Dell Vostro 200ST Desktop Computer

Dell has recently introduced a new small business PCs that are called Dell Vostro 200ST. As you see from figure 1, Dell vostro 200ST desktop computers offer a number of features that benefit the users (DD, 2007). But this article only discusses about its environmental impact and possible improvement can be made.

Environmental impact

There are two environmental impacts can be discussed in this article.

1. Power consumption

Dell Vostro 200ST uses power supply of 250W (Dell Inc, 2006). This is quite low compared to higher performance computers like Apevia X-Master Desktop that has power supply of 500W (i-Pmart, 2009). Dell Vostro 200ST comes with the Dell E198WFP wide-screen monitor that uses power supply of 38 watt for operational and 2 watt for standby but this power consumption will be significant overtime.

To illustrate the environmental impact due to power consumption, I will calculate greenhouse gas emissions over a year. The assumption and calculations are shown below:

• The desktop computer and LCD monitor together run at 0.288 kilowatts (250 + 38 = 288 Watts).
• One kWh of UK Grid electricity causes the emission of 0.537 kg CO2 (MTP, 2009).
• To calculate the number of hours a computer will be switched on over a year, I assume people use their computer for 8 hours a day, and 226 days over the year i.e. computers are not need between 5pm and 9am, at weekends, or for 25 days of holidays.
• Desktop computers normally consume power supply 2 Watts for standby, but to keep calculations simple we will exclude this information.

To calculate the total electrical energy consumed over a year, I simply multiply the power the computer and monitor run at by the total time they are used over a year. So for our typical computer the sum would be: 0.288 kW x 365 days x 24 hours = 2523 kWh. To estimate greenhouse gas emissions 2523 kWh x 0.537 kg CO2/kWh = 1355 kg CO2.

2. Disposal

Computer is a mixture of engineered materials including metals, plastics and several of toxic substances. When disposed of improperly, these materials damage the environment. The most effect on the environment is from disposal of computers and electronics parts when users buy whole new computers or upgrade the old ones. As it is shown on figure 2, Dell Vostro 200ST Desktop Computer is made up of so many different parts, all closely integrated with a printed circuit board, it is therefore harder to recycle these parts (Simon Williams, 2008).

Improvement

Dell could improve the environmental impact using relevant Supply chain principle and Product design principle that are described below:

1. Supply chain principle

Direct supply chain model with an emphasis on lean inventory management can reduce environmental effect of this product just prior to customers. So there will be a possibility to have an inventory close to zero (Dr. David M, 2009). And this would have positive impact on environment overtime since it consumes less energy and resources. The company like HP uses this strategy.
HP’s online build-to-customer-order program enables fast delivery of PCs built to customers’ exact requirements as it is shown in figure 3. Due to the automated order process, the requested configurations are built immediately and delivered directly from the factory to the customer in approximately 10 days or less (hp,2007). This gives HP the flexibility to fulfil any customer configuration request, quickly and at attractive prices, without requiring in-house resources and energy consumption. It also minus the financial overheads of product handling and inventory costs. So implementing this strategy as the same as HP will give Dell numerous opportunities to work with it's direct supply chain partners beside reducing environmental effect of Dell Vostro 200ST prior to customers.

2. Product design principle

HP also design to their products easier to recycle and less environmentally harmful to dispose. As it is shown on figure 4, recent models of HP Vectra are designed to be easier to take apart and recycle compare to Dell Vostro 200ST that is shown in figure on 2. Many components of HP Vectra have been designed to simply snap apart, making it easier to separate metal from plastic.



HP also uses material identification codes for batching and sorting. This helps to separate components into similar/dissimilar materials for further simplify recycling (hp, 2009).

Similarly, Dell also could improve the environmental impact of Dell Vostro 200ST Desktop Computer by reducing it's complexity. This allows for easier dismantling of different parts so that they can be extracted quicker for recycling.

Conclusion

Dell could adopt similar supply chain principle and product design principles to HP’s ones to improve the environmental impact of Dell Vostro 200ST and help the company no just to win customer serve but also in terms of social and environmental stewardship.

References

- DD.(2007). Dell Vostro 200ST. Retrieved May 13, 2009,
http://www.bl0g.co.uk/20071029/dell-vostro-200st/

-Dr. David M...(2009). ON-DEMAND LEAN PRODUCTION, Retrieved May 15, 2009,
http://www.halfcostproducts.com/lean.htm

- Dell Inc.(2006). Introducing DellVostro™ 200ST. Retrieved May 16, 2009,
http://shop.it.ee/Specid/Vostro/Vostro200S.pdf
- i-Pmart.(2009). Apevia X-Master Desktop HTPC Case - 500-Watt Power Supply, Front USB, Audio, FireWire Ports (Blue). Retrieved May 16, 2009,
http://www.ipmart.com/main/product/Apevia,XMaster,Desktop,HTPC,Case,,500Watt,Power,Supply,Front,USB,Audio,FireWire,Ports,Blue,52513.php?prod=52513
- MTP.(2009). BNXS01: Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for UK Energy Use. Retrieved May 18, 2009,
http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Carbon+Dioxide.+Emission+Factors+for+UK+Energy&btnG=Google+Search&meta=lr%3D&aq=f&oq;=
- Simon Williams.(2008). Trusted reviews: Dell Vostro 200 Review. Retrieved May 14, 2009,
http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2007/08/29/Dell-Vostro-200/p1
- hp.(2007). HP Top Config. Retrieved May 19, 2009,
http://h41140.www4.hp.com/cs/en/25th_anniversary/top_config.html
- hp.(2009). HP - Return and Recycle HP Products. Retrieved May 20, 2009,
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=bpr01491