Not another survey!!! How Sun Microsystems tackled its customer environmental inquiry response problem using quality processes

In 1995, Sun received approximately one "inquiry" a week from a customer or other stakeholder about an environmental aspect of our company or our products. The need to develop a capability to respond to these inquiries was clear; exactly what to do, and how, was less obvious. The Corporate Environment, Health and Safety Department sponsored a quality improvement team ("SunTeam") to address the issue; the team was active from October 1995, through April, 1996. This paper describes the process steps followed, methodologies used, and problem solutions developed by this team.