A Closer Look into the Role of a Product Stewardship Specialist
Product Stewardship is the management activity that a product designer/manufacturer/seller undertakes to minimize the product’s environmental impact over its entire life cycle. Product Stewardship is more than regulatory compliance. It is a proactive approach where considerations of sustainability and safety start at product conception.
Saint-Gobain® Tape Solutions has created a new role (Product Stewardship Specialist) within the business to help guide our sustainability efforts. We interviewed Ashley Pierce, Tape Solutions Product Stewardship Specialist, to learn about her role and responsibilities and get insight into the Tape Solutions business Product Stewardship strategy.
Can you please define your role and responsibilities?
As a Product Stewardship Specialist, I am responsible for collecting and evaluating relevant environmental, safety and regulatory data. I focus on monitoring and determining raw material as well as finished product risk profiles. Furthermore, I help to develop product compliance certifications and standardize regulatory information sheets.
How do you communicate product hazard information?
My role supports customer product inquiries, requests and compliance demonstrations. I work closely with Product Management to communicate actual and forecasted regulatory changes and their impact on finished products. To determine and confirm regulatory compliance of a product, I ensure the following steps are taken:
- Raw materials Safety Data Sheets (SDS) are pulled into an Enterprise Management System (EMS).
- A product’s Bill of Materials (BOM) is pulled into the EMS.
- The SDS and BOM connect, enabling the EMS to calculate the concentration of every substance as a percent of the finished product.
- The materials in the product are reviewed to verify no information is missing.
- Product Stewardship reaches out to suppliers to obtain updated SDS or regulatory compliance statements if information is missing and puts the product evaluation on hold while waiting for the additional information from suppliers.
- If a substance is listed on a regulation, this substance is flagged by the EMS. Product Stewardship is responsible for reviewing the flags and determining compliance or non-compliance to the regulations of interest.
- Where necessary, Product Stewardship requests sample collection to test products for the presence and concentration of a specific substance of interest.
- Product Stewardship ensures that the test results are reviewed in order for a compliance determination to be made or adjusted.
- The test results are attached to the raw material(s) and/or finished products in the EMS for documentation and future reference.
What do you do following the detailed assessment of products?
Following detailed assessments, Regulatory Data Sheets (RDS) are written and provided upon customer request. These RDS help provide a clear overview of the regulatory compliance status of the finished products, and they complement the Technical Data Sheet (TDS).
The Product Stewardship Specialist collaborates with many teams within the organization, both customer-facing and technical-manufacturing, to drive more sustainable practices, ideas and solutions. With the help of the Product Stewardship Specialist, our team is better able to navigate the increasingly complex landscape of product regulation. By managing and mitigating risks associated with Tape Solutions products, we better serve our customers and maintain access to global markets.
The Product Stewardship Specialist has the tools and training to ensure we are complying with the various regulatory structures in both North America and Europe, such as REACH, RoHS, California Proposition 65, and Conflict Minerals.
Tape Solutions is taking action to build a strong Product Stewardship team and to develop a culture where we take responsibility for the environmental impact of our business. The Product Stewardship Specialist has a pivotal role in advancing sustainability and regulatory compliance.