Assessment of sustainability in product design at BK cookware

Abstract

BK (Berk Kampen) is a Dutch company part of the Royal Delft Group, which in the past 160 years has grown into a cookware brand that combines high quality with ease of use and prize-winning design. BK wants to deliver both convenience and inspiration for cooking through good products, specially developed for the needs of users through requirements that vary from cooking techniques and design to energy consumption and ease of use. In order to fulfil such goals, BK has a range of about 29 product lines of pots and pans, 7 lines of cooking tools and 3 lines of cooking knifes. BK’s product portfolio includes a wide range of processes and materials such as Tri-ply stainless steel, silicones, aluminium, and anti-adhesive coatings. These characteristics allow the company to offer a wide range of products for the Dutch and German markets and most of the production happens around Eastern Europe and Asia. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of BK has brought to the company a desire to find out about the environmental impact of their production processes, therefore there are a series of efforts in more sustainable practices inside the company. From the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy of BK, there is an increasing interest to provide solutions in terms of environmental impact of products and processes. Although the company is established in the Netherlands, most of the production happens in Western Germany and Far East, which represents a challenge in the total control of the practices that the suppliers carry on during the different production processes. In order to contribute to the current CSR policies, BK wants to implement and assure more sustainable practices inside the company and within its stakeholders; therefore from the product design process it has to be considered multiple factors that will have an environmental impact in the future production process and the whole supply chain.