Supplementary memorandum by Dr Claire
Barlow, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Manufacturing, University
of Cambridge
MANUFACTURING
There is little incentive for manufacturers
to design out waste: most (if they do anything) will take the
reactive (short-sighted) route of just minimising landfill, waste
water and energy costs.
Waste can arise at various stages:
Goods arriving at site
When goods arrive on site then waste may arise
from the packaging or from defective or incorrectly specified
goods. SMEs have little control over either of these.
Product Design
Major design houses and specialist firms provide
"Eco-design" expertise, but at a cost which would be
likely to be prohibitive for a small company. It is important
that design should address the whole life-cycle of the product:
for example, designing specifically to reduce waste in the manufacturing
stage may result in increased waste at other stages in the product
lifecycle.
Manufacturing processes
There are often simple things which can be done
which improve efficiencies dramatically. We send students out
into industry to do project work which very often involves exactly
this—wastage reductions of 10 to 30 per cent are routinely
achieved, with associated revenue gains. Much of what they suggest
is really just common sense, though backed up by data-collection.
Companies often don't manage this unaided because (even if they
suspect that there are savings to be made) they don't have the
time to:
Some processes are inherently less wasteful
of energy or material than others. But changing a process normally
has implications for capital investment in equipment, so there
are huge barriers to radical change.
Quality
Off-specification goods constitute waste: at
the least, re-work; at worst, discarding the product. Resource
spent on improving quality control is well spent, but small companies
running hard to maintain their position often fail to do this.
Getting the manufacturing operation correctly set up initially
is part of this (including having the right design), but huge
improvements can often be achieved simply by ensuring that routine
maintenance is carried out.
SMALL MANUFACTURERS
SMEs typically have little influence on the
supply chain, up or down. They can rarely improve their market
potential by being actively "green".
An example of an initiative which seems to be
doing exactly the right thing is Resource Saver.[2]
Funded by EEDA, this aims to help companies reduce waste. It sends
trained volunteers (often students) out into companies (particularly
small businesses) to help them do this. Training consists of a
sensible one-day course leading to a "Waste Awareness Certificate"
put on by the Chartered Institute for Waste Management.[3]
The course is largely awareness-raising and common-sense, but
includes very practical advice on how to make simple improvements
together with persuasive examples of revenue savings. Lists of
local recycling centres are provided. This course is open to anyone,
and local businesses are encouraged to attend.
LEAN MANUFACTURING
AND SIX
SIGMA
The "Six Sigma" approach aims to improve
quality. It involves detailed measurement and statistical analysis,
followed by a comprehensive plan of action and a rolling programme
of improvement. This obviously helps to reduce waste by reducing
the fraction of off-specification goods produced. For small companies
the full Six Sigma approach is usually inappropriate (and training
is expensive). Information on courses is readily available on
the web.
"Lean" embodies principles of waste
reduction (encompassing material and energy as well as human capital
and work efficiencies). "Just in time" manufacturing
(part of the "lean" philosophy) helps to avoid waste
by reducing the amount of stock lying around and subject to damage,
and also avoids un-necessary production of unwanted goods. Full
training in Lean manufacturing (again plenty of information is
on-line) is expensive, but understanding of even the elements
is helpful. A "light" version could be very helpful
for many SMEs.
HOW WASTE
REDUCTION CAN
BE PRESENTED
AS A
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Regional development authorities are in a good
position to make an impact, with their knowledge of companies
and businesses. They do need to actively go out to them, making
it as easy and unthreatening as possible.[4]
For small businesses, mutual support and information-sharing
is very important. Anything that can be done to encourage them
to share best practice (which may include waste reduction) is
valuable. Leaders in the SME community may have set up "clubs"
to do this (eg a good local example in the Cambridge area is Ludo
Chapman, MD of Grant Instruments, Shepreth).
Businesses should use children and family and
community initiatives. Children are learning about waste, reuse
and recycling at school: bring this awareness into the workplace,
eg schoolchildren on "take your son/daughter to work"
days.
Free SME attendance at courses such as "Waste
awareness certificate" plus incentives such as local "green-listed"
companies.
It's not difficult to make savings, but people
do have to be encouraged to stop and think a little.
Recyclers could be more pro-active at seeking
out businesses as waste suppliers. For individual small businesses,
volumes are often too small to be commercially interesting, so
business parks should be targeted as a matter of course.
GAPS IN
KNOWLEDGE THAT
PREVENT BUSINESSES
FROM REDUCING
WASTE
The immediate reaction is often "It will
cost more", followed by "Don't have time".
Many are completely unaware of the range of
materials which can be recycled. Even if they wish to make improvements,
a common complaint is lack of time to seek out recyclers and find
what they require.
Manufacturing and business practices are often
inherited, or have developed in an ad hoc way. Small companies
may not be aware that more resource-effective processes exist.
However, finding out may be beyond their scope.
HOW COMPANIES
CAN FIND
OUT WHAT
THEY NEED
TO KNOW
The problem is not that there is a lack of information,
rather that there is too much.
People either want to start (a) by telephoning
someone, or (b) to be able to quickly find authoritative material
on-line.
(b)
There are some very useful resources on-line, but
there is also a great deal of rubbish. We need to have resource
portals which are managed, so that they are prepared to filter
information (and keep it up-to-date), to provide the quick answer
(and where to go for the more detailed answer) for sets of waste-related
questions.
January 2008
2 http://www.resourcesaver.org.uk/ Back
3
http://www.ciwm.co.uk/pm/389 Back
4
eg http://www.resourcesaver.org.uk/ mentioned above. Back
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