Connecting dots: Sustainability - Coopetition - Requirement based engineering

-


Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash


Looking back at 20+ years in different industries but always close to engineering, I am grateful for all experiences which make up a powerful combination. 

The past decades have seen a tremendously quick development in technology and business models with an eye on sustainability in all its sub-topics especially in the past few years.



Leading new product development in a start-up environment at Dance while still being part of the aviation industry as a mentor at the Sustainable Aero Lab sparks a lot of thoughts around the topics which both roles have in common: Sustainability, Engineering, Coopetition.

Sustainability - ecological, economical and social - has become a key factor to success. Regulations as the EU Greendeal and the Supply Chain Act which put governmental regulated pressure to the industries and the social mind & behavioral change of recent generations, who influence consumer decisions, lead to intensified interest of investors in Sustainability. And there is no doubt we have to invest into sustainabililty to treat our environment and people with foresight and care.

The challenge to implement a strategy for sustainability is a uniting factor for manufacturers. Standards, as voluntary guidelines, have emerged for various industries and give good guidance. Nonetheless the implementation strategy is often developed individually and may suffer resources and know-how for various reasons.

Having seen the power of cooperation between competitors at the Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance (IAMA), I am certain an approach of coopetition would allow manufacturers to not only get faster results but also benefit from swarm intelligence, no matter the size of the company involved. 

While IAMAs target is above all to establish and secure a level playing field (in aircraft modification), aligned effort for sustainable manufactured products makes a great case to sit at the table. To truly implement (ecological) sustainability into hardware products (and not "only" offset the carbon footprint) it requires technology and concepts to enable re-use and recycle - and this again requires volume to still be competitive especially as a smaller fish in the pond. With coopetition and united efforts it will even become a competitive advantage over large single players.

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

This is now where Engineering comes to sight. While there is way better advocates, mentors and experts for economical and social sustainability than me - the engineering piece is certainly my playground. With being a part of the Sustainable Aero Lab and together with a great team of engineers defining new products in the bike industry, I see an enormous potential (often unused) to upfront define engineering requirements to enable future end-of-life concepts. 


While companies like DANCE pay into the sustainable field even with their business model which requires long life, high utilization and high reliability, there is always room to improve the end-of-life of a product which will come at a certain time - like it or not. As much as we have the total cost of ownership in mind for economical sustainable products in the shared economy, we have to plan & design for re-use, recycle or even circular economy concepts at the very beginning of a new product or part design. Implementing a set of requirements which get observed in the entire design process - and validated! - is a necessary step to implement sustainability into engineering teams. (Note to my team: #inlovewithrequirementbasedengineering)

The question we have to answer will be the same for every manufacturer: How can we ensure parts not only being made for assembly but disassembly? How can we ensure materials get separated for future use without chemical treatments? How can we design better to get e.g. battery parts back in the lifecycle? And how can we achieve a certain volume to change manufacturing to recycable material without limiting competitive pricing and putting the business model to danger? How can we foster local production at scale? How can we make 3D digital twins an industry-wide accepted early stage prototype method to save resources from hard prototypes?

I am all-in to learn, give-and-take and carefully exchange on the questions above - and I am more than certain it will benefit (each) industry. Happy to see you as engineering leads, engineers and CEOs reaching out to talk. 

Some credits to whom the inspiration of the article belongs to:

Annelouise van Dijke of IAMA (for the encouragement)

Friedbert Schmitt and Weber fibertech (for their great presentation)

Michelle Baker of Atkins (for her insights shared in #156 of the Engineering Matters podcast)

Jessica Eyer (for great requirements at Dance)





Popular posts from this blog

Finding the Right Balance: Hiring or Outsourcing for Your High-Potential Startup Team

-
Image
  Photo by Christophe Hautier on Unsplash This article is co-authored with  Sera Evcimen  of  The Builder Circle by Pratik . Considering whether to hire or outsource is an exciting time for any startup founder. It signifies that you have the necessary funds and a well-defined development and growth plan, and now you require additional manpower to execute your vision. This article aims to explore the advantages and disadvantages of both hiring and outsourcing, providing you with trigger questions to help you make an informed decision. Before delving into the details, it is crucial to ensure that your product development plan has matured in terms of time and product requirements. Additionally, having a clear understanding of the skills available in your current team versus the skills required for your envisioned product development is essential. If you haven't yet addressed these areas, it would be beneficial to invest time into roadmap and skill planning. For insights...
Read more

Composing a team - its all about skills

-
Image
Photo by Memento Media on Unsplash The previous articles gave an introduction to common roles seen in hardware development teams ( managing roles   and   engineering roles ). Those role descriptions and lists of common responsibilities give a good starting point to think about the tasks it takes to develop a hardware product and the skills required to master the tasks. As a start-up, you won’t hire for each role, you hire for skills and attitude - and flexibility. All team members will certainly switch their hats and jump between different roles, depending on the stage of product development and team size. This counts as much for start-up as for established small and mid-size companies. A tool, I recommend to use from the very beginning, is the Skill Matrix. The skill matrix maps and visualized required and desired skills. Of course, it can also get introduced at any time of the team building process and for every size of team. It serves as a tool for many purposes such as hir...
Read more

Embracing Diversity in Engineering Teams: Unleashing the Power

-
Image
Short foreword: Thank you Clare Sayas Ronning for all your input on this piece. It took longer than expected until I felt ready to publish. Your insights are gold and this article would not be half as good without your feedback in input. “CEB research found that in a more diverse and inclusive workforce, individual discretionary effort improves by 12%, intent to stay improves by 20%, and team collaboration and commitment improve by about 50%.” (Source: Gartner / CEB Study ) *Diversity* – a term often echoed in today's corporate landscape, encompassing a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. When it comes to engineering teams, recognizing the immeasurable value of diversity becomes even more critical. Study after study has conclusively showcased numerous advantages that diverse engineering teams possess, revolutionizing not only the way we work but also the solutions we create.  This article offers valuable insights to hiring managers and leaders, shedding light...
Read more