Sustainable Manufacturing For a Greener Future
November 20th, 2009
The manufacturing sector is important for the industry efforts toward tackling climate change. In THE United States, the manufacturing sector is responsible for roughly 20 percent of direct greenhouse gases emissions. Hence it is important for companies to make their operations more efficient and sustainable. Traditionally the manufacturing industry has considered the problem of pollution at the discharge point. However, an approach based on reducing material and energy at the initial stage can serve two purposes of environment conservation as well as boosting efficiency. It’s important to focus on four key areas: Clean water, Paper and Packaging, Safer material and Climate change.
The manufacturing sector has taken important steps to scale up sustainable and green activities in its operations. Johnson & Johnson – a leading health care manufacturer invested in increasing efficiency in its building and processes. The company netted a cool $30 million in savings. Apparel manufacturer Patagonia encourages customers to return garments to its outlets for recycling through its Common Threads initiative. Another example is that of the sportswear giant Nike that minimized the use of toxic glue used in making footwear by redesigning the parts.
In steel industry, 35 steel manufacturers from 18 countries jointly formed the Ultra-Light Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) initiative in 1994, in partnership with an automotive engineering company. Since cars built with advanced high-strength steel are lighter, their power train can be downsized, thus substantially improving the vehicles’ fuel economy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions over their lifetime Most of the largest players in the manufacturing industry in U.S. have tied with U.S. Climate Action Partnership which calls for strong federal act to call for significant reduction in greenhouse emissions.
There is a need to make the manufacturing process environmental friendly. Design can be an effective tool in these efforts. Proper designing can boost up efficiency and reduce material wastage by selecting suitable material and optimum production technique after understanding how a product will be manufactured, used and ultimately disposed. The manufacturing paradigm must incorporate Lean manufacturing i.e. delivering quality products in minimum time at least cost involving no wastage. Manufacturing process must be also designed to save energy and water which are critical resources. By aggressively encouraging innovation companies can reduce energy and resource use. Waste in the manufacturing process must be used as new resource for production.
Manufacturing industry needs to collaborate with its customers and suppliers to address the pressing problem of climate change. Factories must be located at optimum places to minimize the transportation costs thereby reducing energy expenditure and greenhouse gases emissions. Incentives must be given to employees for choosing strategies that minimize emissions. The manufacturing industry can be an important part of the solution itself by designing energy efficient products that save energy and use renewable sources of power. Manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels as well as increasing their efficiency and decreasing their initial cost leading to their mass adoption can solve our planet’s current environmental crisis.
The future of manufacturing lies not only in adopting green energy which would be mandatory for human survival but the industry also needs to figure out a way of making money doing so. Needless to say the right time to address this issue has already passed and we have a lot of catching up to do.
