Question

Herman Miller • Key Issue: PVC(polyvinyl chloride ) in arm pad not compliant to DfE(Design for Environment ) standards. Replace PVC with TPU(thermoplastic urethane )? • Study Questions:

• Perform a cost/benefit analysis of the key issue

•Describe the building blocks of Herman Miller's DfE/C2C(the cradle- to-cradle ) system

• What does a company have to do to build and implement a similar system?

Answer 1

. They are faced with thedilemma of whether they should go with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as the material for the chair or if they should switch to a more environmentally friendly material called thermoplastic urethane (TPU).PVC was the industry standard at the time and known to be inexpensive and had all of thequalities that were needed such as durability. On the other hand it also considered a “red” material dueto its toxicity.

Given Herman Millers adoption of triple bottom-
line philosophy we would suggest that theymove towards phasing out PVC and implementing TPU as costly and efficiently as possible. As of now, the TPU option is too costly and needs to be researched more in terms high volume productiontooling which would need to be replaced at a cost of $100,000 in addition to the 30% increase in costsfrom going to the PVC material to the TPU material. Herman Miller must also work with its suppliersto make the switch possible and least costly for all parties. The 10 month timeframe between the DfEsteering committee meeting and the Mirra chair product launch would not give them time toaccomplish this.Weighing the significance of Herman Millers role in the furniture industry we see that HermanMiller is one of the top four suppliers in the furniture industry. Additionally we see that they have arecord of setting the pace for the rest of the industry in terms of environmental leadership wherecompetitors also followed in their footsteps.

Part of the DfE team responsibility was to balance environmental goals with business decisions.TPU usage though being a better decision for their environmental goals was not good for their businessat the time. Perhaps Herman Miller can make the arms of the chair a removable component that can betaken off sent back to Herman Miller for proper disposal and replaced by the customer with TPU armsthat Herman Miller provides once it becomes economically feasible to do so. An option like this wouldallow Herman Miller to find a middle ground for the Mirra Launch and maintain both its businessleverage and environmental leadership; in addition it would fit well with their cradle to cradle goals