GE embraces Lean Manufacturing as a sustainable competitive advantage

The opening of a new GE Refigeration factory in Kentucky is good news for US manufacturing. However it is important to note that GE built the high-tech plant with the reduction of environmental impact foremost in mind.

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No-waste circular economy is good business – ask China

From The New Scientist...

Don't throw out that broken toaster: it's key to our prosperity. Redesigning the economy so that all waste is reused or recycled would be good for business, according to two new reports.

For centuries the global economy has been linear. Companies extract resources from the environment, turn them into products and sell them to consumers – who eventually throw them out. As a result we are burning through Earth's natural resources and wasting useful materials.

But it doesn't have to be that way, says Felix Preston of think tank Chatham House in London. Instead, we could have a circular economy in which waste from one product is used in another.

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Manufacturer curbs electricity costs

Woven fabric manufacturer Beaulieu Pacific Pty Ltd spent two years trying to find ways to reduce carbon emissions and electricity consumption, but with little success.

General Manager Steve Bamford said the Acacia Ridge, Queensland-based manufacturer wanted to implement more sustainable processes. “We knew electricity costs needed to be reduced, but couldn’t identify what was causing the high costs. We didn’t know where to start.”

Fortunately, Beaulieu Pacific was introduced to QMI Solutions, which conducted a very thorough study of its electricity usage and were able to reduce consumption such as:

• peak costs by up to $1000 p/m
• supplier demand costs by 22%, or $34K annually, after renegotiating its contract
• peak kilowatts per hour (kWh) charge from 10.517c to 5.335c
• off-peak kWh rate by about 40%, from 4.024 cents to 2.471c
• average peak demand from 335 kWh to 280 kWh

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