Use Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP) to drive sustainability

If you have a small or mid-sized company in the United States (or Puerto Rico), and are in the manufacturing industry, there is a Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) available to help you. MEP Centers are a diverse network of state, university-based, and non-profit organizations, offering products and services that help manufacturers increase profits, create jobs

Automotive industry sets sustainability guidelines for suppliers

The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) has recently agreed to a set of expectations for automotive suppliers, relating to the environment, working conditions, human rights and business ethics (aka Sustainability). But you don’t work in the automotive industry? Keep reading… AIAG is a consortium of automotive companies (Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, Daimler, Fiat, Chrysler, Volvo),

Book review for “Lean Sustainability”

Order “Lean Sustainability: Creating Safe, Enduring, and Profitable Operations” by Dennis Averill >>> The book provides practical, detailed, real-world examples that no other book provides, which integrates safety, health and environment (SHE) with lean and sustainability, known as “Lean, Green and Serene”. Averill introduces another concept, “Triple Zero” which is the goal of zero accidents, zero incidents,

Hyundai’s Corporate Social Responsiblity discussion with John Krafcik

In an interview with John Krafcik is best known for coming up with the term “Lean” during his time at MIT, as part of a research team comparing American and Japanese automobile manufacturing. He joined Hyundai in 2004 as vice president of Product Development and Strategic Planning after tenures at Ford Motor Company and the

Green Your Work by Kim Carlson – Book Review

Green Your Work was written by Kim Carlson, who has led several different businesses through a green transformation, and well before all the “cool kids” were doing it. Green Your Work: Boost Your Bottom Line While Reducing Your Carbon Footprint The book is very well organized, into three main section, for a total of 14

Book review for “Creating a Lean and Green Business System”

Creating a Lean and Green Business System was released on May 3rd, 2013. It was written by some very experienced authors in the world of business and sustainability: Keivan Zokaei, Hunter Lovins, Andy Wood, and Peter Hines. Order “Creating a Lean and Green Business System” This book exceeded my expectations. I was surprised by the detail

Compare airline flights to determine lowest carbon impact

Brighter Planet has created a cool plugin called Careplane (link no longer active, anyone have an update?).  For each flight option that comes up in your search for airline flights, a calculation of the amount of metric pounds of carbon equivalents (carbon footprint) will be displayed below each trip option. The plugin connects to your favorite travel

Top 5 reasons why environmental problems can hide within a Lean Six Sigma initiative

Lean and Six Sigma are established approaches to improving processes to make organizations more successful. It seems only natural that we would be able to reduce environmental problems with these same approaches. Just by having an improvement program, you will naturally improve the environment when you take out waste and inefficiencies in your company. However,