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IBM Offers Product Life Cycle Analysis Services

The computing giant has developed consulting offerings that look at material selection, packaging, end-of-life management and other life cycle issues.

IBM has added product life cycle analysis to its Global Business Services consulting offerings to help companies consider the entire life cycle of products, from design and development to packaging, transportation and disposal.

The IBM Environmental Product Lifecycle Management service includes six points: compliance, end-of-life management, life cycle assessment and carbon footprint reduction, materials, packaging and project delivery acceleration.

Lifecycle assessment and carbon footprint reduction covers the broadest area, looking at numerous environmental impacts: product manufacturing and shipping, consumer use of products and reclamation and recycling. In this area, IBM aims to help companies understand the trade-offs and impacts of different choices within a product's lifecycle.

The compliance portion focuses on regulations of all sorts, including energy use and restricted materials. End-of-life management gives a look at how to design products so that they can be refurbished, reused or disassembled and recycled.

Material selection gives an understanding of renewable, recyclable and non-toxic ingredients. Packaging design focuses on reducing waste and making packaging lighter and easier to recycle. The last point, project delivery acceleration, was developed to reduce the amount of time it takes to get green products to market.

“The days of using inordinate amounts of energy, toxic chemicals and wasteful packaging to create throwaway products that just get tossed in the landfill are coming to an end,” said Mark Wilterding, IBM's global leader for product life cycle management consulting.

IBM is targeting a broad range of industries with its life cycle consulting, including food, apparel, automotive and electronics companies.

Internally, IBM developed a product stewardship program in 1991 to take into account recycling, recycled content, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly materials.

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