The Road to Sustainability

You Are Here on the Map: Solid Business Practices Are a Smart First Step

By Curt McNamara

If the word sustainable reminds you of brown paper wrappers and clunky design, competitors are leaving you in the dust! They see the advantage of approaches that inspires staff, reduces costs, and increases market share—and are running with it!

An example of "Advanced Lean Enterprise Methods" is how bees usually appear in an ecosystem shortly after there is vegetation to support them. Photo by Curt McNamara

Where do these advantages come from? Almost any designer will do a better job when working for a better customer. There is no better customer than the planet. Your designers will look for ways to use less material, find better suppliers, recycle the package, and make you look good.

Customers of the human variety look for "tags" that allow them to self-identify with the brand or company. Design for the environment connects with a growing demographic similar to organics. A demographic that is quickly expanding to include the rest of the mainstream too.

Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) and other sustainability systems thinking approaches say that waste equals food. Waste is lost dollars and risk when waste requires special handling. A designer empowered to find ways to turn waste into useful production materials helps the company's bottom line and the earth. Your nearest advantage may be behind you

Bad blueprints make bad houses, regardless of vision. Since hindsight is 20/20, why not take advantage of it? If the following ideas sound really familiar—like you're already doing them—you are already on the road to making sustainable design part of your business model. Let's review some basics of production that will help get your business on the right road.

When the proverbial light goes on in designers' heads, progress can be made toward many sustainability goals. The Knoend company introduced lite2go as a new lighting concept that completely eliminates packaging waste. The all-in-one eco-friendly lamp is usable right off the shelf, the packaging becomes part of the lamp shade, and all components are biodegradable or recyclable.

5S – An improvement process involving five steps (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain) to create and maintain a clean, neat, and orderly workplace. Some organizations add a sixth "S" for Safety.

Parallel from nature – Scavengers reduce the waste materials in the blood stream, creating an environment where the desired recombination can take place.

Standard Work and Visual Controls – Standard work represents the best ("least-waste") way to perform a given operation. Visual controls are used to reinforce standardized procedures and to display the status of an activity so every employee can see it and take appropriate action.

Parallels from nature – Organisms which use the least materials and energy can survive in more environments. Visual cues (leaves sprouting, flowers blooming, reflections of fish in water) trigger actions.

Cellular Manufacturing – Manufacturing work centers (cells) have the total capabilities needed to produce an item or group of similar items.

Parallel from nature – All life is divided into cells and work is distributed in parallel between them.

Just in Time (JIT) / Kanban – This scheduling concept requires that any item needed for an operation (whether raw material, finished product, or anything in between) is available precisely when needed. Kanban, or a signaling system, is used to control levels of inventory and work in process.

Parallel from nature – Living systems only use what is present in front of them. Growth and change occur when triggered.

Anti-parallel – Humans excel at storing materials and energy "for a rainy day."

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) – Enlist operators in the design, selection, correction, and maintenance of equipment to ensure that every machine or process can perform its required tasks without interruption.

Parallel from nature – Cells persist by continually renewing each element, avoiding decay. Each of your cells is replaced within seven years. This requires both a cell regeneration process as well as a scavenger process. The scavenger process can find unused materials and resources in your organization, improving efficiencies and increasing profitability.

Six Sigma – Six sigma reduces product variation and thereby scrap, yet it is also a design practice that looks carefully at choice of materials, the fit between design and customer need, material processing, and how to minimize variation.

Parallel from nature – RNA/DNA copying is amazingly precise in general, and has a lower error rate than six sigma.

Advanced Lean Enterprise Methods, or Pre-Production Planning (3P) – This includes lean method for product and/or process design. 3P designs and implements production processes, tools, and equipment that support one-piece flow, are designed for ease of manufacturing, and achieve appropriate cost, quality, and lead time.

Parallel from nature – Bees appear in an ecosystem shortly after there is vegetation to support them.

Curt McNamara, P.E., is a product designer, member of the o2 Global Sustainable Design Network (o2.org), and faculty for Minneapolis College of Art and Design's groundbreaking Sustainable Design Certificate Program (www.online.mcad.edu). He can be reached at c.mcnamara@ieee.org.