Am I cazy?

When I describe the rationale behind my design philosophy, people often look at me like I am crazy. See what you think….

When redesigning parts, my ideal goal is to design the part so that it will never fail. Of course by extension; this means that once dealers have purchased enough of a particular part to refit every one of their machines, I will never sell another of that part again. (Not necessarily the best long term business model one might say.) On one level, I would have to concede that designing myself out of a market may not seem to make sense. However, I look at things a bit differently. (Perhaps that is my insanity speaking!) I feel that doing the right thing is always the best way to go. My feeling is, that there are plenty of parts that can stand improvement. So if I exhaust the market in one part, there will be plenty of others to take its place. I also love the idea of stemming the tide of failed parts enlarging our landfills. The idea of preventing waste and saving my customer’s money seems like a worthy alternative to me. In fact for me; choosing to design a part so that it intentionally does not last forever, is crazy!

Becoming a part of the solution

It is great to see that collectively, our society is becoming increasingly aware of the impact we are all having on this delicate planet. As for me, a sensitivity to the environment began as a child with my experiences in Boy Scouts. We were taught the simple things: When you are in the woods, leave it better than you found it. If you see trash that someone else left behind, pick it up. Treat the environment with respect at all times.
Now that I am a grandparent, I have observed the gradual decline of our air and water quality. Not to mention the affects of global warming. I have to wonder what kind of world the next generation will inherit from us. I am a strong believer in the premise that “if you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.” Activism has never been my style. Instead I have always tended to play a part by doing whatever I can to make my own positive impact. This approach is at the core of why I am so excited about the business I have recently created.
Evergreen Technologies was created to provide greener alternatives to organizations servicing Xerox wide format equipment. The basic premise being that high dollar parts should be rebuilt instead of discarded when they become worn out. Also, that high failure items should be re-engineered to make them last longer. Toward that end, we are building a growing list of parts that we are rebuilding or redesigning. It feels great to be playing a part in diverting waste from our nation’s landfills. The best part of this new venture is that unlike most green programs, participating in this process does not cost a service organization more money. Instead, they actually save money! If you are interested in finding out more, visit Evergreen at www.goevergreen.net
I suggest that you think about this question: What little things can you do each day to become part of the solution? Together, we can do a lot!