Creating a more sustainable manufacturing environment is essential for the future of our planet. It is not just the responsibility of one department or one person, but rather a team effort involving all stakeholders. In order to achieve this, we need to think creatively and approach resource efficiency <\/a>holistically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One major aspect of doing things differently is involving all stakeholders in working on solutions. This means that we need to have data to have a meaningful discussion and decide on specific KPIs. For example, if we want to answer the question of whether the bottom line is better when shifting production to when electricity is green and has a zero or even negative price, we need to assess the energy cost, overtime, risk of issues, and whether we have the right software to handle new schedules. Even if the answer is currently no, we can identify gaps that will make it viable and improve our processes through continuous improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations don\u2019t usually spontaneously start collaborating on holistic projects, so two important success factors are leadership agenda and defining an internal champion who will help steer the ship towards the environmental target while considering all other stakeholders\u2019 targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creativity is also essential to more sustainable manufacturing. But being creative might not come naturally to everyone; this is where the 7 R\u2019s for sustainability help us, by providing a systematic approach to finding new solutions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rethink, Reduce, Replan, Reuse, Reject, Recycle, Renewables<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen to the full podcast with Jonathan Fromm to learn more about these tools and how they fit in with the manufacturing environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nBeing more systematically creative<\/h2>\n\n\n\n