Manufacturers Turn Green—Wherever They

There are many ways to be green, and American manufacturers are trying them all—and as fast as they can. They have good cause. "Survey after survey shows that Millennials—people who grew up in the Nineties and Two-Thousands—will switch products if they are not environmentally sound." said Louis R. Ferretti, IBM's director of environmental compliance and supply chain social responsibility. “Companies that choose not to start sustainability programs due to capital expenditures are going to fall behind." Where to Begin? Where does a company begin? Robert B. Pojasek, a senior associate at an environmental management consulting firm, First Environment, said businesses should focus on waste. "Carbon comes from four inputs: energy, water, materials, and labor. Pay attention to those inputs and you will reduce your carbon footprint," he said.

A worker on Subaru of Indiana's assembly line prepares to recycle plastic backing from door trim. The factory reduced landfill waste to nearly zero and saved $2.4 million last year. Water, for example, is becoming increasingly expensive, and pumping, filtering, heating, and treating it uses vast amounts of energy. In drought-stricken northern Georgia and South Carolina municipalities have told large water users that their supply is now interruptible— they could turn off the tap in a public emergency. Ferretti recalled listening to a presentation about a company that used water to chill newly produced wire. "They were a technical organization, but until prices began to rise they never even thought about re-circulating water. Doing that saved them $3 million.” Reducing solid waste is both green and thrifty. If a material does not add value to a product, companies should eliminate it. Federal Signal, a vacuum truck manufacturing plant, cut solid waste per vehicle from 1,450 pounds to 1,040 pounds in three years. Subaru claims it sends less trash to the landfill than the average American family. A little creative thinking can lead to cutting waste in surprising areas. The United States used 2 billion gallons of metalworking fluids to cool and lubricate metals in 2000. They accounted for 12 percent of machining costs. So Steve Skerlos, principal investigator at the Environmental and Sustainable Technology Laboratory at the University of Michigan turned to supercritical carbon dioxide as a replacement. IBM recycles electronic parts from used computer equipment into new products, including silicon wafers for solar cells. It is a $2 billion business. When he separated it from the atmosphere and compressed it to 1,100 psi, it dissolved oil. "A high-velocity stream of gas delivers a minute amount of oil that provides all the lubricity you need, and the expansion of the gas removes heat right where you generate it. Tools last longer and you can machine faster," Skerlos said. Waste disposal disappears as an issue because the process uses only 5 milliliters of oil per hour. It would take roughly 30 to 160 days of 24-hour machining to use the same amount of fluid a conventional metalworking fluid-cooled machine uses in an hour. Recycling waste is another option for companies hoping to turn greener. Where recycling consumer waste makes back only 25 cents for every dollar it costs, Industrial recycling has better economics because it tends to deal in purer materials. Federal Signal and Subaru, for example, find a receptive market for the steel shavings from their machine shops and presses. Outside of Los Angeles, carpet maker Bentley Prince Street sells nylon waste for 50 cents a pound. IBM has created a $2 billion business recycling electronic equipment around the world.

A company's carbon footprint extends outside the plant, of course. One of the most complicated tasks in turning green, and often the most overlooked, is determining just how green suppliers are. Some companies have started auditing their overseas suppliers. IBM now insists that vendors from emerging economies meet their standards for social and environmental performance. "It’s like a marriage, and it's in both our interests to make it work," said IBM’s Ferretti. Shipping is another big out-of-plant area, ripe to become greener. Many manufacturers prefer just-in-time shipments so they don’t tie up capital in inventory. But a partly loaded truck uses almost as much fuel as a fully loaded truck. Ferretti suggests accepting full truckload shipments and storing the inventory for the vendor. As the vendor releases inventory, it charges the factory. This would require storage facilities, but vendors would have to carry the inventory on their books until it was released to the factory. Both would save on fuel costs and split any savings. The Bottom Line Just how green a company is willing to go often comes down to cost. Denise Coogan, a manager of safety and environmental compliance for Subaru, said her department earned $2.4 million in a single year. "When you're starting out, buying equipment, finding partners, and creating programs, that’s where you lose money. But if you can get over the hump and start your reduction program, you can actually make some.” [Adapted from “The Many Shades of Green,” by Alan S. Brown, Associate Editor, Mechanical Engineering, January 2009.]