Enduring quality over long periods as a successful liaison between enterprises profitability and society needs

The introduction and diffusion of sustainable products and processes will be fundamentally based on the driving concept of maximising resource productivity, during the whole lifecycle, through the maximisation of the utilisation rate and value of all products, and through the minimisation of wastes, in any phase. This can be done by introducing into products and processes the new concept of 'enduring quality over long periods', able to satisfy at the same time enterprises profitability and society needs. In this work, this new concept is defined, and the major functional and structural features of products and processes are considered and discussed, together with the manners to measure and assess them. The price/quality-performance ratio is here also proposed to introduce rational and objective criteria, both technical and economic, into all evaluations and choices.