<p>Procurement in public and non-public organisations has the potential to influence product development towards more environmentally preferable products. In 2003, public procurement in Sweden was 28% of GDP. Different types of approaches can contribute some knowledge and thereby facilitate the choice of environmentally preferable products. The thesis focuses on procurement in Swedish Defence. According to a decision by the Swedish government in 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) and Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) are required to take environmental consideration in all phases of the acquisition process. The importance of a life cycle perspective is stressed in several SAF and FMV environmental documents. The starting point of this thesis was that environmental consideration should be taken in the Swedish acquisition of defence materiel, considering the whole life cycle of products. The aim was to produce suggestions for how this can be done.</p><p>In order to make this suggestion some Ecodesign tools were reviewed and evaluated and two methods for simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were compared. Suggestions of tools and methodology recommendations for environmentally preferable procurement in the Swedish defence are presented. For this purpose qualitative and/or simplified LCAs were suggested. The suggestions have been evaluated through interviews with actors in the process. When a simplified LCA is needed, the MECO assessment is recommended. Methodology recommendations for use of the MECO method in the Swedish Defence are presented. LCA is an appropriate tool for taking environmental consideration into the acquisition process, since it focuses on a product and includes its life cycle. If the environmental work lacks a life cycle perspective, there is a risk that the most significant aspects will not be considered. Four areas for use of LCA in the acquisition process were identified: Learning about environmental aspects of the product; fulfilling requirements from customers; setting environmental requirements; and choosing between alternatives.</p><p>The actors interviewed were interested in using LCA methods, but there is a need for an initiative by one or several actors if the method is to be used regularly in the process. It is important that the results are communicated within the organisations involved in the procurement process. Environmental consideration should preferably be taken early in the acquisition process and environmental questions should be integrated into other activities of the organisations involved in the procurement process. Such work would be facilitated if there were greater cooperation between the procuring and environmental units, in this case at FMV, SAF and the Swedish Ministry of Defence.</p> / QC 20100616

Procurement in public and non-public organisations has the potential to influence product development towards more environmentally preferable products. In 2003, public procurement in Sweden was 28% of GDP. Different types of approaches can contribute some knowledge and thereby facilitate the choice of environmentally preferable products. The thesis focuses on procurement in Swedish Defence. According to a decision by the Swedish government in 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) and Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) are required to take environmental consideration in all phases of the acquisition process. The importance of a life cycle perspective is stressed in several SAF and FMV environmental documents. The starting point of this thesis was that environmental consideration should be taken in the Swedish acquisition of defence materiel, considering the whole life cycle of products. The aim was to produce suggestions for how this can be done. In order to make this suggestion some Ecodesign tools were reviewed and evaluated and two methods for simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were compared. Suggestions of tools and methodology recommendations for environmentally preferable procurement in the Swedish defence are presented. For this purpose qualitative and/or simplified LCAs were suggested. The suggestions have been evaluated through interviews with actors in the process. When a simplified LCA is needed, the MECO assessment is recommended. Methodology recommendations for use of the MECO method in the Swedish Defence are presented. LCA is an appropriate tool for taking environmental consideration into the acquisition process, since it focuses on a product and includes its life cycle. If the environmental work lacks a life cycle perspective, there is a risk that the most significant aspects will not be considered. Four areas for use of LCA in the acquisition process were identified: Learning about environmental aspects of the product; fulfilling requirements from customers; setting environmental requirements; and choosing between alternatives. The actors interviewed were interested in using LCA methods, but there is a need for an initiative by one or several actors if the method is to be used regularly in the process. It is important that the results are communicated within the organisations involved in the procurement process. Environmental consideration should preferably be taken early in the acquisition process and environmental questions should be integrated into other activities of the organisations involved in the procurement process. Such work would be facilitated if there were greater cooperation between the procuring and environmental units, in this case at FMV, SAF and the Swedish Ministry of Defence. / QC 20100616

Design for Environment (DfE) promotes the systematic consideration of environmental aspects during product design and development. Despite the maturity of concepts and tools in literature, efficient implementation in industries is reported to be low. A need to bridge this gap is identified with studies that look on DfE practices as well as the use and potential of DfE tools. This thesis is part of a research project that investigates DfE practices and the use of tools during vehicle design and development. The aim is to investigate the ways that environmental constraints can be efficiently integrated into product development processes thus assist in improving the environmental performance of products from a life cycle perspective. The scope of the study includes four vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden. The development and utilization of tools has been also investigated aiming to increase the opportunities for effective use within this product category. Case study methodology, research interviews and literature reviews constitute the research strategy followed in this work. The empirical results presented in this thesis indicated that vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden are continually working to improve the environmental performance of their products and meet legal and costumer demands. Despite similarities regarding the type of environmental requirements considered, the companies studied have adopted different ways to identify and integrate environmental requirements into their product development process and use DfE tools to different extents. Such variations reflect differences in the success and maturity levels of the DfE practices adopted. A need for increased and more systematic use of tools is identified for all studied companies and especially for analytical tools. Results from the literature review showed that a variety of tools are available that have the potential to support vehicle design processes. However, only a few cover a broad set of aspects identified to be relevant from a vehicle design perspective. For DfE tools to become effective and be used during product development, they need to cover aspects that are relevant for the company and product designers. A need towards the development of tools that assist vehicle or product designers in general, to make informed and comprehensive choices based on a variety of requirements associated to the product, is identified. / Coupling Materials Environmental Analysis - Environmental Effects