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Cleaner Production Defined
By its definition, cleaner
production is a
business strategy for
enhancing productivity and environmental performance for overall
socio-economic development.
Cleaner production processes are
those that produce less waste, whether in terms of liquid wastes discharged
to waterways, solid wastes going to landfill or gaseous wastes discharged to
the air. Many companies have achieved environmental and economic benefits by
implementing cleaner production programs.
Main Features
Although it is not possible to totally eliminate the negative
environmental impact caused by mass production, you must strive to make it
cleaner when compared with traditional processes. A cleaner production must
have one or more features listed below4:
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Using less raw material,
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Using recycled material,
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Using less types of material for the ease of waste recovery,
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Using less packaging material,
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Using renewable energy,
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Using chlorine-free plastics and solvent,
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Using less energy and nature resource (including land, water
and biodiversity, etc.),
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Generating less waste,
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Having components that can be reused after disposal.
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Causing less noise and malodor.
Integrated Environmental and Quality
Management System (EQMS)
A recent market study in the
Netherlands initiated by The Dutch Technical Committee on Quality Management
and carried out by the Netherlands Standardization Institute (NEN) in
collaboration with Tilburg University TIAS Business School concluded that
full integration between ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 was possible and
it was easiest for organizations that had structured their ISO 9001
Quality Management System together with their business processes and such
integration could lead to valuable synergies...
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Lean
Manufacturing
Lean is about doing more with
less: less time, inventory, space people and money.
Lean manufacturing
is, in its most basic form, the systematic elimination of waste –
overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, motion, over-processing,
defective units – and the implementation of the concepts of continuous flow
and customer pull.
Kaizen is the heart of
lean manufacturing. Kaizen
strategy calls for
never-ending efforts for improvement involving everyone
in the organization – managers and workers alike...
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Measuring Cleaner Production
Measuring CP is
of critical importance. You must use appropriate indicators, which are
generally applicable, yet specifically measurable. The indicators should
enable not only estimation of the CP of a product or process and its
comparison with other equivalents, but also improvement of the existing
process or product and the development of new products.
Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) and Total Cost Assessment (TCA) are two types of CP indicators that
help managers understand the practical implications of GP and make right
decisions3...
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Case in Point
Canon
Canon is famous
for its environmentally-conscious manufacturing and logistics.
The
Canon Production System
(CPS) includes:
According to
Canon Production System, 9 wastes are to be eliminated:
A Model Workshop means a workshop
where:
Case in Point
Shwee Shwian Food Co. (Thailand)
A cleaner production program was implemented in
the
Shwee Shwian Food Co., a
medium-sized ginger factory in northern Thailand.
The results showed that the
incentive program linked to benefits gained by the company through
better control of ginger quality led to better results than the awareness
programs.
The farmers could benefit from improving the quality of their
ginger, lower their operating costs, and improve their productivity as well.
Return on investment amounted to 1,483% within the first year...
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Case in Point
Ford Lio Ho Motor
Ford Lio Ho, Taiwan established a Corporate
Synergy
System (CSS) with
its suppliers to enhance its overall
corporate environmental
performance. Ford Lio Ho has also requested that all of its suppliers
become certified under ISO 14000.
The total investment in the Green Productivity Demonstration
Programs (GPDP) options and corporate synergy projects was estimated to be
US$ 15.6 million. The environmental benefits generated from these GPDP
options during the second year are listed below and resulted in savings of US$ 6.8 million:
§
Raw materials
consumption reduced by 8,000 tons;
§
Water
consumption reduced by 58,000 tons;
§
Electricity
consumption reduced by 8,900,000 kW;
§
General waste
reduced by 1,000 tons;
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Hazardous
waste reduced by 290 tons; and
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CO2 emissions
reduced by 4,500 tons.
Case in Point
Toyota
The 7
Principles of
Toyota Production System (TPS) are:
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Pull Production:

To reduce inventory holding costs and
lead times, Toyota developed the pull production method wherein the
quantity of work performed at each stage of the
process is dictated solely by demand for materials from the
immediate next stage.
The Kamban scheme coordinates the flow
of small containers of materials between stages. This is where the
term
Just-in-Time (JIT)
originated. ..
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