Ecodesign Practices at Companies in the Agricultural Machinery Sector

Abstract: Environmental related aspects are becoming more and more a daily basis in the product design process of many companies around the world. Demand from the society, customers and environmental policies at national, European, or even worldwide levels are the main driving forces that are changing the way companies design their products to a new and more environmentally friendly process which can create green products reducing their impacts during all their life. The research studies these ecodesign practices in the particular case of companies in the agricultural machinery sector. The actual situation in the design process of companies, their experience with ecodesign and the hindrances faced are the main topics of this research. The study is based on face-to-face interview (1 company from Sweden) and online questionnaires (2 companies from Italy). Moreover, an exhaustive literature review has been conducted; this information obtained from diverse scientific papers, journals from institutions like the European Commission and many other reliable sources, is used to complete and contrast with the situation founded in the interviewed companies. Results from the study reveal that, in the agricultural machinery sector, ecodesign is not used frequently. There are little environmental demands from customers and there is a vast number of environmental regulations that can confuse companies about which regulations do they have to apply; this is the reason why companies can perceive that they do not have to apply environmental aspects in their designs. Moreover, some SMEs from this sector do not have the inner capacity to keep up with environmental policies, which can be a serious problem because of the new regulations that are being proposed at European level. Furthermore, it has been detected a possible deficiency in the way governments, EU, trade associations, and universities interact with companies. SMEs demand more economic help and more knowledge from governments and EU, and the collaboration and exchange of information between companies and universities should be improved.