A2X Consulting

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of environmentalists speaking in the language of business if they wanted to affect business performance. Today’s WSJ has an excellent article in support of this. The article reviews the success of a program at a Subaru manufacturer that embraced green manufacturing 20 years ago. The finding – that the project has provided terrific business results measured primarily through a waste reduction program.

Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., a factory of more than 3,000 workers who make roughly 800 automobiles a day, has pursued green initiatives since its launch 20 years ago in Lafayette, Ind., by Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. With employees at every level of the plant looking for ways to save energy, reduce waste and generally make processes more efficient, one measure of its success is a 14% reduction in electricity consumption on a per-car basis since 2000. An even bigger achievement: It has not shipped any waste to a landfill since May 2004.

In the next line, the authors claim they were skeptical of this claim, and are reporting it only after having done due dilligence.

The article also deals with reuse vs. recycling. This is a critical difference. Recycling is a passive process. Reuse drives an active thought process that will enable a company to become much more lean and efficient.

Reduce your waste, save money, and, improve your carbon footprint. A great message, well supported.