A d a p t a t i o n t o E n v i r o n m e n t a l P r e v e n t i v e R e g u l a t i o n
25
ADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL PREVENTIVE REGULATION
BY AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS AND COMPONENTS
SUPPLIERS
Jesús Ángel del Brío
1
, Beatriz Junquera
2
& Esteban Fernández
3
1
Business Administration Department, University of Oviedo, Spain,
2
Business Administration Department, University of Oviedo, Spain,
3
Business Administration Department, University of Oviedo, Spain,
Abstract
The aim of the current study is to evaluate, by means of a case analysis, the
consequences of application of Directive 2000/53/CE on Vehicle Management at the
End of their Useful Life, to automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The most
significant results are as follows. The characteristics of the supply chain and the greater
market power of the manufacturers make them less liable to being influenced by the new
regulation. Nevertheless, it obliges them to fundamentally modify their process
technologies and their relations with their suppliers (toughening requirements and
strengthening long-term relationships), as well as requiring the training of their workers in
environmental matters. The problems are less serious for those manufacturers which
prior to the entry into effect of this regulation were environmental leaders. For suppliers,
compliance with the regulation will only be possible with the modification of product
design and processes, with the introduction of actions of an organizational nature, with
the training of workers in environmental and quality matters and with prior activities to
recuperate value in the factory. These factories have, in any case, already been affected
by trade-offs between environmental and other more classic manufacturing objectives,
especially quality. Compliance with the regulation is made more difficult among those
suppliers with weak communications with other members of the supply chain.
Nevertheless, then environmental leaders among the suppliers see these types of
regulation as an opportunity, so they require rigid regulatory control.
Keywords:
environmental management, manufacturing strategy, manufacturer-supplier
relationships, quality management.
Introduction
In the European Union, even prior to the Kyoto Protocol, a process had begun to
develop regulation to ensure compliance with what would eventually become the targets
set by the Protocol once it came into effect. Such is the case with Directive 2000/53/CE
on Management of Vehicles at the End of their Useful Life. Papers on the environmental
activity of companies generally focus exclusively on technological issues. However,
organisational aspects are often ignored. Nevertheless, a large part of the literature
holds that technological and organisational solutions should be linked if success is to be
guaranteed in protecting a company’s natural environment. Directive 2000/53/CE is an
example of preventive command-and-control regulation that the European Union has
been passing some years ago. With this regulation, not only are set effective guidelines
for the correct environmental management of vehicles at the end of their useful life, but
also preventive measures affecting the natural environment and which should be taken
into consideration at their design and manufacturing stages.
