At Sphera’s Productivity Summit for Product Stewardship the talk was about “stuff,” lots of “stuff”—literally and figuratively—and data, lots of data.
Quick question: How often do you go shopping in a store or order an item online?
Pretty regularly, we presume.
But how often do you think about the very components—or substances—within that item you bought and placed on your counter? How often do you ponder the design of the item; the raw materials that go into that product; the manufacturing required to create it; how it was distributed; what it will be used for; and what is the best way to dispose of it when it’s no longer useful.
Consumers might not, but companies think about these types of things all the time—and product stewards, well, they think about it day and night.
The demand for safer, more sustainable products has never been higher, and complex chemical regulations that vary across the globe create efficiency and production challenges for companies looking to grow in a competitive market.
Francis Trudeau, Sphera’s director of product management for Product Stewardship, hosted a spirited panel discussion explaining how data and technology support every stage of a product’s lifecycle. He was joined by Frank Arcadi, Laura Patrick and Ruth Donlon, who are Sphera’s vice president of Product Stewardship; solutions manager for chemical management; and senior regulatory analyst, respectively.
In an initial poll taken at the summit to see how far participants thought their organization was along the Product Stewardship Maturity Curve, only 8% said they were “leaders” while most (80%) said they were either “compliant” or “efficient.” The other 12% said they were “optimized.” At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees were asked the same question. Did their answers change? Sorry, you’ll have to watch to find out.
Check out the Product Stewardship Productivity Summit on-demand as well as the Operational Risk Management Productivity Summit, and keep an eye out for our upcoming Productivity Summit focused on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), which will take place in June. You can also watch our Safe Operations Summit and Sustainability Summit on demand as well.