Identification of the Key Sustainability Issues to Develop New Decision Support Tools in the Spanish Furniture Sector
The environmental impacts caused by the current production and consumption models, together with the impact that the current economic crisis, bring necessary changes in the European industry toward new business models based on sustainability issues that could allow them to innovate and improve their competitiveness. This paper analyzes the key environmental issues and the current and future market trends in one of the most important industrial sectors in Spain, the furniture sector. It also proposes new decision support tools -diagnostic kit, roadmap and guidelines- to guide companies to implement sustainability criteria into their organizations, including eco-design strategies and other economical and social strategies in accordance with the sustainability definition, and other available tools such as eco-labels, environmental management systems, etc., and to use and combine them to obtain the results the company expects to help improve its competitiveness.
[1] F. Pusavec, P. Krajnik, J. Kopac, "Transitioning to sustainable
production – Part I: application on machining technologies", Journal of
Cleaner Production, vol. 18, no.2, pp. 174-184, January 2010.
[2] European Commission, "EU Manufacturing Industry: What are the
Challenges and Opportunities for the Coming Years?" Paper that
summarizes the main results and conclusions presented at the 2010 2nd
High-level conference in industrial competitiveness, Brussels
[3] D. Jimenez, "Crisis y sostenibilidad. Respuestas con futuro y oportunas
en tiempos de crisis", Ambienta, vol. 88, pp. 73-88, September 2009
[4] P. Knight and J.O. Jenkins, "Adopting and applying eco-design
techniques: a practitioners perspective", Journal of Cleaner Production,
vol. 17, no.5, pp. 549–558, March 2009
[5] R. Gheorghe and K. Ishii. "Eco-design value alingment – Key to
success." (Online). Available:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/scforum/login/documents/SEREcodesignValueAlignmentv1.
pdf
[6] Furniture, Wood and Packaging Technology Institute (AIDIMA), private
communication, December 2009
[7] C. Bocks, "The soft side of eco-design", Journal of Cleaner Production,
vol. 14, no. 15-16, pp. 1346-1356
[8] A. Tukker, P. Eder, M. Charter, E. Haag and A. Vercalsteren and T.
Wiedmann, "Eco-design: The State of Implementation in Europe
Conclusions of a State of the Art", The Journal of Sustainable Product
Design, vol. 1, pp. 147–161, 2001
[9] E. Verhulst1, C. Boks, M. Stranger and H. Masson, "The Human Side of
Eco-design from the Perspective of Change Management", Advances in
Life Cycle Engineering for Sustainable Manufacturing Businesses,
Springer London, pp. 107-112. Proceedings of the 14th CIRP
Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Tokyo, June 11th-13th 2007
[10] K. Parikka-Alhola, "Promoting environmentally sound furniture by
green public procurement”, Ecological Economics, vol. 68, pp. 472-485,
June 2008
[11] D. Bovea, R. Vidal, "Materials selection for sustainable product design:
a case study of wood based furniture eco-design", Materials & Design,
vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 111-116, April 2004
[12] S. Gonzalez-Garcia, G. Feijoo, P. Widsten, A. Kandelbaue, E. Zikulnig-
Rusch and M.T. Moreira, "Environmental performance assessment of
hardboard manufacture”, Int J Life Cycle Assess, vol. 14, no. 5, pp.456–
466, May 2009
[13] European Commission, "Environmental aspects of the furniture sector",
(Online). Available:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/furniture/environment/index_en.ht
m
[14] European Commission, "EMAS Registered Sites" (Online), Available:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/pdf/sites/spain_en.pdf /
[15] IHOBE. "Spanish business with environmental management". (Online).
Available:
http://www.ihobe.net/Certificados/Listado.aspx?IdMenu=3c5f1883-
5e10-436e-bd2d-de93be199241, May 2010
[16] C. Alonso. "Future ISO 14006: Guidelines for integration of eco-design
in environmental management systems". Oral presentation. IV
Conference on Environmental Product ¬ Building Innovation 2010,
Bilbao, April 2010
[17] European Commission. "Smarter and cleaner. Producing and consuming
sustainably". Official Publications of the European Communities, ISBN
978-92-79-08112-5, 2009
[18] P. Fullana. "Workshop on communication of eco-designed products: the
standard ISO 14021N", Oral presentation, Barcelona, June 2009
[19] Clean Technology Centre (CTL) and Network of Institutes of
Technology in the Valencia Region (REDIT). "Eco-labelling guidelines"
(Online). Available http://www.xarxaambiental.es/guias/, November
2009
[20] Generalitat Catalunya. "Emblem of Guarantee of Environmental
Quality: Ecological criteria for wooden products". (Online), Available:
http://mediambient.gencat.net/cat/empreses/ecoproductes_i_ecoserveis/d
istintiu.jsp
[21] European Commission. "Ecological criteria for the award of the
Community ecolabel to furniture" (Online), Available:.:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/
[22] FSC-Spain, private communication, January 2010
[23] PEFC-Spain, private communication, May 2010
[24] EPD-System database. (Online), Available:
http://www.environdec.com/pageId.asp?id=105&menu=4,14,0
[25] Procura+ Project "National Plan on Green Public Procurement"
(Online). Available:
http://www.compraverde.org/contenido.asp?id=279
[26] Clean Technology Centre (CTL) and Network of Institutes of
Technology in the Valencia Region (REDIT) "Green Public
Procurement guidelines" (Online). Available
http://www.xarxaambiental.es/guias/. November 2009
[27] National Statistics Institute (INE) "Central Companies Directory:
statistical use". (Online). Available:
http://www.ine.es/en/inebmenu/mnu_empresas_en.htm. May 2010
[28] Eurostat, "European business – Facts and figures, 2009 edition".
(Online). Available: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, February 2010
[29] Furniture Foresight Centre (CEFFOR). "The furniture industry in 2016.
Competitive scenarios: trends and strategic implications". ISBN: 978-
84-95077-32-5, November 2008
[30] National Association of Furniture Manufacturers and Exporters
(ANIEME) Anual report of furniture exports". (Online).
http://www.anieme.com/actualidad/datos-sector.aspx, March 2010
[31] J. Navarro, P. Hayward and J. Voros. "How to solve a wicked problem?
Furniture foresight case study". Foresight, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.11-28,
December 2007
[32] C. Benoit, G. A. Norris, S. Valdivia, A. Ciroth, A. Moberg, U. Bos, S.
Prakash, C. Ugaya and T. Beck. "The guidelines for social life cycle
assessment of products: just in time". Int. J. Life Cycle Assess, vol. 15,
no. 2, pp. 156-163, January 2010
[33] Australian Federal Government "Product roadmaps". (Online).
Available: http://thehub.ethics.org.au/sme/product_roadmaps
[34] C. English, D. Taschler and C Wall. "CSTP Sustainability Guide:
A Process for Sustainable Decision Making" (Online). Available:
www.aiche.org. September 2008
[35] K. -H. Robert, B. Schmidt-Bleek, J. Aloisi de Larderel, G. Basile, J. L.
Jansen, R. Kuehr, P. Price Thomas, M. Suzuki, P. Hawken and M.
Wackernagel. "Strategic sustainable development — selection, design
and synergies of applied tools”. Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 10,
no. 3, pp. 197-214. June 2002
[36] H. Baumann, F. Boons, A. Bragd. "Mapping the green product
development field: engineering, policy and business perspectives”.
Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 10, pp. 409–425, 2002
[1] F. Pusavec, P. Krajnik, J. Kopac, "Transitioning to sustainable
production – Part I: application on machining technologies", Journal of
Cleaner Production, vol. 18, no.2, pp. 174-184, January 2010.
[2] European Commission, "EU Manufacturing Industry: What are the
Challenges and Opportunities for the Coming Years?" Paper that
summarizes the main results and conclusions presented at the 2010 2nd
High-level conference in industrial competitiveness, Brussels
[3] D. Jimenez, "Crisis y sostenibilidad. Respuestas con futuro y oportunas
en tiempos de crisis", Ambienta, vol. 88, pp. 73-88, September 2009
[4] P. Knight and J.O. Jenkins, "Adopting and applying eco-design
techniques: a practitioners perspective", Journal of Cleaner Production,
vol. 17, no.5, pp. 549–558, March 2009
[5] R. Gheorghe and K. Ishii. "Eco-design value alingment – Key to
success." (Online). Available:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/scforum/login/documents/SEREcodesignValueAlignmentv1.
pdf
[6] Furniture, Wood and Packaging Technology Institute (AIDIMA), private
communication, December 2009
[7] C. Bocks, "The soft side of eco-design", Journal of Cleaner Production,
vol. 14, no. 15-16, pp. 1346-1356
[8] A. Tukker, P. Eder, M. Charter, E. Haag and A. Vercalsteren and T.
Wiedmann, "Eco-design: The State of Implementation in Europe
Conclusions of a State of the Art", The Journal of Sustainable Product
Design, vol. 1, pp. 147–161, 2001
[9] E. Verhulst1, C. Boks, M. Stranger and H. Masson, "The Human Side of
Eco-design from the Perspective of Change Management", Advances in
Life Cycle Engineering for Sustainable Manufacturing Businesses,
Springer London, pp. 107-112. Proceedings of the 14th CIRP
Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Tokyo, June 11th-13th 2007
[10] K. Parikka-Alhola, "Promoting environmentally sound furniture by
green public procurement”, Ecological Economics, vol. 68, pp. 472-485,
June 2008
[11] D. Bovea, R. Vidal, "Materials selection for sustainable product design:
a case study of wood based furniture eco-design", Materials & Design,
vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 111-116, April 2004
[12] S. Gonzalez-Garcia, G. Feijoo, P. Widsten, A. Kandelbaue, E. Zikulnig-
Rusch and M.T. Moreira, "Environmental performance assessment of
hardboard manufacture”, Int J Life Cycle Assess, vol. 14, no. 5, pp.456–
466, May 2009
[13] European Commission, "Environmental aspects of the furniture sector",
(Online). Available:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/furniture/environment/index_en.ht
m
[14] European Commission, "EMAS Registered Sites" (Online), Available:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/pdf/sites/spain_en.pdf /
[15] IHOBE. "Spanish business with environmental management". (Online).
Available:
http://www.ihobe.net/Certificados/Listado.aspx?IdMenu=3c5f1883-
5e10-436e-bd2d-de93be199241, May 2010
[16] C. Alonso. "Future ISO 14006: Guidelines for integration of eco-design
in environmental management systems". Oral presentation. IV
Conference on Environmental Product ¬ Building Innovation 2010,
Bilbao, April 2010
[17] European Commission. "Smarter and cleaner. Producing and consuming
sustainably". Official Publications of the European Communities, ISBN
978-92-79-08112-5, 2009
[18] P. Fullana. "Workshop on communication of eco-designed products: the
standard ISO 14021N", Oral presentation, Barcelona, June 2009
[19] Clean Technology Centre (CTL) and Network of Institutes of
Technology in the Valencia Region (REDIT). "Eco-labelling guidelines"
(Online). Available http://www.xarxaambiental.es/guias/, November
2009
[20] Generalitat Catalunya. "Emblem of Guarantee of Environmental
Quality: Ecological criteria for wooden products". (Online), Available:
http://mediambient.gencat.net/cat/empreses/ecoproductes_i_ecoserveis/d
istintiu.jsp
[21] European Commission. "Ecological criteria for the award of the
Community ecolabel to furniture" (Online), Available:.:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/
[22] FSC-Spain, private communication, January 2010
[23] PEFC-Spain, private communication, May 2010
[24] EPD-System database. (Online), Available:
http://www.environdec.com/pageId.asp?id=105&menu=4,14,0
[25] Procura+ Project "National Plan on Green Public Procurement"
(Online). Available:
http://www.compraverde.org/contenido.asp?id=279
[26] Clean Technology Centre (CTL) and Network of Institutes of
Technology in the Valencia Region (REDIT) "Green Public
Procurement guidelines" (Online). Available
http://www.xarxaambiental.es/guias/. November 2009
[27] National Statistics Institute (INE) "Central Companies Directory:
statistical use". (Online). Available:
http://www.ine.es/en/inebmenu/mnu_empresas_en.htm. May 2010
[28] Eurostat, "European business – Facts and figures, 2009 edition".
(Online). Available: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, February 2010
[29] Furniture Foresight Centre (CEFFOR). "The furniture industry in 2016.
Competitive scenarios: trends and strategic implications". ISBN: 978-
84-95077-32-5, November 2008
[30] National Association of Furniture Manufacturers and Exporters
(ANIEME) Anual report of furniture exports". (Online).
http://www.anieme.com/actualidad/datos-sector.aspx, March 2010
[31] J. Navarro, P. Hayward and J. Voros. "How to solve a wicked problem?
Furniture foresight case study". Foresight, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.11-28,
December 2007
[32] C. Benoit, G. A. Norris, S. Valdivia, A. Ciroth, A. Moberg, U. Bos, S.
Prakash, C. Ugaya and T. Beck. "The guidelines for social life cycle
assessment of products: just in time". Int. J. Life Cycle Assess, vol. 15,
no. 2, pp. 156-163, January 2010
[33] Australian Federal Government "Product roadmaps". (Online).
Available: http://thehub.ethics.org.au/sme/product_roadmaps
[34] C. English, D. Taschler and C Wall. "CSTP Sustainability Guide:
A Process for Sustainable Decision Making" (Online). Available:
www.aiche.org. September 2008
[35] K. -H. Robert, B. Schmidt-Bleek, J. Aloisi de Larderel, G. Basile, J. L.
Jansen, R. Kuehr, P. Price Thomas, M. Suzuki, P. Hawken and M.
Wackernagel. "Strategic sustainable development — selection, design
and synergies of applied tools”. Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 10,
no. 3, pp. 197-214. June 2002
[36] H. Baumann, F. Boons, A. Bragd. "Mapping the green product
development field: engineering, policy and business perspectives”.
Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 10, pp. 409–425, 2002
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:62046", author = "P.Cordero and R.Poler and R.Sanchis", title = "Identification of the Key Sustainability Issues to Develop New Decision Support Tools in the Spanish Furniture Sector", abstract = "The environmental impacts caused by the current production and consumption models, together with the impact that the current economic crisis, bring necessary changes in the European industry toward new business models based on sustainability issues that could allow them to innovate and improve their competitiveness. This paper analyzes the key environmental issues and the current and future market trends in one of the most important industrial sectors in Spain, the furniture sector. It also proposes new decision support tools -diagnostic kit, roadmap and guidelines- to guide companies to implement sustainability criteria into their organizations, including eco-design strategies and other economical and social strategies in accordance with the sustainability definition, and other available tools such as eco-labels, environmental management systems, etc., and to use and combine them to obtain the results the company expects to help improve its competitiveness.
", keywords = "Furniture sector, eco-design, sustainability, economical crisis, market trends, roadmap", volume = "4", number = "6", pages = "1368-13", }
