Sustainability Report - Dell

Many of the desktop, workstation and notebook productsdesigned by Dell today consume less than 5 watts in lowpowermode and exceed the current levels set by the EPA forenergy efficiency. Dell chose to factory-default the power managementsettings to meet the EPA requirements for ENERGYSTAR compliance for OptiPlex platforms offered to the publicstarting in May 2003. Dell has also taken the extra step ofreducing the amount of time before entering low-power modeto save even more energy, from the 30 minutes required by theEPA for ENERGY STAR compliance, to 15 minutes. This providesour customers with a means of conserving energy costs, andthe resulting reduction in energy requirements may help reducethe effects of air pollution and global warming. (For informationabout energy consumption goals, see Table 1 on page 7 and"Product Energy Programs to Reduce Emissions" on page 49.)Chemicals Management ProgramIncreased attention has been placed on the environmentalimpact of electronic products, particularly the use of materialsthat may potentially have an adverse impact on the environmentand human health. Materials such as heavy metals andplastics containing certain halogenated flame retardants canpose potential environmental hazards if not managed properlyduring the manufacturing process or on disposition at end-oflife.The emphasis of Dell's chemicals management program isnot only compliance with existing and/or upcoming legalrequirements—such as the RoHS Directive (see "Compliancewith RoHS Restrictions" on page 37) and REACH regulation—but also meeting key stakeholder requirements to eliminate orminimize the use of certain substances in our products and todesign products that are easily recyclable.In 2002, Dell formalized a chemicals management process (seeFigure 10) to minimize or eliminate the use of certain environmentallysensitive materials in our products. One of the firststeps in this process was to develop a list of banned or restrictedmaterials that were of importance to customers, NGOs andregulators. After this list was developed and incorporated intoengineering specifications, Dell surveyed our Tier 1 suppliers toidentify where these materials were or were not being used incurrently shipping products. This assessment also included anevaluation of potential substitute materials from a technology,cost, supply-chain readiness, and environmental, health andsafety perspective.Figure 10: Dell's Chemical Management Process• Lessons learned• Benchmarking• Research• Quarterly BusinessReviews• Progress to goals• Reporting• Views ofinterested partiesContinuousImprovement• Inform Dell Senior Management& Board of DirectorsExecutiveManagementReview• Corporate environmental goals• Engage with customers, NGOs,regulators, etc. on chemicals policiesCommitment& PolicyKey StakeholdersCustomersShareholdersNGOsSuppliersGovernmentAcademiaChecking &Corrective ActionPlanningImplementation& Operation• Supplier declarations and test audits• Monitoring and measuring/risk assessments• Communicate results/findings back toProduct Engineering and Procurement• Robust corrective action processes• Legal and marketassessment of chemicalrestrictions• Evaluate scientificEHS risk assessmentson currently used andpotential substitutematerials• Identify substitutionopportunities withsuppliers• Develop engineeringspecifications and suppliermanagement processes(contracts, audits, etc.)• Internal/externaltraining36 D E L L S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T • F I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 0 6