ARC Offers Sustainability Strategies for Manufacturers

October 1, 2008

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In a recent research report, “Sustainable Manufacturing: Remaking Today’s Manufacturing Enterprise for Tomorrow’s Economy,” ARC Advisory Group’s Greg Gorbach outlines a framework for green improvements for manufacturers, Supply Chain Digest reports.

Here are some areas Gorbach recommends focusing on to improve sustainability in manufacturing:

– Track current energy consumption and emissions and establish specific goals and targets, maybe use activity-based, costing-type analysis to account for contribution to emissions for products and processes.

– Use lean techniques. This should reduce manufacturer’s carbon footprint by reducing non-value-added activities.

– Review current plant and transportation asset energy efficiency and decide whether to upgrade, replace, or retire those assets.

– Look into opportunities to reduce plant energy consumption by rationalizing, virtualizing, de-duplicating, or reconfiguring IT assets in the factory.

– Find ways to conserve and recycle water, as well as a process to deal with waste. These issues will become increasingly important for manufacturers in the Western U.S. and other areas with relative water scarcity.

More tips to green the manufacturing process can be found on Supply Chain Digest.

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