A L O N G T H E S U P P L Y C H A I N
Nike’s Trash Talking Shoes
Since the launch of its Reuse-A-Shoe program, Nike has re- cycled more than 21 million pairs of athletic shoes to create public basketball courts, athletic tracks, and playground surfaces around the world. Nike’s latest initiative, Consid- ered Design, seeks to design products that use environmen- tally preferred materials, eliminate toxins, and are fully closed loop (i.e., produced using the fewest possible materi- als, designed for easy disassembly, and completely recy- clable at the end of their useful life or safely returned to nature). One hundred percent compliance to this goal for footwear is expected by 2011, apparel by 2015, and equip- ment by 2020.
Nike’s entry into sustainable practices took an interesting turn when it offered its first line of environmentally friendly shoes. At the center of the line was a walking boot made with brown hemp fibers, dubbed “Air Hobbit” by detractors.
From that foray, Nike determined that its customers weren’t really interested in being eco-friendly, that they were much more concerned with performance than sustainability. Enter the trash-talking shoe.
Steve Nash, the all-star guard for the Phoenix Suns, forged a partnership with Nike to create a “Nike Trash Talk”
version of his favorite basketball shoe. The high-performance shoe is made completely from manufacturing waste—scraps of leather material and foam that would otherwise be dis- carded, and Nike Grind rubber recycled from old athletic shoes. Although revealed with fanfare at a Suns game, Nike does not, as a rule, market its sustainability efforts. Nike ads do not portray a “feel-good, do-good” attitude; instead, it’s all about winning. So Nike prefers to “do more and say less”
about its green business practices.
In another effort to go green, the latest design of the Air Jordan eliminates excess plastic, uses recycled material, and
is sewn on a newly designed machine that saves electricity and reduces its carbon shoeprint.
1 What types of products do you purchase that are eco-friendly? Are there some products that you would not normally purchase with that designation?
2 How do you feel about purchasing products that are re-manufactured? Should this information be provided in product labels? How do you know that refurbished products or products with
recycled content will perform as well as brand new products?
Source: Reena Jana, “Nike Goes Green Very Quietly,” BusinessWeek (June 22, 2009), p. 56; Nike Web site, http://www.nikebiz.com/
responsibility/considered_design/index.html.
on a simpler lever that will make the roof easier to open. The new lever is tested and works well with the old seal. Neither engineer is aware of the activities of the other. As it turns out, the com- bination of heavier roof (due to the increased insulation) and lighter lever means that the driver can no longer open the sunroof with one hand! Hopefully, the problem will be detected in proto- type testing before the car is put into production. At that point, one or both components will need to be redesigned. Otherwise, cars already produced will need to be reworked and cars already sold will have to be recalled. None of these alternatives is pleasant, and they all involve consider- able cost.
Could such problems be avoided if engineers worked in teams and shared information? Not entirely. Even in design teams, there is no guarantee that all decisions will be coordinated. Ford and Firestone have worked together for over 75 years. But teamwork did not prevent Firestone tires designed to fit the Ford Explorer from failing when inflated to Ford specifications. A formal method is needed for making sure that everyone working on a design project knows the design objectives and is aware of the interrelationships of the various parts of the design. Similar commu- nications are needed to translate the voice of the customer to technical design requirements. Such a process is called quality function deployment (QFD).
Quality function deployment (QFD):
translates the voice of the customer into technical design requirements.
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Exercises
QFD uses a series of matrix diagrams that resemble connected houses. The first matrix, dubbed the house of quality, converts customer requirements into product-design characteristics.
As shown in Figure 4.8, the house of quality has six sections: a customer requirements section, a competitive assessment section, a design characteristics section, a relationship matrix, a tradeoff matrix, and a target values section. Let’s see how these sections interrelate by building a house of quality for a steam iron.
Our customers tell us they want an iron that presses quickly, removes wrinkles, doesn’t stick to fabric, provides enough steam, doesn’t spot fabric, and doesn’t scorch fabric (see Figure 4.9).
We enter those attributes into the customer requirements section of the house. For easier refer- ence, we can group them into a category called “Irons well.” Next we ask our customers to rate the list of requirements on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important. Our customers rate presses quickly and doesn’t scorch fabric as the most important attributes, with a score of 9.
A second group of attributes, called “Easy and safe to use” is constructed in a similar manner.
Figure 4.8 Outline of the House of Quality
2 Competitive
assessment 4
Relationship matrix 1
Customer requirements
5 Trade-off matrix
6 Target values
Importance 3
Design characteristics
Figure 4.9 A Competitive Assessment of Customer Requirements
Presses quickly Removes wrinkles Doesn’t stick to fabric Provides enough steam Doesn’t spot fabric Doesn’t scorch fabric Heats quickly Automatic shut-off Quick cool-down
Doesn’t break when dropped Doesn’t burn when touched Not too heavy
9 9 8 6 8 6 9 6 3 3 5 5 8
Easy and safe to useIrons well
Competitive Assessment
Customer Requirements 1 2 3 4 5
B A X
B
A X
BA X
B
A X
B A X
B AX
B A
X
B A X A B X
B
A X
B A X
B A X
Customer requirements