Social Implications of Introducing Innovative Technology into a Product-Service System: The Case of a Waste-Grading Machine in Electronic Waste Management
Paper in proceeding, 2015

This paper examines the social implications of introducing a new technology into the product-service system (PSS) of electronic waste management (EWM). Using a previously established set of social sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) targeting the operations level (i.e. impacts on EWM operators), social implications are examined in a case where a specific innovative new technology is introduced to replace manual sorting of e-waste into re-use, refurbish and recycle fractions. The social sustainability KPIs were applied to the case as a structured interview guide. The results showed that the KPI framework provided a good basis for examining the social impacts and also stimulated discussions about potential business impacts based on the human resources in the system. The framework showed that the implementation supported proactive social sustainability, but some additional conditions need to be addressed by the customer organization to make sure that potential risks (identified in the interview) are mitigated.

Social impacts

Product-Service systems

Social sustainability

Key performance indicators

Electronic waste management

Author

Naghmeh Taghavi Nejad Deilami

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Supply and Operations Management

Ilaria Giovanna Barletta

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Production Systems

Cecilia Berlin

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Production Systems

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

1868-4238 (ISSN) 1868-422X (eISSN)

Vol. 460 583-591
978-3-319-22759-7 (ISBN)

Subject Categories

Other Mechanical Engineering

Work Sciences

Social Work

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Areas of Advance

Production

DOI

10.1007/978-3-319-22759-7_67

ISBN

978-3-319-22759-7

More information

Created

10/7/2017