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Lean-trained execs fast-track green transition
The recent launch of IBM’s “Green Sigma” Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consulting service underscores a growing realization that operational excellence principles and practices can be applied to the rapid acceleration toward green business. More and more business leaders agree that the shift to green is necessary and, when done well, can be profitable. And lean, LSS, and other continuous improvement strategies can be applied to integrated management systems as a framework for the shift to green.
Lean-trained executives already bring the experience, vision and discipline necessary to fast-track transition and real cultural change for companies driving their own green revolutions. The need for chief sustainability officers who can lead the transition to green is rising at companies, both small and large. Most of these firms have some sort of business excellence or continuous improvement initiative already in place. They find that the chief sustainability officer's (CSO’s) role is expanding and evolving to merge production, risk management, compliance, marketing and social responsibility to impact the entire enterprise. Executives with expertise in lean continuous improvement systems bring hands-on experience gained from a decade or more of development at some of the world’s most successful companies including Toyota, Danaher, United Technologies, Johnson Controls, Whirlpool and others.
In Consulting Magazine, April 29, 2008, George Pohle, vice president and global leader of the Business Strategy Consulting Practice at IBM, said two-thirds of business executives view sustainability as a growth opportunity as opposed to it being about regulatory compliance or philanthropy. This is welcome news.
Fad no more, but still no playbookLike lean, green can embrace the concept that reducing consumption and preventing waste is more efficient and effective than subsequent mitigation. Global lean leaders have seen firsthand how continuous improvement across the value stream can capture competitive advantage.
Lean’s focus on reducing input cost, waste, and risk; promoting line-level innovation and professional development; and building proactive environmental, health and safety (EHS) strategies mirror the 3X improvement to the bottom line that green seeks to generate.
Lean systems don’t deliver green outcomes by replacing legacy factors with lower-carbon or recyclable inputs. Instead, they do so by preventing unnecessary inputs and procedures altogether. The new generation of green executives will have to look beyond engineering and the supply chain to find creative ways to keep cost from entering the value stream at all. Lean + green provides an analytical tool that can help reveal unexpected cost exposure.
Viewed from the bottom up, lean can make the green transition consistent across traditional operational silos while maximizing return on human resources. Learning from the gemba shop-floor experience has long been an important component of LSS operational excellence programs. This coincides perfectly with the social responsibility image that makes green initiatives desirable. And in cases where sustainable materials are still cost prohibitive as compared with legacy inputs, simply striving for green results can deliver value as employees feel they’re contributing to a positive change.
Lean systems have long realized the positive return from an engaged, well-trained, innovative workforce. By coordinating diverse production stages and management systems into a successful, enthusiastic, corporate culture, the vision and discipline of lean-embracing executives are perfect for green transitions.
Next stepsThe next steps for implementing green in your service, manufacturing or intellectual product enterprises will include:
A new generation of green leadership — CSOs who will maximize operational excellence with the structure and discipline learned from lean.
Engineers, site managers and line-level team members who will implement green transition on the shop floor, in the R&D lab and corporate office.
SME’s Lean to Green Sustainability Tech Group will be developing a strategy for helping practitioners learn and take action for leveraging lean and green.
 | About the authorAdam Zak is founder and president of Adam Zak Executive Search. His firm helps companies committed to long-term lean operations connect with lean executive talent. |
Copyright © 2010 Society of Manufacturing Engineers
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| November 7, 2008 Issue: |
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