Environmental friendly product development - Activities in industrial companies

This paper presents the industrial environmental work in five major Swedish companies. The purpose of the study was to map state-of-the-art of environmental work in industry and to identify areas for future research. Research show that environmental issues are of strategic importance today. Companies must work in a pro-active manner to stay competitive on the market. The driving forces for the environmental work are shifting, it is no longer only legal issues, instead market demands and competition has gained importance. Design for Environment should generally be integrated in product development work. Important topics when integrating environmental aspects are work methods, support tools and education.