The Second of the life cycle thinking series was held in Auckland this week on the 3rd of July. The event was attended by a group of about 20 people and the response was generally very good. It was great to see some of the participants from the other regional workshops in june.

The Second of the life cycle thinking series was held in Auckland this week on the 3rd of  July. The event was attended by a group of about 20 people and the response was generally very good. It was great to see some of the participants from the other regional workshops in june.

This workshop focussed on 'Life Cycle Management', which encompasses the application of life cycle thinking within an organisation.

Jake McLaren and myself introduced the topic before the workshop focussing on describing the different elements of a life cycle management system. Critically we introduced the 'Plan-Do-Check-Act' principle.

The first workshop requested participants investigate the short, medium and long term environmental problems and general issues a company might face and then define 6 key strategies from the companies perspective.

This was followed by an introduction to the Landcare Research Life Cycle Management programme by Penny Nelson.

After lunch we had 3 very interesting case studies, Formway, Patagonia and Pan Pac Forest Products. All presented different approaches, with a particularly inspiring case study given by Blythe on Yvonne Chouinard and Patagonia.

The afternoon workshops focussed on prioritising the strategies created in the morning and defining a set of objectives and targets.