Product Redesigning For Habitant Soups: A Sustainability Approach

1. Prepare a Product Analysis Report using Datschefski’s 5 “Total Beauty” Design Requirements for sustainable products and analyse your PRODUCT ‘as it  is right now’ (you can use the template we used in Part 1 of Product Analysis). Describe  the Product. Plan and prepare your content: thoughtful layout, with illustration and  annotations

2. Consider both the object + packaging. Indicate the specifics of your redesign to address sustainability through your 2 chosen re-design approaches and show which  Strategies/Points you used, with an annotated Illustration of your ReDesigned Product.

3. Write an interpretation of your Product ReDesign and the impact of the design changes you made. Outline which of the Total Beauty Design requirements were  addressed and discuss the degree of impact on each.
 

Redesigning a product can offer a new product to the consumers with improved product quality and reduced cycle time by focussing in a particular reference product to match the consumer’s needs. The report will discuss about the product analysis and redesigning of a sub-brand of the Canadian company, Campbell. The company offers a collection of condensed soup brands. In this report, the product analysis will be framed for one of the brands of Campbell, Habitant, which specializes in using traditional homemade recipes. Habitant is offering ready-to-serve canned soup from 1918. The report will stress on the product redesigning using Lunar Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability and by adopting a strategy from Lunar Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability followed with the impact of the redesigning aspects. 

Product redesign is an important part of improving the product. The process of redesigning is an important step to improve the product and the process. This is one of the most important part that is associated in the growth of the organization. The Habitant Soups are one of the most popular soup brands in Canada. The company has been involved in the operations for more than 100 years. Product redesigning is one of the most important part for the organization in order to survive in the present organization. The movement of saving energy has impacted all the organization and it is important for this company to consider the market trend for the survival of the organization. The organization needs to consider two of the most important thing is that it is associated in redesigning the product, which includes product and process of making the product. The importance of the sustainability is very high in the organization and the organizations are also incorporating various aspects that is associated with adoption of sustainable approaches. Habitant is one of vintage companies that is currently operating in Canada and it is important for the organization to adopt the strategies related to sustainability. The guidelines provided by Lunar is one of the most efficient guidelines that can be applicable for the organization. There are also strategies that needs to be adopted for implementing the sustainability management in the organization. The strategies can be adopted from Okala Eco Design Practitioner’s Guide. The following are the guidelines and the strategies suggested for addressing the sustainability of the product. 

One of the most important part of addressing the sustainability is the approach to redesign the product or the process associated with it. Habitant being one of the most important part of Canadian consumer products can adopt changes that are related to the organization and the product to address the issues related to the sustainability (lunar.com, 2019). The organizations are involved in adopting the sustainability management for the various processes. The Lunar’s designers guide to attain sustainability has mentioned about the 15 guideline to follow. These 15 guidelines includes the following;

Is it Cyclic?

The guideline that can be adopted for the organization in addressing the sustainability must include one of the above stated solutions. The solution that can be suitable for Habitant is the guideline that is addressing the organization to avoid the toxic and harmful materials and chemical. As it has been seen that Habitant is including preservatives and artificial sweeteners. The use of preservatives and artificial sweeteners can impact the health of the consumer. The association of the consumers is an important part for the organization. The guide line states to avoid the use of chemicals and toxic materials that is being used in the products. Habitant is involved in following one of the guideline that is associated in following the guideline to use materials such as tin can. The use of cans does makes them involved in adopting the approaches towards sustainability. The organization is involved in using the corps that re genetically modified. The usage of the genetically modified corps can impact the health of the consumers. The habitant though needs to improve in their ingredients and must avoid using preservatives. The use of preservatives can be avoided if more organic approach is taken. The organic food materials are important in order to promote healthy food and this can help Habitant in promoting healthy living. The company is also found to be using Monosodium-Glutamate which can also have side effects on consumers. The redesign approach can follow the method to reduce the use of preservatives. The redesign approach to minimize the usage of toxic materials can impact the consumers as well as the organization.

The organization can include another strategy to address the approach of sustainability from the strategies stated in Okala’s Practitioner Guide. The guide is defining the terms of the organization that is involved in the work process implementation that can implement ecological design for addressing the sustainability. The factors mentioned in Okala can impact the organization in addressing the sustainability. The following are the suggested strategies that address the issues related to sustainability;

Habitant being one of the manufacturing company must consider one of the strategies that is stated in the above mentioned list. The company is involved in using can as a packaging material for their soup. The organization must consider adopting the strategy of assembly and packaging in order to address the sustainability. The company is using can but they are not impacting the sustainability as the involvement towards recycling those cans. The organization must address the strategies related to the assembly and packaging of the products and involve in recycling of those products. Habitant is one of the major competitors in the consumer products of the organization. The company must include various measures to address the issues of recycling their used can. There is another type of packaging material that is being used by the company and that is plastic. The company must include bio-degradable plastics in packaging of their products. The usage of the plastic can affect the environment adversely. Thus, the assembly and packaging of the product becomes important for the organization. 

Is it Solar?

• The product redesign will help the company in improving the concern of the consumers in regards with health benefits.
• The redesign will eliminate the impact of the production on environment and climate change.

1. Redesigning the process of soup production by eliminating the use of artificial sweetener and MSG as well as minimizing the use of preservatives:

This approach of redesigning have addressed various concerns in the Total Beauty Design Requirements:

Is it Cyclic?

• Elimination of toxic ingredients addresses the side effects of consuming MSG and High Fructose Corn Syrup as an artificial sweetener.

Is it safe?

• Use of organic materials can eliminate the risk of encouraging the practice of genetically modified crops and its impacts on environment.

Impacts of redesigning of the process:

• Elimination of the side effects of MSG (used as an alternative of salt) like Headache, sweating, Nausea, weakness, chest pain and heart palpitations.
• Artificial sweeteners are synthetic material, which can be considered as a chemical, over intake can cause serious problems like obesity and in worst case cause cancer.
• The use of organic ingredients can help the company to increase its sales figures, as the developing awareness of health consciousness requires fresh food ingredients. The demand for fresh soup is increasing as compared to canned soup with the presence of preservatives.

2. Redesigning the packaging of the product for a sustainable approach:

This approach of redesigning have addressed various concerns in the Total Beauty Design Requirements:

Is it Cyclic?

• Use of sustainable approach in packaging like use of biodegradable plastic material and initiative in recycling of cans can save the hazardous impact on environment.

Is it Safe?

• The impacts on plastic and cans disposal can cause harm for the animals and environment.

Impacts of redesigning of packaging:

• Sustainability in packaging can help in eliminating the ill impact of waste disposal of non-biodegradable on environment and health of living beings.
• These kinds of wastes cause the release of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases.
• It helps in reducing the pollution rate
• Recycling helps in reducing the requirement of limited natural resources
• Global warming can be caused by the disposal of harmful waste.
• Energy can be consumed by the use of recycled packaging
• Landfills can be preserved from the filling up of waste
• Minimizing the cost of sourcing raw materials from scratch

The redesigning approach used by synchronizing it with the Lunar Guiding Point & Okala Strategy are:

1. Avoid using toxic or harmful materials- This guideline of Lunar Guiding Pointis used to suggest minimizing the use of MSG as a salt alternative, minimizing the use of artificial sugar as well as the avoidance of the excessive use of preservatives (chemicals). Over intake of these things can have a negative impact on consumer’s health, thereby decreasing the market demand.
2. Assembly and packaging- This strategy is used to address the concern of using non-biodegradable materials for the packaging of the soups. It is being suggested in the paper that for a sustainable approach in the process, biodegradable plastic as well as recycling initiatives for the cans can be used. It will also help in decreasing the cost of sourcing raw materials and will save energy.

Observations in applying the approaches:

• The brand is already using renewable energy for the consumption of energy in the production by sourcing it from Toronto Hydro Electric System.
• The incorporation of eco-friendly packaging and can enhance the practice of sustainable approach of the brand.

Challenges encountered in applying the approaches:

• Identification of the suppliers for raw materials of packaging was difficult.
• Identification of the exact ingredients was challenging 

Conclusion:

Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that the brand Habitant Soups needs to increase the practice of sustainability in the process of packaging as well as in the sourcing of ingredients of the soups. The brand can get involved in sustainability management by sourcing organic materials, minimizing the use of preservatives for improving the freshness of the product as per the market demand. The brand can initiate recycling activities for their packaging materials for reducing the cost as well as the environmental impact of the process.  

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