Should an organization’s design engineers step foot on the production floor, or would this be too much of a distraction from what they get paid to do—cranking out new designs? For most progressive and forward-looking organizations, this is a no-brainer. Of course product engineers would be, and should be, concerned with the entire life cycle of the product, from concept to product burial in the vast sea of products consumed beyond their usefulness.

So, yes—those who design a product, along with those who design the process, would be found on the production floor, as well as the customer’s floor, as well as the product’s final resting place, because these people are concerned with the holistic life cycle of the product. They’re concerned because it’s their moral obligation and social responsibility to be concerned, as demanded by their organization’s policies, systems, processes, beliefs, mores, and values—that is, for progressive companies that embrace social responsibility.

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