2021 Owens Corning Sustainability Report | Expanding Our Product Handprint | Product Innovation & Stewardship | 109 SPEAKING OF SUSTAINABILITY In Europe, Paroc is leading the way in stone wool insulation innovations, and Susanne Fagerlund has been instrumental in steering these products and processes in sustainable ways. In addition to providing oversight that helps us increase our product handprint, Susanne serves on the product stewardship review board, which reviews new and significantly modified products from design to distribution. Susanne has been with Paroc since before it was acquired by Owens Corning, and her in-depth knowledge is invaluable as we strive to innovate throughout our industry. Photo courtesy of Susanne Fagerlund On asking the right questions for product stewardship When we start making innovations, in the early phases, we need to start thinking about product stewardship. It’s one of the enablers for our innovation process, and when we do the preliminary product stewardship, we have a lot of key questions. Is it doable? What are the important claims? What are the unique selling points for our customers? So we have this toolkit of questions to go back to when we do the final product stewardship process. It’s like a checkbox for us to check that, yes, we did it, or if there’s some more homework to do to be sure that we have met all the requirements, so that we can be sure that our quality is stable and safe and environmentally sustainable for all of our customers all over the world. On learning as the key to innovation In each project we take through the product stewardship process, there are small learnings and bigger learnings, depending on the scope and scale of the project. In some of our recent development projects, where we are doing significant changes in the products, it has given us the tools to stop and think if we have really widened all the angles. And it’s really enabling us to do the great innovations and get us to the next level to meet the tough, competitive world and the customer expectations. I’m really happy for our recent launches such as PAROC ® Natura Lana, which is our first carbon neutral product, and which went through these processes where we were thinking about how the product is developed and handled. On collaboration within the product stewardship review board Being part of the product stewardship review board is fascinating. It’s a deep learning exercise when you come from one angle of expertise, and you get insights and learnings to widen your thinking to other areas. It’s actually fun to see how we can challenge and question and improve our systems by getting other views on topics. Together we learn and that brings us to the next level, so I’m really excited to be part of this great journey in our company and making it even better for the future. Product stewardship is enabling us to do the great innovations and get to the next level. ” “ Susanne Fagerlund Senior R&D Leader, Mineral Wool