On Tuesday, 5/29, Gather will host a live chat with Scott Charon and Gabe Wing of Herman Miller from 2-3PM ET. Scott and Gabe will be featured on Sundance Channel's "Big Ideas for a Small Planet".
Often furniture designers are forced to sacrifice environmentally conscious choices for the sake of cutting edge and high-end design. Herman Miller is a company that has always made its furniture to last, but now they are going one step further. Brian Walker, the company’s CEO, threw down the green gauntlet to make all new lines of furniture 100% sustainable by the year 2020. It was an opportunity to do something innovative and groundbreaking inside the walls of an industry giant. Lead by engineers Scott Charon and Gabe Wing, the Design for the Environment (DfE) team of engineers has the monumental task of developing sustainable concepts and prototypes for future Herman Miller lines.
Chat live with Scott Charon and Gabe Wing of Herman Miller and find out why home furnishings really do play a role in the environment. What changes can you make? Find out in the chat!
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Do you have a "Big Idea" for the environment? Join The Green to learn more about Robert Redford's new television series about sustainable living. To join, click here.
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Comments: 54
Gather members--We hope to see you here for the live chat today. If you are unable to make it, but have a question for Scott and Gabe, please leave it in the comment thread below.
Looking forward to our call today.
Scott
The founder of the company D.J. DePree in 1956 stated "That Herman Miller shall be good stewards of the environment" so we like to say it is in our DNA today. Also, our current leadership team has a very strong focus on the environment.
Scott
Our customers most likely will not pay more for environmentally friendly products. As we are trying to find better alternatives for exiting materials, we try as hard as we can to keep the costs in check.
Scott
I am not sure that anyone really understands what fully sustainable means. Herman Miller has focused on some key areas that make the most sense for our business. These areas include reducing our environmental footprint by 80% and also selling only products that meet our Design for the Environment protocol by 2020. If we meet these targets before 2020, I am sure there will be other areas to focus our attention on.
We take a very hard look at sustainable harvesting practices of our suppliers to make sure they meet our standards. We also look at the chemistry of the stains and sealers used for manufacturing.
Scott
In addition to our efforts to improve both product design and product manufacturing, we also have environmental training the is a requirement for all employees as part of our ISO 14001 program. We also hold an annual environmental conference that is open to anyone, employees, suppliers, competitors. This year for Earth Day, all employees in West Michigan received a compact flourescent lamp to reduce the demand for electrical energy.
My background is actually in business. I have an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in Supply Management and an MBA from Grand Valley State University in Finance. Gabe is a Chemical Engineering graduate from Michigan and has his Masters degree from Michigan State. So, I'm the business guys and Gabe is the scientist.
Scott
Our team was put in place in early 2001. The first product launch under our strict Design for the Environment program was the Mirra chair in 2003. Since that time we have launched Celle chair, Foray chair, My Studio Environments, Vivo. We are also going back to clean up our existing products as well.
Scott
Our Design for the Environment program was the result of a pilot program with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). As Scott mention above, Herman Miller has always been concerned about being a good steward of the Earth's resources. We have worked with Bill McDonough since 1984 and he had numerous conversations with our executive team about incorporation Cradle to Cradle design in our products. In 1997, the DfE pilot program was kicked-off. The goal of this program was to determine how to incorporate a DfE program into our product development process. The results of this project included the reccomendation to hire a chemical engineer and a supply managament professional (Scott and me). Our DfE process looks at the chemistry of our materials, designing for disassembly, and the recyclability of the materials.
We have 13 LEED buildings at Herman Miller, the most in our industry. We have recycling of office and manufacturing materials. We do have incentives for car pooling to work, but public transportation is not good in our current West Michigan infrastructure. We have a holistic approach to sustainability, not just focusing on one area.
Scott
I think that the EU and USA are confronted with different issues. As far as alignment with the EU, CA and MN do a fantastic job of adopting leading edge environmental legislation from our friends accross the Atlantic. As we move towards a truly global economy, there is increasing pressure for corporations to ensure compliance no matter where they ship products.
I am not a political expert...but I hope so!
Design does not have to be short changed to be "Green". In fact, it can enhance the entire design process as well. The DfE protocol is a new constraint that we have placed on our designers and engineers working on new designs. There is a famous quote from Charles Eames where he said of the design process "I don't remember being forced to accept compromises, but I've willingly accepted constraints." The DfE protocol is one more constraint in the process. Also, we test our products to last for 12 years, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, new greener materials must function properly.
Scott
We have been very open and honest about adopting the MBDC protocol with our competitors. In fact, I gave a presentation to the West Michigan Sustainable business forum in 2001 regarding our direction and our competitors where present. We don't want to compete in the area of the environment as we all share the same world. And yes, a couple of the competitors follow and have now adopted this protocol as well and we were glad to see that.
Scott
They were a great bunch of folks to work with. We were a little nervous at first, but we settled in and had a good time filming the episode. We got used to having cameras in our face for two days.
Scott
Have your green policies extended to all aspects of the business, from design to manufacturing to shipping? Specifically, I'm wondering how you've tackled transportation. Large product delivery - things like cars, home electronics, etc. - in aggregate have a huge impact on the environment. Are you doing anything on that front, be it through more green-conscious packaging, more efficient shipping routes, or delivery scheduling to make you even more environmentally-friendly?
But what are some of the negative effects that not so earth friendly furniture can have?
We don't have a take back program at Herman Miller. In fact, our furniture can last a very long time and we believe durability is an important part of sustainability. There is a secondary market in which office furniture is traded and used to a 2nd or 3rd life. So it is not easy to implement a good return strategy. It's easy to promise, but hard to really deliver. We believe regionally recycling programs are the way to go in the future; it really doesn't make sense to send furniture back to West Michigan for recycling with the cost of energy today. So we have some work to do in this area, but at least we have the front end covered.
Scott
Tune into the Sundance Channel tonight, Tuesday, May 29th at 9 p.m. to see Scott and Gabe and learn more about Herman Miller's efforts to go green.
Off gassing and materials with heavy metals just tom mention a couple. You really need to know what is in your materials.
Scott
- Scott and Gabe