Electronics Sector Meeting Recap

September 28-30, 2011
Best Buy Corporate Headquarters | Richfield, MN

Day 1
The meeting started with general introductions, updates (Level 1 and Level 2) and an overview of Bonnie’s direction in support of the efforts being explored by the sector related to the deliverables related to Level 1 and Level 2. In her message she demonstrated how the communication tools within a B2B environment would aide in driving innovations throughout the supply chain.

Dr. Elsa Olivetti (MIT) and Dr. Carole Mars review and discussed the process and functionality of using Earthster as the reporting tool. The sector broke into a working session to help in finalizing the look and expectations of this tool.

We reviewed and explored the process of migrating, through the Decision Tree process, the research data within the Level 1 Dossiers to a CSP. The focus of the discussion was in sharing the methodology and getting buy in by the attendees on the decision tree process. The outcome was in general an acceptance of this process, with some minor adjustments, which will be implemented.

The sector is driven to developing a communication facing deliverable (index). We held a breakout session to help in identifying areas that need to have a focus and key processes for this effort, as well as potential roadblocks for its success. The outcome of this effort was that there are still many questions in how the Product Declaration will become transformed to a consumer facing deliverable, but it was also indentified that the Consumer Science working group has some good insights on the final deliverables. This effort will be discuss more as a project proposal is developed and shared within the sector.

The 1st day ended with a brainstorm session led by Co-Chairs; Dr. Alex Degher (HP) and Kristyn Rankin (Dell), on some key areas in which innovation solutions can be applied as significant change agents within the life cycle. A proposal will be developed and shared with the sector in the coming months, as we wrap up on some of the Level 1 and Level 2 efforts.

Day 2
Dr. Margo Hutchins (Berkley) and Dr. Carole Mars gave an update related to the various Research project that are being explored for the sector (EOL, Take back, USEtox).

As the sector in completing efforts related to Laptops we are looking forward towards Mobile and Television. We dedicated time to review the goals, expectations and needs from the members within in this sector that support these products. The general concern was that the members want see results from the Laptop efforts, prior to engaging with their engineering personnel to supply significant data to the LCA modeling. Throughout the meeting it was conveyed that there is a smaller subset of information required so that the sector can keep moving forward with a Baseline Model, and to ensure that the information being supplied within the Level 1 was significant and validated by the members.