Get Smart About Green Manufacturing- Minimize manufacturing’s environmental impact.

Green manufacturing doesn’t have to involve solar power and wind turbines. It can be turning equipment to a lower setting when not in use, switching the lighting, or even changing a plant’s operating hours in order to save electricity.

Plenty of companies go through a greening process. One automaker was able to change the heat settings on equipment in their paint department. Others have found lighting changes have saved them money. Another time he worked with a Japanese company that decided to shift operating hours to save electricity that way. A lot of people are aware of what could be done to minimize the environmental impact of their work, but not how to do it.

Getting Green
The importance—and inevitability—of considering the environmental impact: “If one relies on a global market for one’s products, as increasing numbers of organizations do, one will be faced with the demands of green manufacturing sooner or later.”

Many companies have already gotten involved in green initiatives. But in keeping with the ideas of continuous improvement, there are always more opportunities to reduce your environmental impact. In looking to make manufacturing operations more green, there are plenty of options: hiring a consultant, taking a class, reading about other successful companies. But often there is so much to do that it can seem overwhelming. An important step is to define goals and then measure them, which allows companies to track improvements. And with some business units serving as silos, it can help a facilities manager convince the accounting department of the need to invest in new technologies.

Even if a company has not taken green steps, it doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of what to do. For example at an automotive manufacturing company they considered the environmental impact and economic benefit of each project, the idea being to avoid those with little impact that cost a lot.

Beyond Recycling
Green manufacturing does n’t just mean recycling materials. In fact, recycling comes after other options have been exhausted. Instead, manufacturers should refuse to create waste, reduce it, reuse resources, and then, finally, recycle. 

In the beginning there was confusion about "what is green?” but today,manufacturers realize the potential for saving money with green initiatives.  

Companies must start actively managing energy, water and solid waste. Through the same processes as lean, PDCA, plan-do-check-act … and incorporate it into the culture, much like we have with quality. In addition to waste-reduction efforts, looking into ways to cut down on energy is also important to companies, especially with many manufacturing companies, which tend to be energy-intensive operations. 

Energy is the new kid on the block, and people have to to look up, and see the heat lost in these processes and reduce the energy footprint. This isn’t an easy process—otherwise it would have been done long ago—but it is worth looking into for the potential cost savings.

Earning Money by Saving Energy
The importance of saving energy, often one of the biggest costs for a company— everybody and their dog is trying to do stuff with energy —and it can really help save money. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, “A kilowatt saved is a kilowatt earned.”

This idea has been adopted and green power continues to attract attention. Top companies begun using electricity from clean, renewable sources, or “electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.

But even without outside investment or wind power, manufacturers can still improve energy use. The lowest hanging fruit is probably lighting—turn off lights and computers and office equipment—and then process related things such as the energy of machinery not in operation. From there, companies can modify or install machinery to achieve a higher rate of productivity per unit.

The next level—though these levels can be done at the same time—would be organizational, to organize the flow of material through a facility. An option might be to adjust the production cycle. Creative, energy-saving options may be the future of manufacturing, as companies fight to stay competitive in a crowded marketplace.

Sustainable manufacturing practices are here to stay. And for those who want to stay in business, sustainable business practices can help companies improve. If you don’t look at those costs, your competition will!

Reference: Quality Magazine