GREENING TODAY'S PRODUCTS: AEROSPACE

Green, or environmentally-friendly, products are often developed to stand out to ecologically-conscience consumers. Faced with constant scrutiny from a wide range of regulatory bodies, Aerospace and Defense (A&D) manufacturers report that compliance to Green-related regulations required for market entry is driving Green product development 50 percent more often than their peers in other industries.

When compared to the industry average, A&D manufacturers have significantly more requirements for disposal, recyclability or substance compliance and address this with allocation of these requirements to specific product configurations ? in fact 50 percent of A&D manufacturers, compared to only 38 percent of the industry average do this.

Design for regulatory compliance is the top strategy reported among A&D companies, where 27 percent of them are paying a high level of attention to designing products for low or zero-emissions, compared to 19 percent of the best-in-class.

Despite the high level of adoption of capabilities that support design for resource or emission efficiency, A&D companies are slow to adopt the software tools to effectively design for these regulatory requirements. In order for A&D manufacturers to meet product cost targets and product launch dates, while still addressing environmental concerns, A&D companies must clearly define their green requirements, ensuring they have a clear understanding of the bill of substances, generate and assess more concepts and ideas to meet green requirements, and teach products to ?think green.?

Findings from our August 2008 Greening Today's Products report indicate that Aerospace and Defense (A&D) manufacturers, on the other hand, are more likely than their peers to report regulatory compliance as a top driver. The need to comply with these regulations is taking its toll on A&D manufacturers, who meet considerably fewer product cost targets than the Industry Average. This Sector Insight identifies the role that green plays in the A&D industry and how these organizations can better manage the requirements that green and compliance initiatives place on their product development processes.