Green: The Next Generation of Lean

Reducing waste and increasing efficiency is also green

As "green collar jobs" have become a popular catchphrase from Presidential campaigns to coffee shops, Judy Wlodarczyk,  director of environment and energy for Connecticut Manufacturing Extension Partnership affiliate CONNSTEP, wants manufacturers to take the concept a step further.

"There's more to green than reducing energy or developing new energy technology," Wlodarczyk said. "We want a groundswell-up, to train everyone on the shop floor to look for green opportunities"

Wlodarczyk was one of three presenters last week at Enterprise Minnesota's event, The Next Generation of Lean, discussing how small manufacturers can extend their lean efforts to incorporate green concepts.

She defines green in small manufacturing as a systematic approach to eliminating all wastes through continuous improvement, and flowing product at the pull of the customer while lessening impact on the environment.

Wlodarczyk described how one Connecticut-based manufacturer evaluated its packaging system.  The company had been spending $18,000 a month on packing peanuts for shipping product to customers and, at the same time, spending nearly $300 a month to recycle cardboard boxes shipped to their facility from suppliers. Realizing that they could reuse a waste product, the company purchased a shredding machine to turn their cardboard boxes into a packaging material. Now the company is being green and saving over $18,000 annually.

Central Container in Brooklyn Park began greening up its lean journey several years ago, says the company's lean enterprise manager Ed Polin. The company produces corrugated cardboard packaging and display products and is a secondary supplier to retailer Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has told its 60,000 suppliers to reduce packaging materials by five percent by 2013, use more renewable materials, and reduce energy costs in shipping. From those reductions, Wal-Mart expects to reduce shipping waste equal to 213,000 fewer truck trips and save 67 million gallons of diesel fuel.

Central Container works with each customer to match packaging dimension closely to the product, reducing the amount of packaging waste and byproducts. The company also uses partially agri-based ink and their cardboard is 60 percent post consumer recycled material. In total, Polin estimates Central Container's green waste savings at $205,000 so far.

Polin says that the company focuses on managing the seven green wastes: energy, water, materials, garbage, transportation, materials, emissions, and biodiversity.

As companies move towards implementing green practices, there is a process towards continuous improvement says Enterprise Minnesota president and CEO Bob Kill.

"When we talk about green, we tend to talk about recycling materials, but you should really think about a process to move from reducing materials rather than recycling, reducing rather than reusing, and ultimately removing and eliminating materials from the process," Kill said.  

And though the economy is down, Wlodarczyk says that companies should keep moving towards using green in their lean program.

"When the economy slows down, green still means go!" 

Enterprise Minnesota Receives MEP Award

In April, Enterprise Minnesota received an award of recognition for Outstanding Support of the Panel Review Process at the 2009 Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Conference in Orlando, Fla. The award is for the participation and dedication of the organization's staff as panelists on six panel reviews in 2008.

"It's an honor to receive this award and we continue to strive for Enterprise Minnesota to be a leading MEP Affiliate," says Enterprise Minnesota president and CEO Bob Kill.

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