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Going green requires focused efforts
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
In today’s business climate, companies are becoming more aware of environmental issues, especially with increasing government regulations and public directives for environmental accountability.
At the same time, companies are finding out that bringing environmental controls into their supply chains can lower costs and help them serve their customers better.
Environmental management of the supply chain, also known as “going green,” typically starts with a series of compliance initiatives focused on tactical requirements, but compliance can be both costly and difficult to enforce, especially when the initiatives are voluntary.
Nevertheless, the concept has gathered steam in recent years, resulting in some new initiatives from both industry and the government that may be manageable enough for companies to incorporate.
For instance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set up a Green Suppliers Network, a private-public partnership, to help manufacturers and suppliers reduce the impact their businesses make on the environment while eliminating waste and saving money.
Comprised of some of the giants in manufacturing, including General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few, the network focuses on the causes of waste, which enables companies to use energy more efficiently, reduce labor costs, decrease the use of toxic and non-renewable materials and increase employee participation in improving the environment.
Taking a supply chain green is similar to an industry best practice known as “lean manufacturing,” which includes the identification and elimination of waste. The benefits of lean manufacturing can be as much as a 50% reduction in production costs, labor and time required to get new products into the market. Other benefits include higher quality, higher profitability and increased flexibility.
In lean-manufacturing systems, waste-free, continuous workflow processes depend on real-time supply-chain reliability. Most manufacturers that already implement a lean-manufacturing system will find the transition relatively easy.
Because of its focus on reduction of waste and improvements in procurement, a lean process is a small step toward a full green supply-chain system, which encompasses the entire chain, including educating customers on environmental benefits of the product.
SmartWay Transport is another EPA initiative that hopes to color the transportation industry green. The voluntary partnership between the EPA and freight industry sectors aims to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. By 2012, the partnership hopes to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 33 million to 66 million metric tons per year and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 200,000 tons per year.
The partnership is expected to save about $9 billion in fuel costs and as much as 150 million barrels of oil per year.
Yet even with the EPA’s initiatives, going green is not as easy as it sounds.
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