Good question – the functional unit is one of the first steps in doing an assessment. It can be very simple, but be aware that that simplicity can be deceiving. By choosing the functional unit carefully, you leave options open for a variety of approaches and solutions – much like good framing for a design problem.

A functional unit should contain three characteristics, or precepts:

1. It should be a quantity of service that a user readily consumes.
2. It should include a physically measurable unit.
3. If the product involves time a part of the service, then a unit of time should be included.

Here are a few examples:

If you were assessing showers, for example, there would be many options for selecting your functional unit. Each would delimit the study in some way:

• If you chose to assess Okala millipoints per showerhead itself (without water or energy consumption to heat the water), then designs that affect water consumption are not factored into the assessment.
• If you chose Okala millipoints for one 8-minute hot shower, then the quantity of water would be assessed as a variable, depending on the quantity of water per minute that the showerhead releases.
• If you chose Okala millipoints per 10 gallons of 110 degree Fahrenheit shower, the quantity of water and energy would be set, not variable.

The Okala impact factor for thermoformed plastics includes the extrusion of the polymers into rigid (or semi-rigid) sheets and the subsequent thermoforming of the polymer sheet into the finished plastic part. Likewise, the Okala impact factor for blow molding of plastics includes the creation of the parision (usually through injection molding) and the subsequent blow molding of the parison into the finished plastic part. The preliminary steps required in these polymer forming processes is included in the overall Okala impact factor.

Despite the extreme turbulence in the economy and the resulting insecurity felt by product development groups in nearly all market sectors, many companies still have budgets to develop new products starting at the beginning of the new year. Counter-intuitively, economic shockwaves reverberating through the markets can liberate product managers to find new market strategies.

Managers are increasingly under pressure to adopt novel ways to intelligently address the needs of users in their respective markets. Offering greener products are one of the primary ways that companies can substantively differentiate themselves from their competitors. The question on the minds of product managers is “Which products have the most potential to improve their value by improving environmental performance?” Product managers, marketing directors and the entire product development team should carefully ponder this question.

Explaining the environmental benefits of product longevity is pretty simple. For instance, as long as the impacts of the product during its use phase stay constant, then doubling the product lifetime usually cuts the impacts in half. It is easy to run the numbers and produce the charts that demonstrate the reduced environmental impacts that result from extending product life. It is a bit more challenging to help a client realize how this approach might benefit their bottom line.

Designers have been helping clients understand the economic value of good design for decades. Since much of the work of extending product lifetime equates to good design, we can tap into our own experience when it comes to educating others about longevity.

For instance, many years ago, when I idealistically began my design career, I was involved in designing a multi-bit screwdriver. The client’s innovation allowed the bits to be securely organized in the handle without rattling. I confess to being a bit disenchanted to be working on something so, well….unexciting. I left to take another position before the first prototype came back from manufacture.

Several years later, I encountered the resulting product, and was forced to reassess my view of design, for here was a product that asserted simple quality. Someone had followed through on the manufacturing; the screwdriver was built to high tolerances, and from quality materials. The handle opened easily, and clicked shut with a satisfying thunk. The screwdriver had a solid heft, and didn’t rattle annoyingly, unlike other multi-bits of the day. I promptly bought them as gifts for all of my family. Eighteen years later, all of them still have and use this product (except for one brother, who lost his). Meanwhile, the client (MegaPro) and design firm (Karo and then White Box Design) developed an ongoing relationship that has since taken the product through several iterations – including the contractor’s version and the kitchen drawer version – which expand the product’s market reach without rendering prior models obsolete.