CLEANER PRODUCTION FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

"Cleaner" rather than "Clean"conveys the concept
that the journey to sustainability is never complete.

Cleaner Production (CP) has been around for a few years now, but has not gained significant traction in industry, at least not among the industries I have been exposed to in  South Africa. Could misunderstandings regarding this discipline be behind its poor uptake?

The word “cleaner” suggests that it is about there being less harm to the environment, and immediately conjures up images of reduced emissions to air, land and water. Reduction of impacts is indeed one of the goals of CP, but the discipline also incorporates powerful opportunities for resource efficiency. Properly applied, CP can therefore provide competitive advantage and represents one of the most practical ways for organisations to implement environmental sustainability. So what is CP then? 

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) defines Cleaner Production as “the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products and services in order to increase their overall efficiency and to reduce risks to human life and the environment”.  This carefully chosen wording needs to be unpacked to better understand CP:

CONTINUOUS – Becoming a cleaner producer is an ongoing process of measurement, evaluation and implementation rather than a one-off project. There are always better ways of doing things and part of adopting CP is to continuously scan the environment to identify best practice and to always be developing improvements inside your organisation. This is a journey. Think of your organisation as housing a portfolio of CP opportunities which you can develop and evaluate on an ongoing basis, choosing the most attractive ones (in terms of both financial and environmental impact) for implementation.  You can work on this portfolio on an ongoing basis, using it to feed into your capital investment plans and integrating it with other performance enhancement programmes you may have. Identifying and documenting every opportunity is a good way to map your CP implementation and prioritise your actions. This is also a good way to document why certain opportunities may not be feasible.

INTEGRATED – True CP cannot be implemented outside of organisational routine. It should touch every aspect of your business. At the heart of CP is a life cycle approach to an organisation’s products, which means that from the time a product is conceived until the time it is ultimately disposed of by its consumer, the goals of CP need to be front of mind. It is easy to then see how CP needs to be incorporated into product design, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal, and how impacts on the environment, workers, local communities and the consumer are integral to the philosophy. Note also that the integrated nature of CP means that it is not only about technology, but also about management systems and work practices.

PREVENTIVE – Like all problem solving approaches, CP seeks to design risks out rather than deal with them after the fact. This means an “at-source” approach to pollution prevention rather than an “end-of-pipe” one and a “point-of-use” approach to resource efficiency. A life cycle approach takes this concept even further upstream. In other words, don’t spend the money on that expensive effluent treatment works, rather attack the source of waste across the product life cycle and reduce the need to treat it, saving money in the process.

ENVIRONMENTAL – CP is a sustainability strategy which places the environment (which of course includes all living things including humans) at its core. Economic and social issues are however part of CP considerations and the implementation of CP does not mean that these issues should be compromised. This is after all what makes CP “integrated”.

PROCESSES, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES – CP applies not only to manufacturing and industry but also to service industries, which often have a significant environmental footprint. Every manufacturing business will also contain a service element. CP seeks to consider these issues as a system. Individual processes can be optimised to reduce waste. Products can be designed such that waste is inherently reduced during their manufacture, and from materials which have a reduced impact. Products can also be designed such that the services associated with them have a reduced impact. A simple example would be the use of packaging which stacks in a way that facilitates the delivery of larger loads, thereby reducing transport impacts. Again, a life cycle approach is essential.

INCREASE OVERALL EFFICIENCY – Some of the easiest opportunities to implement lie in increasing the efficiency of individual processes. Energy-efficient lighting, insulation, improved control of air-to-fuel ratios for boilers and furnaces, changes to moulds in order to reduce runners and risers – the implementation of these changes is indeed part of cleaner production and should be pursued. However, the use of the word “overall” here has subtle yet powerful meaning and should never be overlooked. This is where the true power of CP lies. For in taking a systems view, the opportunities are often many multiples in magnitude when compared to those gained from an assessment of components of the system.  A metal recycling plant I consulted to used water as a medium for the separation of metal, metallic sludge and plastic. The quantity of water used did not constitute a major cost driver in itself, and understandably, water conservation did not receive significant focus. Reducing the amount of water used did however have enormous benefits, since it reduced the moisture level of the sludge fed to the reduction furnaces used to convert the sludge to usable metal. This reduced gas consumption at the furnaces, improved the consistency of the furnace operation (which helped to increase metal yields) and also alleviated problems that the excessive moisture was causing in the bag filter system used to recover particulate matter from the furnace flue gases. In addition, sludge carryover into the effluent treatment system at the separation facility was reduced. By taking a helicopter view of your supply chain, much larger CP opportunities than the one mentioned here can be highlighted.

RISKS TO HUMAN LIFE AND THE ENVIRONMENT – It is important to appreciate that the safety of employees, local communities and consumers is integral to CP, along with resource efficiency and pollution prevention.

Becoming a cleaner producer makes for a compelling business case. Potential savings are very large. Your organisation will benefit from an enhanced reputation, environmental impacts will be minimised, your employees will have a safer work environment and your consumers will also enjoy safer products. Risks identified from the analysis of your operations can be incorporated into your quality management systems, enhancing overall business performance. The business benefits are many, and to make it even more attractive, it is also the responsible thing to do.

Key Sustainability Considerations for Industrial Organisations

Sustainability is a goal rather than an outcome, the pursuit of which requires the careful integration of economic, environmental and social considerations. No organisation can truly call itself sustainable, and hence we are talking here about something aspirational. Implementing sustainability within your organisation should not be viewed as a project, but rather as a journey.

Organisations operate within complex ecosystems comprising their customers, suppliers, competitors, the natural environment, the regulatory environment and every aspect of society, all of which are in a state of flux. It is ultimately the sustainability of the system, not the organisation, that is the goal. Organisations therefore need to ask the question: " What is our contribution to the sustainability of the system?". The formulation of concrete actions at all levels of an organisation in response to this question is at the heart of sustainability strategy.

Industrial organisations generally have significant environmental footprints, generate significant economic value and have large social impacts, both in terms of job creation and the health and safety of local communities. The geographic reach of their operations extends not only through their supply chains, but also into the marketplace. For organisations serving consumer markets this reach can be long and diffuse, and is often global in scale. Industrial organisations seeking to become more sustainable clearly have a wide range of issues to confront, but what are the key considerations for an industrial player starting the sustainability journey? The following are my views on the key elements of industrial sustainability:

A Life Cycle approach

The sustainability focus of many manufacturers is on the manufacturing site itself, but sustainability is about product life cycles. Sustainability should already be a consideration at the product design stage, and must extend from the extraction of raw materials, through to manufacturing, use and disposal of the product. The economic, environmental and social impacts of every stage of the product life cycle must be incorporated into sustainability strategy.

Pollution Prevention

In evaluating this life cycle, pollution of the air, land and water resources is something to be avoided, preferably through addressing problems at source. Risk assessment is a useful methodology for the determination of potential impacts and the incorporation of mitigation measures. Greenhouse gas emissions may be considered to be a part of this pollution.

Resource Efficiency 

The conservation of energy, water and materials has a multiplier effect in terms of benefits for the environment. For businesses there are significant short and long term cost benefits arising from resource efficiency projects, particularly considering that for manufacturers, raw materials and work in process costs far outweigh fixed costs such as manning. 

Operational Excellence

Waste is the enemy of sustainable business practice, and here we refer not only to physical waste but the squandering of any resources which contribute to organisational success. Industrial organisations need to produce products reliably, at low cost and according to strict quality standards. In doing so, capital assets need to be efficiently utilised, new technology needs to be seamlessly introduced and existing processes need to be improved continuously.

Skill Development

It is necessary to build capacity at all levels of an organisation in order to apply sustainability principles. The sustainability-focused organisation is necessarily a learning organisation, able to adapt to its environment, incorporate past lessons into future actions and most of all, willing and able to turn all aspects of operations into learning opportunities. This has implications for how knowledge is managed.

Employee and Community Health and Safety
The health and safety of employees and local communities impacted upon by an organisation's operations are of vital importance, both from a moral point of view as well as from the perspective of productivity. Individual organisations should be well-versed with industry-specific threats such as PVC fumes in the plastics extrusion business, or mercury pollution associated with coal-fired power generation, as examples. Product safety is a further area of critical importance. The food industry has developed formalised processes such as HACCP, but other consumer products also pose threats to consumers/users and these risks need to be evaluated and mitigated. 

Social Responsibility

Contributions to social causes should begin with a focus on employees and then extend to local communities and the wider customer base of the organisation. The approach should be one of investment, not charity, and it is eminently possible to align CSR initiatives to organisational goals in a manner which generates tangible returns. For example, investments in education in local communities, such as bursary schemes at tertiary institutions for disadvantaged youth, can generate a pipeline of quality human resources for employment in the organisation's operations.

Economics

The financial health of an enterprise is its primary concern as regards economic sustainability. Without this aspect of sustainability being on target, the other aspects of sustainability soon won't matter much, since there may not be a business to make more sustainable. This will rely on growth in revenues and the control of costs. Sustainability strategy and business strategy clearly need to be aligned. There are invariably opportunities for organisations to impact on the local economic policy environment and in making investment decisions, impacts on other economic actors should be carefully considered.

I have focused on environmental aspects of sustainability since this is my area of specialisation. The environment, economy and society should never be seen as discrete elements to be tackled individually but as part of a singular system. Paying slave wages to cut operating costs is not sustainable. Neither is cutting corners regarding the provision of personal protective equipment to staff, or polluting the environment in order to avoid treatment costs. Sustainability is however not only about constraints. Increasing raw material yields is a powerful way to boost margins. Raising environmental standards in the manufacturing process can provide access to new markets, and is gaining currency with consumers. Recycling of wastes can generate new revenue streams. These are just some of the opportunities available to those pursuing sustainability as a way of doing business. And this is what makes this growing field so exciting! Sustainability as a philosophy has deep moral roots, but the business opportunities presented by this approach should not be underestimated.

HOW MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS ON INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable industrial enterprises maximise competitive advantage through pollution prevention, the efficient use of resources, the provision of a safe working environment, the sale of sustainable products that are safe to use, excellence in operations and of course socially responsible practices. If we take the time to think about it, we quickly realise that very few, if any, of an organisation’s management disciplines do not have a bearing on these outcomes.

From Human Resources to Finance, Risk Management to Engineering, Logistics to Procurement, all functions affect an organisation’s sustainability performance. Fundamentally, this is why an organisation that wishes to become sustainable has to embark on an organisation-wide change initiative. Risk assessment and mitigation is, I believe, at the heart of such change.  

I find that in many organisations, the maintenance function is seldom on board with issues of sustainability, aside from prolonging asset life and maintaining production levels. The issue comes down to how maintenance programmes are developed, and the irony of this situation is that the frameworks used for maintenance programme development are eminently well suited to the identification and prevention of machine-related sustainability risks.

Maintenance programme development is about identifying potential failures and then devising appropriate preventive maintenance tasks to prevent those failures from occurring in the first place. Alternatively, certain failures may be allowed to happen on the understanding that their consequences are too small to warrant preventive action and that once they occur, they will be detected rapidly and corrected. Thus the preventive maintenance effort specified is a function of the consequences and probability of failure. Of course, where safety risks are concerned, these are given due priority, even if their probability is low. Safety is traditionally given due consideration in most maintenance programmes, not least because of the legal implications of safety incidents. Maintenance tasks can involve the monitoring of condition (and here a wide and growing portfolio of technologies and work practices are available to maintenance practitioners), basic operator tasks such as cleaning, lubrication and tightening, and specialist maintenance tasks involving reconditioning or replacement of components.

What is a failure? This is an absolutely vital definition which sets the tone for the entire maintenance programme development process. A failure occurs when an item loses its ability to function as designed. One of the first steps in failure identification is to define the function of every component being analysed accurately and comprehensively. Hence the function of a gasket may not only be to contain product inside a pipeline (economic), but also to prevent water pollution arising from spills (environmental and safety of local communities), as well as to keep employees safe in the case of high-temperature product (safety). The failure mode may be identical for each of these issues, but clearly the consequences are very different.

Failure identification and the quantification of the consequences of failure are typically achieved by assessing machines at the component/sub-component level, brainstorming potential failures for each component and assessing the consequences of failure on a ranking scale. It is crucial that while this exercise begins at the micro level, individual failure consequences are considered at the system level, looking first at the machine, then its role in the production line, within the entire organisation and ultimately the wider environment. It is at this crucial step in preventive maintenance programme development that issues of sustainability are best integrated into the maintenance effort.

The best vehicle for achieving this is in my experience the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) framework, but in itself it will not deliver a comprehensive, sustainability-focused risk analysis. It is vital that the team that participates in the analysis is comprised of individuals with the competencies necessary to identify sustainability risks. This means that maintenance programme development cannot be the sole preserve of maintenance engineers, technicians and artisans, and must involve operational specialists. It is also important that the FMECA is facilitated by a knowledgeable process expert who can ask the correct questions of the subject matter experts and elicit a comprehensive risk assessment.

While most maintenance programmes are designed to prolong asset life and maximise machine uptime, the sustainability-focused maintenance programme must not only consider failures that could result in consequential damage and employee safety risks, and which could reduce throughput, but also those which could result in product safety risks (including food safety), product quality problems (which could lead to rework or material losses or affect business through reduced sales), pollution of air land and water, reductions in energy efficiency, losses of materials and  wastage of water among others. It is not unusual for the failure of a single component to impact on a number of these issues, and it is easy to appreciate the depth of knowledge needed to link individual failures to these impacts. Once individual failures have been analysed, decision trees such as MSG3 can be applied to develop appropriate tasks. In this regard, the work of Nowlan and Heap (Reliability Centred Maintenance), developed over three decades ago to deal with preventive maintenance in the airline industry, remains relevant to this day.

A point I want to leave you with is that the failure of a component depends on two fundamental things – the stress placed on that component and the component’s resistance to failure. The latter is a function of design and statistical variations between individual components. The former is a function of how the machine concerned is operated, and will include operator work practices, the effectiveness of maintenance processes (here I refer specifically to consequential damage) and even factors such as the nature of the raw materials being processed. Maintenance in itself cannot guarantee robust environmental performance, and for this other side of the equation, it is vital that quality management systems are developed with the same rigour as preventive maintenance programmes.

I will illustrate some of these concepts with a maintenance case study in a future post, so stay tuned.