Case study - Zenith Interiors
- Changing needs of customer/market
- Aim to be market leader
- Social responsibility
- A need to stay in business
Summary
Zenith aims to increase its market share by taking up Environmentally Sustainable Design and realizes that in doing so they must create awareness of the need for ESD among customers, employees and suppliers.
"For us, this is an investment in our business, not a cost", Michael Bond, Account Manager at Zenith.
Company Overview
Zenith Interiors Pty Ltd is an Australian owned company that specialises in the design, manufacture and marketing of a wide range of products and services for the commercial furniture industry.
Incorporated in 1990, today Zenith operates from showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne and provides an Australia wide service.
Zenith is ranked in the top three Australian owned suppliers of furniture to the commercial furniture industry. Today, Zenith has set out to become a market leader specialising in workstations, storage, filing and seating, with Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) as a key component of this strategy.
- Profitability
- Improved knowledge of product and impacts
- Ability to work with and influence suppliers
- Promotes innovation
How Life Cycle Management (LCM) has become a part of the business strategy
The competitive nature of the office furniture industry, both locally and globally, and Zenith's aim to be a market leader, prompted the company to innovate with sustainable product design.
"Environmental considerations first came into the design of our products as a component of our product innovation process in 2000. We started by investigating opportunities to use more environmentally friendly materials", states Michael Bond, Account Manager at Zenith.
At the same time, there were market signals suggesting that this would become an essential way of doing business in the office furniture industry. Initially, public sector tenders were requesting information on the environmental impacts of products supplied. Zenith has found over the past three years this trend is expanding rapidly into the commercial sector and looks set to continue. This has prompted Zenith to adopt product Life Cycle Management as a core component of their business strategy.
Today LCM influences many aspects of product and business strategy, including relationships with its suppliers, customers and staff.
"Our aim is to have ESD integrated into all of our products", states Michael Bond, Account Manager at Zenith.
- Not all suppliers are willing - engage with those who will
- Different customers asking different questions
- Increasing competition
What Zenith have done
In 1999 Zenith engaged the services of an environmental consultant to look at their manufacturing procedures and find opportunities for waste minimization. The consultant's report prompted Zenith to look at their products in a more holistic way. They commenced a process of identifying environmentally preferable materials for use in its products, educated and involved Zenith staff, strengthened relationships with suppliers and ultimately undertook a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two product ranges.
By engaging with suppliers, Zenith was able to learn more about the materials that went into their products, align themselves with willing suppliers and develop alternative materials that provide value across the supply chain.
Zenith decided that they needed to do a detailed LCA to verify that the decisions they were making as part of their product innovation were the best environmental options across the life cycle. "LCA is comprehensive. It allows us to answer the different questions we were being asked by the market. The LCA also provided us with an independent assessment, which adds credibility to our offering to the market", says Michael.
Zenith has also progressed down the path of educating their customers, who are currently not requiring environmentally preferred products. This will help to grow their market in the future.
Surprising outcomes:
Through working with one of their suppliers, Zenith has generated change across the industry. Zenith worked with Alpine MDF to reduce the environmental impact of its medium density fibreboard. As a result of the partnership Alpine MDF now supply an environmentally improved product - 100% E0 Trimatrx - MDF with reduced formeldahyde emission to all of its customers. Alpine MDF are continuing to improve other aspects of their products and processes.
Benefits
For Zenith, the benefits of understanding and managing the product life cycle have been the ability to boost the company's profile and subsequent access to a larger market share.
"If we didn't go down this path 5 years ago, we would be missing out on big jobs today".
"LCA creates awareness and shows us a path forward - it shows just how great Zenith's products could be and helps to promote product innovation. It also offers Zenith credibility and gives us market leadership", says Michael.
"LCA provides accountability. It is very easy for us to say we are green and for anybody else to ask, but how do you measure that? That's a real benefit of LCA." Andrew Farr, a Director at Zenith sees the imperative value of conducting an LCA.
"We certainly see ESD as an investment, not a cost. The awareness of ESD is growing in the industry and designers are interested in innovative ESD products," he adds.
Future Priorities
Zenith continues to realize that it needs to be proactive to maintain its market position. In an industry that is continually evolving, Zenith envisages that the significance of LCM will continue to grow. Subsequently, its impact on the business' strategic planning is becoming more prominent.
As part of its LCM strategy, Zenith is examining opportunities to incorporate product stewardship into their business strategy, including, for example, options to take back all of its products for reuse or recycling.
Looking forward, Zenith also aims to involve more staff, suppliers and customers in its LCM strategy. "We will continue to develop invaluable relationships with suppliers, that way we provide value for our suppliers and for Zenith", says Michael.
Andrew adds, "We believe that ultimately any business that doesn't take an LCM path will ultimately cease to be able to do business in the future."
