18 Must-Have Negotiation Skills For Procurement Professionals
Sustainable Manufacturing — Everything You Should Know
Sustainable manufacturing is gaining popularity as a growing number of manufacturers are realizing its substantial financial and environmental benefits. However, what is sustainable manufacturing?
This article will tackle what sustainable manufacturing is. We will discuss how to achieve sustainable production. Additionally, we will tell you how you make the shift toward sustainability more accessible and the benefits you can gain by introducing a sustainable production process to your business.
Once you are done reading this article, you will have an in-depth knowledge of what sustainable manufacturing is. Thus, this will enable you to know if shifting to sustainable manufacturing is now viable for your company to gain its benefits.
The Definitionof Sustainable Manufacturing
Many people have heard the word sustainable manufacturing. But what really is it? Sustainable manufacturing, also known as green manufacturing or sustainable production, refers to the process of making goods with a primary focus on decreasing negative environmental, social, and economic impacts.
It establishes eco-friendly manufacturing production activities in the business and takes advantage of renewable resources to create the products of a business. Sustainability in manufacturing is growing in popularity as many businesses and consumers do not want to be related to manufacturers that are not refining their processes for the benefit of the environment.
The advancements in digital manufacturing technology have decreased the barriers to developing and implementing solutions and systems capable of enabling sustainable production.
However, it is important to note that there are no accreditation or external audits in implementing the green manufacturing framework. Nonetheless, the framework can help manufacturers in enhancing their processes and track their progress so that they can show their stakeholders.
How to Make the Sustainability ShiftMore Accessible?
1. Planning
The first step to making the shift more accessible is to plan. It is crucial to know your current carbon profile to create a baseline of your environmental footprint. Thus, this can help you to make your strategy and allow you to set clear goals and objectives.
Any strategy you may come up with must be underpinned by strong scenario planning. Also, companies should be prepared for their data to be audited to provide clients with proof of their level of sustainability.
2. Executing
For a manufacturing company to carry out sustainability initiatives, new roles may be needed to be developed. Through this, the new roles may help in determining which sustainability measures are needed to address and prioritize investments.
Additionally, manufacturers need to bring ecosystem partners together in a coordinated manner where all of them aim to achieve sustainability.
3. Tracking/Measuring
Manufacturers should measure or track the progress of their sustainability initiatives. Also, they should use the measured progress as a baseline to make a clear market narrative around the positive impacts they are driving all while improving transparency.
Those manufacturers that have no sustainable initiatives risk public opinion turning against them. Thus, harming their profitability and potentially losing their loyal customers.
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How to Achieve Sustainabilityin Manufacturing?
In achieving sustainability, you should begin by understanding and quantifying its impact on your business. The ability to gather and analyze more data quickly is the key to allowing sustainability initiatives to prosper in your operation.
Sustainability in manufacturing demands near real-time analytics that can be achieved through the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems.
Converged industrial platforms make a responsive interconnected system that streamlines asset management, eliminates data silos, and increases productivity.
The switch to software with highly optimized industrial platforms enables manufacturers to manage the performance of their machines and make small adjustments that can have a huge impact on the sustainability of the products.
Additionally, sustainable consumption is another factor for sustainable business practice that requires comprehensive and rapid data analysis. The collection and assessment of data throughout the supply chain and studying consumption of material components and energy enable businesses in making decisions that improve sustainability such as picking the right supplier to share their commitment to having sustainable production.
Benefits of Introducing Sustainable Manufacturing Processto Your Business
1. Reduction in manufacturing costs and resources
A sustainable production process incorporated with methods that promote efficient usage of resources will help enhance efficiency and encourage the rational use of resources, especially those that are non-renewable. Thus, it will lower your overall production costs and maximize profit gains.
2. Innovation opportunities
There will come a time when you will have to replace the old systems that you use. This might be expensive at first, but the long-term gains will be worth it.
Being sustainable is part of the innovation process. This will allow you to improve your processes, save more in operational costs, and help the planet recover at the same time.
3. Higher sales
The number of consumers who are moving to sustainable products is increasing steadily. More and more consumers want to reduce their negative impact on the environment and some feel like sustainable products are safer to use.
Having sustainability initiatives not just boost your operation but also establishes the brand identity that sets you apart from other competitors. Therefore, many customers will be attracted by your commitment to sustainability in your production.
4. Decreases regulatory compliance costs
The days when businesses were allowed to operate without environmental certifications are now over. Many new laws are drafted to ensure every business establishment has eco-friendly manufacturing processes and products.
Keeping your business aligned with environmental legislation will save you compliance costs and the possibility of shutting down due to violations of environmental laws.
Frequentlyasked questions
+ What is sustainable manufacturing
It refers to the process of making goods while focusing on decreasing negative environmental, social, and economic impacts.
+ What is sustainability?
Sustainability refers to the protection of the planet through its three pillars which are the environmental, social, and governmental pillars.
+ How do you prosper sustainability in your operations?
The ability to analyze data quickly will make sustainability initiatives prosper in your operations.
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