Using Product Teardowns to Save Green and Be Green // 07.08.2009 at 11:02 AM

by Alan Baker

Categories: Air Quality , Alternative Energy, Business Innovations in Sustainability, Conservation, Disposal and Recycling, Global Warming

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Product teardowns are often a good idea when trying to cut costs in manufacturing, finding innovative ways to add value to an existing product without adding to the product's cost, or general ways of improving margin.

Let's take greening your product line for example. Many consumers see the benefits of being green, however, due to the severe economic downturn, few people are willing to pay the premium being green affords. See my post here about that.

This is where a product teardown can come in handy in the manufacturing chain. According to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, many companies can benefit from taking an in-depth look at their product designs, and:

Find ways to use cheaper parts that don't reduce quality
Reduce weight to improve fuel efficiency and emissions
Reduce weight to lower shipping costs lowering a product's carbon footprint
Redesign packaging to make more efficient use of packing space and weight, while saving on materials costs
Find alternative parts to reduce electricity consumption
Use cheaper, recycled packaging and/or plastics
More recycling friendly labeling

Many opportunities can be found in business when we reevaluate our offerings. Sometimes the opportunities to the customer and our margins can have such great benefits that to ignore them would be a waste. See some specific cases below: