship (1995–1997). He has also delivered lec-tures at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Ryu-

koku University, Kyoto, and Kansai Gaidai, Osaka, Japan. Presently heis a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung at theJohannes-Gutenberg Universita¨t Mainz, Mainz, Germany and works onenvironment related techno-managerial issues in automobile manufactur-ing. He has published three books and over 100 research papers and art-icles in India and abroad.

planning for an environment-friendly carcushman/courses/engs171/...known as bionics, incorporates...

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