Clarkson University

Camille Ricks, Umer Shahid, Zhou Tang, Yue Zhao

Herman Miller Case
Do you think Herman Miller should replace PVC by TPU in the Mirra Chair arm pad? Examine
the justifications for your suggestion and its replacement.

At The Herman Miller Furniture Company, there has been a Design for Environment (DfE)
team formed to help promote environmental sustainability and use the cradle-to-cradle method to
implement environmental concerns in the new design for their Mirra chair. They are faced with the
dilemma of whether they should go with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as the material for the chair or if
they should switch to a more environmentally friendly material called thermoplastic urethane (TPU).
PVC was the industry standard at the time and known to be inexpensive and had all of the
qualities that were needed such as durability. On the other hand it also considered a red material due
to its toxicity.
Given Herman Millers adoption of triple-bottom-line philosophy we would suggest that they
move towards phasing out PVC and implementing TPU as costly and efficiently as possible. As of
now, the TPU option is too costly and needs to be researched more in terms high volume production
tooling which would need to be replaced at a cost of $100,000 in addition to the 30% increase in costs
from going to the PVC material to the TPU material. Herman Miller must also work with its suppliers
to make the switch possible and least costly for all parties. The 10 month timeframe between the DfE
steering committee meeting and the Mirra chair product launch would not give them time to
accomplish this.
Weighing the significance of Herman Millers role in the furniture industry we see that Herman
Miller is one of the top four suppliers in the furniture industry. Additionally we see that they have a
record of setting the pace for the rest of the industry in terms of environmental leadership where
competitors also followed in their footsteps.
Part of the DfE team responsibility was to balance environmental goals with business decisions.
TPU usage though being a better decision for their environmental goals was not good for their business
at the time. Perhaps Herman Miller can make the arms of the chair a removable component that can be
taken off sent back to Herman Miller for proper disposal and replaced by the customer with TPU arms
that Herman Miller provides once it becomes economically feasible to do so. An option like this would
allow Herman Miller to find a middle ground for the Mirra Launch and maintain both its business
leverage and environmental leadership; in addition it would fit well with their cradle to cradle goals.
2. What are the elements of C2C protocol? How does C2C approach differ from traditional
business approaches to environmental issues?

At Herman Miller one of the most significant protocols was their C2C implementation. Cradle
to cradle was a distinction between the past usages of cradle to grave in that it treated the entire
production system of an organization as a feedback loop rather than a straight line. Herman Miller
established guidelines to measure the lifecycle design for sustainable products. From the perspective of
designing, there are four key elements, the biological and technical nutrients, the green-yellow-orange-

red list, the disassembly and the recyclability.

Biological and technical nutrients are materials that will not harm the environment during or
after the useful life. This kind of materials will eventually return and contribute to the environment
safely. For Herman Miller, company produces office furniture, the material of the furniture is quite
essential in C2C protocol. The Green-Yellow-Orange-Red list is a more specific and detailed
assessment of all material that used during the manufacturing process, which aimed to track down the
level of danger of the chemicals from the materials. The level is ascending from less risk to high risk in
terms of color from green, yellow, orange and red. Besides, the disassembly is another key element
related to C2C. The product needs to be designed as easy to disassemble and marked in order to be
properly recycled. Final factor related to C2C is the recyclability and recycled content. Therefore, the
materials used in a product whether can be recycled or not is an urgent issue and a product uses more
recycled materials is preferred.
The main difference between the C2C and the traditional business approach, referred as Cradle
to grave, is the recyclability. In previous days, the attention was mainly focused on the product and its
useful life, the efficiency and effectiveness of using the product has the high priority. Nevertheless,
nowadays, the environment is the first priority. The product itself is not the only issue, the impact from
using the product and its after life is more frequently focused.
3.
of

What changes did Herman Miller make to implement C2C protocol? What were the impacts
implementing C2C protocol?

The first change Herman Miller made was to ensure everyone in the company agreed on the
C2C protocol, which linked product developer, engineers, supply chain managers, manufacturing
associates together to design the new process. The second change Herman Miller made was to combine
the supply chain aspect together with the engineering aspect, which named a dedicated team Design
for Environment. The third change was that when a product under the C2C implementation process
had been introduced, this product was measured by C2C score card from the beginning to end. In the
following manufacturing period, the manufacturing team designed and processed the production line as
well as focused on the supply chain management.
The impacts of implementing C2C protocol are fundamental and significant. First is that the
C2C protocol fits the culture of environment sustainability that is already engrained in the company.
Second the C2C protocol will achieve Herman Millers sustainability goal in the long term. Besides,
after the implementation practiced in the first product, the C2C protocol has proved to be pragmatic
and beneficial, which can leverage the Herman Miller business up as a sustainable brand and in a
measurable way.
4. In light of Herman Millers experience, discuss the factors that would contribute to or hinder
successful implementation of C2C approach in other companies.
When implementing a cradle to cradle protocol, organizations need to evaluate their entire
supply chain from top to bottom and figure out where there is potential waste and how this waste could
impact their customers and business reputation. Additionally, multiple groups within the organization
must work together to achieve the goal.
The most important factor for companies to achieve successful C2C approach is customer
experience, including shopping experience and user satisfaction. By applying C2C approach, Herman
Miller makes it much easier to reach the end-users and saves their customers a lot of time searching
products. It is quite convenient for customers to purchase products directly from Herman Miller at

lower price instead of buying products from retailers. Low price and convenience increase customers
shopping experience to a new level. Also, Herman Miller puts a lot of efforts into R&D and innovation.
Their high quality products meet or even exceed customers expectations and help Herman Miller
achieve high customer loyalty.
Product security is another factor that contributes to successful implementation of C2C
approach. Although the production costs dramatically increase by using TPU, Herman Miller persists
on using new raw materials, which are safe and environmental friendly. Providing safe products is one
of the most critical ways to win the trust of customers because the security and quality of products are
two of the most important perspectives that customers take into consideration when choosing products.
Additionally, good reputation is another principal factor for long-term success of C2C approach
implementation. The use of environmental friendly materials and green supply chain are parts of the
most important strategies of Herman Miller to gain long-term benefits from good reputation,
outstanding customer relationship and positive brand image.
Finally, companies that seek to implement C2C protocol must have a good organizational
structure because C2C implementation requires the participation and interaction of multiple levels of
the organization. An issue at Herman Miller for example was that the purchasing agents did not
understand how to judge environmental performance. By cross disciplinary teams that can help each
other achieve the goal, organizations will be better able to have success with C2C protocol.