Pollutants – Page 2 – Lean Six Sigma and the Environment

E069: Interview with LSS Master Black Belt Amanda Zimmerman

By -admin
Posted on May 20, 2020March 14, 2021
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Employee Engagement, Energy, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Podcast, Pollutants

In this podcast, I interviewed Amanda Zimmerman, a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt here in Portland, who has a wide and extensive background. We worked together briefly at a local not-for-profit, and have stayed connected for the past few years. She talks about her journey from history major to learning about Six Sigma, her

E059: Lean Six Sigma Workshop – Gresham Employees and Green Businesses

By -admin
Posted on March 3, 2020March 10, 2020
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Employee Engagement, Energy, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Pollutants, Solid Waste, Transportation, Water

In this podcast, I share a presentation I gave on Jan 14, 2020 with the City of Gresham employees and Gresham Green Businesses. I was asked to teach them about Lean and Six Sigma methods by Gregg Hayward (who kicked off the event) and Shannon Martin. I’ve worked with both of them in the past

E058: Toyota and the Earth Charter

By -admin
Posted on December 22, 2019March 10, 2020
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Pollutants, Solid Waste, Transportation

In this podcast, I re-read a recent post I made about the Earth Charter written by Toyota in 1992, which is their commitment to the environment. This is one of the early examples of corporate sustainability, and it happens to come from the company that brought us Lean, with their focus on “respect for people”

If you blame the employee, you are usually wrong!

By -admin
Posted on June 28, 2015June 28, 2015
Posted in Pollutants, Transportation

One of the key tenets of Lean is the focus on the process, not the people. Six Sigma calls this “common cause” variation, but doesn’t talk much about respecting people as a general rule. If something goes wrong at your work, the first step should be to scrutinize the process, and naturally assume that the

Use Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP) to drive sustainability

By -admin
Posted on May 16, 2014January 1, 2023
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Pollutants, Raw Materials, Solid Waste, Transportation, Water

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

By -admin
Posted on April 13, 2014June 27, 2016
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Pollutants, Raw Materials, Solid Waste

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),

Why you need to learn about nonparametric statistical tests

By -admin
Posted on November 21, 2013June 8, 2017
Posted in Lean Six Sigma Tools, Pollutants

The method you choose for analyzing your data could cause you to draw incorrect conclusions, causing extra data collection, waste and frustration. Most statistical analysis use parametric tests (t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation, etc), but there are some limitations to these tests. More often than not, the nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Kendall’s Tau, etc) may be

Hold a lean kaizen event without wasting paper!

By -admin
Posted on October 31, 2013September 3, 2016
Posted in Land and Building Use, Pollutants, Raw Materials

As someone who is conscientious of wasting paper, I struggle with conducting lean events with the vast amounts of “butcher” paper and easel pads that are used during the event. I try to utilize white boards as much as possible, especially for mapping and documenting actions items. I’ll also encourage computer use, to capture information

Book review for “Lean Sustainability”

By -admin
Posted on October 28, 2013February 5, 2017
Posted in Book Review, Carbon Footprint, Energy, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Pollutants

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,

Green Your Work by Kim Carlson – Book Review

By -admin
Posted on September 2, 2013September 14, 2016
Posted in Book Review, Carbon Footprint, Energy, Land and Building Use, Pollutants, Raw Materials, Solid Waste, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water

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