Sustainable Business News from
Kuhn Associates Management Advisors
Building Sustainable Businesses
 
 
Volume 2008, Number 3                                                                                                                                      September 2008
In This Issue
Featured Article
Ideas You Can Use Now
Calendar of Events
More About Us
Our firn's mission is to help companies througout the product supply chain create environmentally-sustainable businesses. Our consulting services include: creating corporate-level environmental sustainability visions and goals; re-engineering internal processes to reflect environmentally-sustainable best practices; and  maximizing the environmental sustainability of product supply chains.
 
Our team of professionals is ready to help your business. Please contact us to learn how we can help you.
 
Call 212-343-1006 today.
 
Alternative Energy Source
Geothermal Power
Geothermal! If you live in or have visited Iceland (go visit, it's great!), you know the power of geothermal energy. This alternative energy source relies upon the Earth's hot internal core to generate steam that can, in turn, run turbines or other electricity-generating machinery. Did you know that the largest geothermal-based power plant in the World is located in California and that the United States is the World's largest producer of geothermal power? Don't expect to install a geothermal energy system in your facility just yet, but do expect more work to be done on this alternative energy source.
Greetings!

Welcome to our firm's September Newsletter. In this issue, like our others, we provide you with timely, useful information about the relationship between business and environmental sustainability ... perhaps the hottest topic in business today. Each issue of our Newsletter includes a discussion of a particular environmental topic, a related "best practices" idea you can use and a calendar of select upcoming events. Happy reading!
 
FYI. We're producing a white paper on the role of integrated 3PLs in building a sustainable supply chain. Click "Join Our Mailing List" on this page to receive your complimentary copy of this white paper immediately when it's published.
Feature Article: Water and the Product Supply Chain
 
Many of us, in both our personal and professional lives, take water for granted. Yet water is what we're all made of and, together with air and carbon, is the most elemental of resources. Therefore, businesses need to do their share to protect and preserve both the quality and quantity of water resources available to us and future generations.
 
Water quality is constantly threatened by pollution. Water pollution takes the form of either direct discharge or indirect contamination. Examples of the former include sewage treatment plant discharge, manufacturing process wastewater and agricultural runoff. A major example of indirect contamination is acid rain contamination, resulting from the removal of airborne contaminant particles from the atmosphere during rain events, which land in rivers, lakes and oceans. Both direct and indirect water pollution significantly negatively affect the quality of water available for human consumption, agricultural and scientific use and for aqauatic and other animal life.
 
Water quantity is out of balance in many places around the world, in some cases threatening human existence and geopolitical stability. In some places at some times there is water scarcity, which threatens lives and restricts growth. Some of this scarcity is caused by climate change and some is caused by overuse/waste from personal and institutional activities. In other areas at times there is an overabundance of water, often caused by erratic climate patterns or resulting from poorly planned development.
 
Product supply chain players contribute in significant ways to water issues. There are the obvious/extreme cases of companies directly discharging toxins into sewage systems. This damage to the water supply costs us all dearly and there are laws in most jurisdictions that create significant costs and other penalties for direct polluters. But there are more subtle process water discharge issues where contaminants enter the water supply as a result of poor filtering and/or reclamation. (For example, metalworking lubrication systems do not always completely filter petroleum products from water-based solutions and may not reclaim 100% of the runoff). Industrial activity also contributes to indirect water contamination: there are companies whose airborne pollutants contribute to acid rain (although much acid rain is a result of coal-burning energy production).
 
Manufacturing can significantly affect water quantity, as well as quality. Many manufacturing processes, such as aluminum production and beverage manufacturing, are significant consumers of water. Some water consumption by these processes is inevitable, but manufacturers often consume more water than is actually necessary for their production and MRO processes.
 
How can a company integral to the product supply chain mitigate its effects on water quality and quantity and still maintain a sustainable business model? Depending on the exact situation, this can be a real challenge. But the important point is to start somewhere (see "Ideas You Can Use Now!" below for some ideas). Look at your main water-consuming activities and remember to look both internally and into your supply chain (how far you look into your supply chain is up to you, but some say the best practice is to go two steps up and two steps down). Set some targets for water-consumption reduction (you may set a corporate-wide target, a location-based or an activity-based target). Then pick some low-hanging fruit as your first re-engineering activity. Get everyone involved and make them understand that this is part of you company's culture ... from now until forever. Get outside help if you need it. Be persistent and patient. And measure and report your changes; metrics are important.  Celebrate all your successes and reward all good ideas.
Ideas You Can Use Now!
 
In the article above, we talked about the relationship between water and the activities of companies in the product supply chain. Let's first focus on water waste here. Specifically, process water discharge, which is frequently found in industrial situations. Here, the best way to "cure" the wastewater problem is to subsitute "closed loop" water systems for open loop ones. Take a survey of all water-using industrial systems (including MRO systems) in your facilities (you might want to enlist expert help on this). Which ones do not completely capture all the system's water output and send it to recycling for reuse? These systems are your targets for reconfiguration to closed-loop systems. And you can reconfigure these systems! The aluminum manufacturer Alcoa, a major water user, reduced water usage in this way by about 20% in five years.
  
And if you want to go a step further in reducing water consumption, look at activities in your administrative/office areas too. Install low-flow or water-free human waste systems in your bathrooms. Replace old faucets and drinking fountains with new low-use technology.
 
There are a lot of other low-investment, high-payback water use-related re-engineering projects you can undertake right in your own shop ... or ask your supplier or customer to undertake. Contact us ... we can definitely help!
 
Calendar of Events
 
Here are some sustainability-related events for the coming months that may be of interest to you:
 
Salt Lake City, September 16 - 17. Summer Meeting of the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development. www.usbcsd.org.
 
Chicago, September 23 - 25. Green Manufacturing Expo at National Manufacturing Week. For more information, visit http://www.devicelink.com/expo/gmx08/index.html.
 
San Diego, CA, October 13 - 16. Solar Power International 2008. The World's largest conference and expo dedicated to solar power production and distribution. www.solarpowerconference.com
 
San Francisco, CA, October 15 - 17. Sustainable Supply Chain Summit, consisting of Green Purchasing Summit, Green Manufacturing Summit and Green Transportation/Logistics Summit. http://events.eyefortransport.com/sustainablesupplychain/
 
Adelphia, MD, November 6 - 7. The Institute for Supply Management's Inaugural Sustainability and Social Responsibility Conference. www.ism.ws
 
 

 
Thanks for reading! Please contact us today to discuss anything you've read here, suggest a topic for a future edition or learn how we can help you build a sustainable business! Call 212-343-1006 or email us today at [email protected] for more information.
 
Sincerely,
 

Robert Kuhn
Kuhn Associates Management Advisors LLC
Copyright 2008   Kuhn Associates Management Advisors LLC
Reproduction without prior permission prohibited.