Re: Lean and Green Visuals

[Gary Liss <gary@garyliss.com>]

Georjean,

All Zero Waste Businesses that have been documented have saved
money.  They save the most from reducing wasting; then save from
reusing products or setting up reuse systems (e.g., returnable shipping
containers and pallets); and finally save some more from recycling and
composting (the last resort).  We're now seeing companies promoting
the fact that they are Zero Waste Businesses to prove that they are the
greenest of the green (e.g., Toyota's ad with a car made of all natural
products decomposing back to nature during the 30 second spot with a
voice-over - "We're not only for Zero emissions, we're for Zero
Waste").

Some of the Zero Waste Businesses documented are small businesses. 
For details, go to:
http://www.grrn.org/zerowaste/business/profiles.php  and 
http://www.earthresource.org/zerowaste.html.  At the Earth
Resource Foundation website, there are presentations posted for the past
3 Zero Waste Business conferences, which have LOTS of great
visuals.

Gary

At 08:44 AM 7/10/2008, Georjean Adams wrote:
> A lot of smaller companies have
> bought into lean manufacturing as a way to reduce their business costs
> (lean "wastes").  I moderated a session on Lean and Green
> for the Manufacturers Alliance (Minnesota) last year, but it's a
> challenge to get companies interested.  I am trying again with a
> 1/2 day workshop
> on "Greening Your Lean Program"  August 26, 2008.  I
> am using the EPA toolkits at epa.gov/lean and some case studies from
> Washington
> State Dept. of Ecology.  I'll also be trying out Kurt
> Middlekoop's (Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center) "Learning How
> to See" (washing hands) as a small group training exercise (thanks
> to Cindy McComas, MnTAP). 
>
> I'd appreciate additional examples of hands-on exercises and compelling
> success stories with good before/after pictures.  Most of what I can
> find for lean and green manufacturing involves big companies.  We
> need to convince smaller businesses that they too can look for green
> improvements with the lean tools they are already using!
>
> Assuming the workshop happens, I'll be glad to share what worked and
> didn't.
>
> Thanks!
> Georjean Adams
>
> -- 
> EHS Strategies, Inc.
> - enabling organizations to meet their EHS vision
> www.ehsstrategies.com
> 651-204-3371

Gary Liss       
916-652-7850    
Fax: 916-652-0485
www.garyliss.com