Global Product Assessment

To develop environmentally friendly products globally, we sought to ensure consistency between product assessment carried out by Anritsu Group companies in Japan and the assessment criteria of Design for Environment (DfE) followed by Anritsu Company (U.S.A.). We implemented global product assessments in fiscal 2014.

Operational Procedure

Global product assessments are conducted in three stages that must be concluded prior to commercialization: Product Assessment I (Target Setting), in which targets for the product development process are clarified; Product Assessment II (Design Review), in which progress on attaining the targets is reviewed; and Product Assessment III (Evaluation), in which a final assessment on the product is conducted. During Product Assessment III, a third-party evaluation is conducted by Quality Department and other entities.

Details of Product Assessments

The product assessment consists of both basic items and assessment items. For the basic items, designers use a reference product* to assess level/degree of improvement in terms of volume, mass, disassembly time, power consumption, and WEEE recycling rate.

For the assessment items, designers quantitatively assess the status of product design with regard to reduction of environmental impact at each stage of the product life cycle, including manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal. (The followings are the details of the assessment items)

At the completion of development, designers use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to check CO₂ emissions at each process of the product life cycle. The results of product assessments and LCA are used in the design of next-generation development products to help designers develop products with lower environmental impact.

* The reference product is a conventional product with functions and performance that are nearly equivalent to those of the product being assessed.