Table 1 Decision-making for using recycled yarn

Determination of R&D priorities (A11)

R&D priorities (including the level of detail at which this is defined), time and budget allocated to different open-line activities

Level of priority given to EPD in R&D has direct implications for both innovative and incremental EPD activities (incl. level of detail about specific EPD aspects)

N/A

Decision whether to work on a company brief or not (contract gate opening) (A21a)

Decision whether to open a contract gate is made; a certain amount of time and money is allocated to the project

a) The decision whether to work on a brief which requires research into EPD is made, and the time and money allocated to the brief is determined (impacts on the likelihood of the bid being successful).

Yes

b) The amount of time/ money allocated to a ‘conventional bid’ affects the time left for work on specific EPD projects.

c) For any bid, the availability of resources (amount of time/number of staff members allocated to working on the bid) could influence whether there is scope for exploring EPD as part of the design development

Decision on which open-line briefs to take forward (internal product development work) (A21b and A21b)

The decision which open-line brief ideas to work on is taken/open-line brief ideas are concretized

Taking the R&D priorities into account, the process of narrowing down design ideas requires a decision on whether to work on EPD as part of the R&D work - and what priority they are given over other R&D ideas - this may be an implicit or explicit process

N/A

Design idea development - decision which ideas to present (A23)

Design ideas are selected (CAD drawings, samples for presentation)

A decision whether to include design ideas which require sustainable materials and production methods is made.

Yes (combined analysis with design concept selection)

Design concept selection (A24) 

Design concept selected, incl. CAD drawing, archive sample, initial specification of materials, technologies, manufacturers (A4 selection)

The design concept selection will largely determine what the actual product will look like and how it will be made, which has direct implications for the environmental impact of its production.

Yes (combined analysis with design idea development)

Organization of sample manufacturing and testing (A33)

a) Suppliers and manufacturing partners are selected for the product sample (if successful, they are likely to be commissioned with the production of the product once it goes into production as well).

The choice of suppliers and manufacturing partners will affect the environmental impact of the product. The importance of the choice of the manufacturing partners depends on the availability of alternatives and the variability between the manufacturing processes with regards to their environmental impact (e.g. the age of the machines used, materials used, energy sources etc.) - the differences are likely to be greater if the market is global.

Yes

b) Testing is organized ( test regime specified by the respective OEM)