Posts filed under ‘Managing Global EHS programs’
How a New Design Revolution will Change Supply Chain Management
Howard Brown
Stories about Henry Ford’s genius with manufacturing abound, though it’s rarely clear which ones are actually true. One of my favorites is his insisting that parts manufacturers deliver their products to his plants in wooden crates of his design, which he then dismantled and used as floorboards in his cars.
Supply chain management has grown in sophistication and importance since Ford’s time. The quality movement, just-in-time manufacturing, corporate responsibility initiatives, enterprise-wide information systems, environmental impact analyses like life-cycle assessments, and growth in transparency and public access to information have all brought about major changes in supply change management. Now a new design revolution is about to create an even bigger change in supply chain thinking. The change will come both from new materials and products and from new manufacturing technologies.
Radical new materials and products (such as the ones we feature in the dMASS Insights newsletter) will themselves disrupt traditional supply chain relationships. For example, there are composite materials that exhibit behaviors with the potential to replace mechanical appliances, tools, and other machinery – even entire factories. There are materials that can be used to generate electricity by movement, temperature differences and solar energy conversion. Others have the ability to interfere with the growth of harmful bacteria, actively transfer heat or emit light with minimal energy subsidy. The cumulative effect of new materials and products will be shorter and simpler supply chains.
New manufacturing technologies will be at least as disruptive as the products themselves. Nano-scale manufacturing technologies such as Additive Layer Manufacturing (including 3D printing) and bio-manufacturing (the growing of products) stem from recent advances in the scientific understanding of how nature organizes itself at the most fundamental levels of matter and energy. Similarly, biomanufacturing stems from new discoveries in the fields of genetics and micro-organisms. The common thread among each of these technologies is a growing knowledge of nature’s tendency to self-organize, and an ability to leverage this knowledge.
Three-dimensional (3D)printing, in particular, has the potential to drastically cut resource demands, costs and dependence on resource-intensive supply chains, as well as pollution and waste. Advanced computer-aided design (CAD) systems bring design down to the level of individual molecules. The entire downstream supply chain for a 3D-printed product can be a set of printer cartridges containing different chemical elements. When laid down in precise proportions, the atoms arrange themselves into material structures with the desired characteristics. Printing can often be done in small shops, portable facilities, or even in the home. There is little or no need for high-temperature smelting in parts manufacturing, high-speed grinding or stamping that produces manufacturing scrap, or glues, adhesives, staples, rivets and other parts to hold separate pieces together.
Henry Ford’s tactic saved resources a century ago by creatively taking advantage of existing supply chain resources and harvesting value from waste. Nano- and bio-technologies will radically transform supply chain management in a new way. Business success will increasingly require understanding these technologies and taking advantage of the changes they will bring about.
What are your thoughts? Have you begun to experience supply chain changes due to commodity prices or supply problems, or due to the availability of new materials, products, or technologies?
Howard Brown is a noted entrepreneur and the founder of dMASS.net, an organization focused on helping businesses improve resource performance. For more than 20 years, he was CEO of the consultancy RPM Systems, Inc. (Resource Planning and Management), where he worked with companies such as International Paper, Mobil, BP, Duracell, Avery- Dennison, Whirlpool, SaraLee, and Wrigley, earning a worldwide reputation for developing practical strategies that merge environmental and business goals. To learn more about dMass, visit: http://www.dmass.net/wordpress/
Meet the NAEM Board of Directors: What are the EHS and sustainability trends to watch in 2012?
As part of NAEM’s 2012 Member Appreciation Week celebration, we sat down with members of the NAEM Board of Directors to talk about the EHS and sustainability trends to watch in 2012. Featuring Michael Miller of Dean Foods; David Newman; Mark Hause of DuPont; and Verne Shortel of NRG Energy.
Meet the NAEM Board of Directors: What are some of the lessons you learned in 2011?
In honor of this week’s 2012 Member Appreciation Week celebration, we sat down with members of the NAEM Board of Directors to talk about trends in EHS and sustainability management. Featuring Deb Hammond of Abbott Laboratories; Stephen Evanoff of Danaher Corp.; Bruce Karas of The Coca-Cola Co.; and Minda Sarmiento of Shaw Environmental Inc.
NAEM Board of Directors: What project are you most excited about working on this year?
As part of NAEM’s 2012 Member Appreciation Week, we sat down with members of the NAEM Board of Directors to chat about trends in environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability management. Featuring Kelvin Roth of AMCOL International Corp.; Sandy Nessing of American Electric Power Co. Inc.; Pat Perry of CVS Caremark; and John Reichling of CDM Smith.
Dow Chemical Co.’s Strategy for Addressing Product Stewardship Issues
With the growth in product stewardship regulations in Europe and beyond, chemical makers are facing unprecedented demand for transparency. In this video at our recent EHS Compliance Excellence Conference, Connie Deford, Director of U.S. Chemical Management Policy for Dow Chemical Co., discusses the impact these regulations are having and how the company is addressing them.
A Scot’s guide to a better battle plan
Alex Pollock
In the midst of a cold, snowy Michigan winter I’ve been enjoying rediscovering and reflecting on my Scottish heritage. I’m finding it much more enjoyable now than I did many years ago in my Scottish secondary school. I’m reconnecting with heroes like Robert the Bruce, Bonnie Prince Charlie and of course William Wallace of “Braveheart” fame. (Who can forget the blood chilling cry of Mel Gibson’s Wallace: “All men die but few really live?”)
Scottish history is filled with battles, won and lost, strained relationships, treachery and deceit, martyrdom, amazing acts of patriotism and important legacies to our society beyond kilts, bagpipes, whiskey and golf. ( See “How the Scots Invented the Modern World” by Arthur Herman.)
In the next few blogs I’d like to share my leadership reflections from Scottish history and stir conversation around themes like; the importance of planning, conflict resolution, the importance of a cause and the power of celebration.
When bravado becomes disconnected from brains the results can be devastating. Many battles were lost before they began because actions were initiated before adequate plans were developed.
John Maxwell the leadership expert describes nine simple steps in the leadership planning process:
P: Predetermine your course of action
L: Lay out your goals
A: Adjust your priorities
N: Notify key personnel
A: Allow time for acceptance
H: Head into action
E: Expect problems
A: Always point to your successes
D: Daily review your progress
What are your golden rules for planning? What frustrations have you overcome? How can we better decide when the planning stops and implementation begins? We can learn from your experiences.
Treating an audit as a chance to improve
Rebecca Zentko
I can remember some time ago, in our early days of ISO 9000 certification, when as the time grew near for the ISO Auditor to appear on the scene, the air was thick with tension as the Quality Management Representative (QMR) and other affected personnel literally scrambled to get everything in order for “the audit.”
In 1998, Muir Omni Graphics achieved the ISO 9000 Certification (now 9001-2008) for Quality Assurance. In spring 2008, we were proud to have succeeded in our goal of achieving the ISO 14001-2004 Certification after designing and implementing a formal environmental management system to the ISO standard. The QMS surveillance audits were initially set up to be conducted every six months and the EMS fell right in step with this timing. Receiving audit feedback more frequently has been beneficial in keeping our systems on track.
As the Environmental Management Representative (EMR), I can certainly attest to how fast six months can fly by. It seemed like the next thing we knew, the auditor was contacting us to set up a date for the audit visit. One thing I realized early was there was no need to panic, nor was it necessary to make a desperate scramble to make sure every “T” was crossed. Muir Omni Graphics has been dedicated to following ISO Standards every day, not just the day and a half the auditor is in our facility.
We completed the ISO 14001 recertification audit last week. I admit that just the month before I had gripping moments of “Wow I should be…”, but I stopped myself. Again I realized we are supposed to be in compliance every day. If we received a Corrective Action, it would be an opportunity for improvement.
The auditor has been in our facility every six months since 2008, performing thorough audits on both the Quality and Environmental systems. We have integrated some QMS/EMS systems elements where we could, so as QMR and EMR, we spend a significant portion of time together with the auditor. He knows our processes and can easily see that we operate in a manner that is focused on continuous improvement.
He has been an instrumental role model as we continually improve our own internal auditing process and team. I look forward to his audit reports where he identifies areas in which we are doing good work, and then follows up with one or two ideas for areas of improvement.
If you are ISO certified what have your ISO auditing experiences been like? What strategies have you developed to make the process smoother?
Rebecca Zentko is Environmental, Health and Safety Director for Muir Omni Graphics, a manufacturer of durable decals and OEM industrial graphics. She is a Six Sigma Black Belt and an active member of NAEM’s LinkedIn discussion group. You can connect with her online at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccazentko
