Abstract

Customers are aware of the complexity of supply chains and link this to a high environmental burden. However, if not coupled with quantitative results, this may be overestimated. The present paper proposes a general method used in the specific case of deep environmental evaluation of a swimming goggles distribution. The results are compared to the consumers’ perceptions, collected and analyzed from questionnaires, and the remaining product lifecycle stages, assessed through the life cycle assessment (LCA). The design and prototyping phases take place in Italy, the goods are manufactured in Asia, and further commercialized worldwide. The environmental analysis enabled the identification of the most impacting lifecycle phases. Results highlight that for small products, with a simple use phase like the goggles, the distribution phase retains a small percentage of the overall environmental impact; thus, it is reasonable to simplify the modeling of the supply chain by selecting a limited number of significant scenarios. This work proves how important is to quantify and rationalize the environmental impacts of a complex system. The end of life and transport phases are perceived as high impacting, but the life cycle assessment analysis reveals that the materials and manufacturing phases retain the highest impacts and are the first that should be improved. Consequently, proper dissemination, cooperation, and communication strategies should be carried out by the goggles brand toward suppliers and stakeholders; the company is now studying how to replace virgin materials with recycled content to lower the environmental impact without hampering the product’s performance.

References

1.
Jones
,
A.
,
Deshmukh
,
A.
,
Kumara
,
S.
, and
Li
,
M.-S.
,
2008
, “
Engineering Complex, Information-Based, Networked Industrial Systems: A Research Roadmap
,”
ASME J. Comput. Inf. Sci. Eng.
,
8
(
1
), p.
011005
.
2.
Mentzer
,
J.
,
Stank
,
T.
, and
Myers
,
M.
,
2007
,
Handbook of Global Supply Chain Management
,
SAGE Publications
,
Thousand Oaks, CA
.
3.
Bertrand
,
J. W. M.
,
2003
, “
Supply Chain Design: Flexibility Considerations
,”
Handbooks Oper. Res. Manage. Sci.
,
11
, pp.
133
198
.
4.
Ladyman
,
J.
,
Lambert
,
J.
, and
Wiesner
,
K.
,
2013
, “
What is a Complex System?
,”
Eur. J. Philos. Sci.
,
3
(
1
), pp.
33
67
.
5.
Soria Zurita
,
N. F.
,
Colby
,
M. K.
,
Tumer
,
I. Y.
,
Hoyle
,
C.
, and
Tumer
,
K.
,
2017
, “
Design of Complex Engineered Systems Using Multi-Agent Coordination
,”
ASME J. Comput. Inf. Sci. Eng.
,
18
(
1
), p.
011003
.
6.
Isisk
,
F.
,
2011
, “
Complexity in Supply Chains: A New Approach to Quantitative Measurement of the Supply-Chain-Complexity
,”
Supply Chain Manag.
,
21
(
4
), pp.
417
432
.
7.
Raaidi
,
S.
,
Bouhaddou
,
I.
, and
Benghabrit
,
I.
,
2018
, “
Is Supply Chain a Complex System?
International Workshop on Transportation and Supply Chain Engineering (IWTSCE'18)
, MATEC Web of Conferences.
8.
Ciccarelli
,
M.
,
Papetti
,
A.
,
Germani
,
M.
,
Leone
,
A.
, and
Rescio
,
G.
,
2022
, “
Human Work Sustainability Tool
,”
J. Manuf. Syst.
,
62
, pp.
76
86
.
9.
Raman
,
A. S.
,
Morris
,
K. C.
, and
Haapala
,
K. R.
,
2022
, “
Reusing and Extending Standards-Based Unit Manufacturing Process Models for Characterizing Sustainability Performance
,”
ASME J. Comput. Inf. Sci. Eng.
,
23
(
2
), p.
021005
.
10.
Rossi
,
M.
,
Cappelletti
,
F.
,
Marconi
,
M.
, and
Germani
,
M.
,
2022
, “A Design for De-Manufacturing Methodology to Improve the Product End of Life Environmental Sustainability,”
Design Tools and Methods in Industrial Engineering II. ADM 2021. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering
,
C.
Rizzi
,
F.
Campana
,
M.
Bici
,
F.
Gherardini
,
T.
Ingrassia
, and
P.
Cicconi
, eds.,
Springer
,
Cham
, pp.
373
380
.
11.
Cappelletti
,
F.
,
Rossi
,
M.
,
Germani
,
M.
, and
Hanif
,
M. S.
,
2021
, “
A Methodology to Support Companies in the First Steps Towards De-Manufacturing
,”
Proceedings of the Design Society: 23rd International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED21)
.
12.
Rossi
,
M.
,
Papetti
,
A.
,
Marconi
,
M.
, and
Germani
,
M.
,
2021
, “
Life Cycle Assessment of a Leather Shoe Supply Chain
,”
Int. J. Sustainable Eng.
,
14
(
4
), pp.
686
703
.
13.
Muthu
,
S. S.
,
2014
, “9 – Measuring the Environmental Impact of Textiles in Practice: Calculating the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Particular Textile Products,”
Assessing the Environmental Impact of Textiles and the Clothing Supply Chain
,
Woodhead Publishing
,
Sawston, UK
, pp.
163
179
.
14.
Nissinen
,
A.
,
Seppälä
,
J.
, and
Heinonen
,
T.
,
2022
, “
Make Carbon Footprints Available—And It is Not Just One Value
,”
Clean. Logist. Supply Chain
,
3
, p.
100023
.
15.
Hayat
,
N.
,
Hussain
,
A.
, and
Lohano
,
H. D.
,
2020
, “
Eco-Labeling and Sustainability: A Case of Textile Industry in Pakistan
,”
J. Cleaner Prod.
,
252
, p.
119807
.
16.
Marconi
,
M.
,
Marilungo
,
E.
,
Papetti
,
A.
, and
Germani
,
M.
,
2017
, “
Traceability as a Means to Investigate Supply Chain Sustainability: The Real Case of a Leather Shoe Supply Chain
,”
Int. J. Prod. Res.
,
55
(
22
), pp.
6638
6652
.
17.
Moazzem
,
S.
,
Daver
,
F.
,
Crossin
,
E.
, and
Wang
,
L.
,
2018
, “
Assessing Environmental Impact of Textile Supply Chain Using Life Cycle Assessment Methodology
,”
J. Text. Inst.
,
109
(
12
), pp.
1574
1585
.
18.
Henry
,
B. K.
,
Russell
,
S. J.
,
Ledgard
,
S. F.
,
Gollnow
,
S.
,
Wiedemann
,
S. G.
,
Nebel
,
B.
,
Maslen
,
D.
, and
Swan
,
P.
,
2015
,
Handbook of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Textiles and Clothing
,
Woodhead Publishing Series in Textiles
, pp.
217
254
.
19.
European Environmental Agency
,
2019
, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Provided by European Environment Agency (EEA),” https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/ghg-emissions-by-aggregated-sector-5#tab-dashboard-02, Accessed April 2022.
20.
Afshari
,
H.
,
Peng
,
Q.
, and
Gu
,
P.
,
2016
, “
Design Optimization for Sustainable Products Under Users’ Preference Changes
,”
ASME J. Comput. Inf. Sci. Eng.
,
16
(
4
), p.
041001
.
21.
IEA
, “
Total Energy Supply (TES) by Source, People's Republic of China 1990–2019
,” https://www.iea.org/countries/china, Accessed April 2022.
22.
Zhu
,
Q.
,
Geng
,
Y.
, and
Lai
,
K.
,
2010
, “
Circular Economy Practices Among Chinese Manufacturers Varying in Environmental-Oriented Supply Chain Cooperation and the Performance Implications
,”
J. Environ. Manage.
,
91
(
6
), pp.
1324
1331
.
23.
Kolers
,
P. A.
,
1983
, “
Perception and Representation
,”
Ann. Rev. Psychol.
,
34
(
1
), pp.
129
166
.
You do not currently have access to this content.