The Risk & Benefits of Sustainable Manufacturing

There is one business-end question regarding sustainable manufacturing that has echoed in the sector for a while now: can sustainability in manufacturing be profitable? The very short answer is– absolutely. This has been the case for many years - a study from as far back as 2014 showed how companies managed to save significant sums of money by employing sustainable manufacturing practices.

And since some of our technology seems to evolve at the speed of sound, you can only imagine how much more efficient sustainable manufacturing industry trends are today. Automation, for instance, a key component of eco-friendly industrial processes, has become much more sophisticated in the last eight years, and 2022 offers more opportunities than ever before for companies to engage in green manufacturing.

And if the negative environmental impacts of industry weren’t enough of a reason, then the customers and shareholders are - both groups ascribe more value to businesses that offer sustainable products. But it can’t all be rosy, so what are the challenges of introducing green manufacturing on the factory floor or any other production stage?

Let us take an in-depth look at sustainable manufacturing, its challenges, and advantages, as well as some promising tools, practices, and materials that show how eco-friendly manufacturing can be a success and what it entails. Through these sustainable manufacturing examples, we hope to reveal just how beneficial and significant the movement is.

What is sustainable manufacturing?

Sustainable manufacturing , green manufacturing, or eco-friendly manufacturing all refer to the same thing: manufacturing that employs processes and materials that decrease waste and greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce the negative environmental impact. As things stand today, in the US, the manufacturing sector alone accounts for 17% of emissions , and the emissions in this sector are expected to grow by 26% by the year 2050. Not to mention that an additional 36% of total emissions are attributed to mining, utilities, and construction, which are all closely linked to the manufacturing industry.

Sustainable manufacturing seeks to introduce and streamline ways to reduce pollution and waste through green manufacturing practices and materials. Practices and materials that fall under sustainable manufacturing industry trends aim to:

• Reduce energy consumption
• Reduce water consumption
• Reduce waste
• Reduce emissions and or greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change

The entire environmental sustainability movement aims to limit the use of resources to a degree where nature can recuperate and recreate what we use up, so that it doesn’t fall into a state of deficiency, which is the case for many resources today. Green manufacturing aims to be a part of that movement.

Why is sustainability important in manufacturing?

As you’ve already realized, manufacturing produces waste . Its greenhouse emissions, for starters, contribute to climate change, which means the rise of sea levels, temperature, natural disasters, as well as melted ice caps, and more endangered - and perhaps even extinct - species.

Moreover, toxic waste from non-sustainable manufacturing in factories causes air pollution that costs lives - WHO estimated that 7 million deaths in 2021 could be attributed to air pollution, and industry is a major contributor. Non-sustainable production also causes water pollution and soil pollution. Toxic waste seeping into the food sources and ecosystems has detrimental effects on the health of both wildlife and humans, beyond death caused by air pollution.

But let us turn to the business aspect of things: why are sustainable manufacturing practices important for business owners? Firstly, as global audiences are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of industry, they seek to purchase products that use sustainable methods, and this is especially true of younger generations . In fact, many consumers are ready to pay more for products that pass green manufacturing criteria.?

Additionally, implementing sustainable production methods would increase shareholder value. In a McKinsey survey , 57% of investment professionals confirm that ESG (environmental, social, governance) programs increase shareholder value. The same study found that 83% of C-suite leaders and investment professionals believe that the shareholder value of ESG programs will further increase in five years.

Another reason why sustainability in manufacturing is profitable is cutting costs. For instance, when a factory reduces energy consumption, it also decreases spending. We will delve deeper into this factor when we discuss the benefits of green manufacturing and sustainable production below.

But first, let’s take a look at the challenges.

Sustainability in manufacturing: Challenges

When it comes to responsible product management , there are three main challenges: privacy, sustainability, and inclusiveness. These three aspects of responsible product management are required by shareholders, customers, and government regulations, but there are still a few roadblocks that hamper progress.

The problem with sustainable manufacturing is that it requires new techniques that are not yet clearly defined or outlined. While regulations, capital investments, and customers are asking for sustainable production methods, most business organizations have cited “a lack of capabilities and a standard definition of what good sustainable design looks like” as the principal obstacles to employing sustainable manufacturing practices.

Moreover, only a small number of organizations have clearly outlined policies and performance incentives regarding sustainable manufacturing, which would allow for meaningful change to take place.

So, in the end, most companies just refer to Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 1 and 2 to keep tabs on carbon emissions, but “none have gone beyond this,” meaning that they don’t monitor Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 emissions– indirect emissions that occur upstream and downstream in the value chain of a given company.

In a nutshell, the main obstacles toward meaningful progress for sustainability in manufacturing are limited tools and understanding of what “good” sustainable production looks like. For instance, a lack of universal policies and guidelines, lack of comparable performance metrics, and the existence of subjective metrics.

However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to implement sustainable manufacturing. Before we go into that, let’s take a brief look at its benefits.

Sustainability in manufacturing: Benefits

In a lot of ways, sustainable manufacturing is future-proof. Despite the challenges, regulations are bound to become more precise and demanding. It’s a likely possibility that over time, growing numbers of companies will employ individuals that can map out sustainable development plans for those companies, in this case, plans for sustainable production. And the fact that shareholders and customers care for sustainability in manufacturing indicates that striving to reach sustainability goals makes a business viable for the future.

So we already talked about how green manufacturing is important for the environment, our health, shareholders, and customers. Shareholders and other investors are more likely to invest capital in sustainable production and eco-friendly manufacturing. Meanwhile, when it comes to customers, supply chain transparency can prove that a business uses sustainable manufacturing practices and has a low carbon footprint, which in turn will make the brand a certified sustainable one. This means more customers and more sales.

So what are the other benefits of green manufacturing?

Companies that are already making or about to make efforts to introduce sustainable manufacturing practices will be ready for the upcoming costs of complying with regulations . Additional financial benefits of sustainable manufacturing are improved operational efficiency due to reduced cost, waste, and energy consumption.

Finally, sustainable manufacturing examples show sustainable manufacturing practices lead to easier hiring and better employee retention. This is because sustainability also requires the use of non-toxic materials, which decreases the health dangers for workers and incentivizes them to continue employment.

How to make manufacturing more sustainable

There are two aspects to sustainable production: sustainable manufacturing practices and sustainable materials .

Sustainable manufacturing practices and tools

Regarding sustainable manufacturing practices, we already mentioned one way to monitor carbon emissions: Greenhouse Gas Protocols 1, 2, and 3. All three put together cover the greenhouse gas emissions of a company that comes from sources owned or controlled by that particular company, generated from the power plant that fuels the company, or occur at any other downstream or upstream part of the value chain.

Another way to limit carbon emissions is by monitoring product life cycle emissions, all the emissions associated with the “production and use of a specific product, from cradle to the grave, including emissions from raw materials, manufacture, transport, storage, sale, use, and disposal.”?

This sort of combines every aspect of a product– how it’s made (practice) and what it’s made from (materials). It looks at both the corporate value chain level and the product level. This, for instance, would cover both the matters of how a product is packaged and how it’s made, as both contribute to the overall sustainability and environmental impact.

Another important tool that measures sustainability in manufacturing and encompasses the monitoring metrics we discussed above is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is especially valuable for manufacturers because it allows them to assess which stage of a product’s life cycle has the highest negative environmental impact so that they can target it for improvement.?

A sustainable manufacturing example of this would be if a car manufacturer calculated how much energy is consumed during each stage of a car’s life - materials extraction and transportation, assembly, selling the car, the buyer driving the car, and finally, dumping the car. Energy consumption would be highest at the driving stage of its life cycle, so the car should be made energy-efficient, have low emissions, and have high mileage.

Notice that this example focused on energy consumption, but LCA also includes other types of waste, and the process can be further broken down to optimize sustainability in manufacturing for a given product.

Automation

Automation is one of the main drivers of sustainability in manufacturing. Automating various processes in manufacturing by using tools such as digital transformation, IIoT, big data, cobots , etc., can optimize workflows, increase efficiency and productivity, minimize the margin for error, and even come up with predictive analytics and suggestions on how to improve. All this put together means reducing the waste of energy and resources. That’s why automated manufacturing is sustainable manufacturing.

Eco-friendly manufacturing industry trends: Materials

Another side of LCA would also look at what materials are used in the making of a product and how they are sourced. Extraction of certain materials has negative environmental and social consequences, and a lot of products aren’t upcycled and instead end up in landfills - a grave example is what happens with discarded electronics . And we’ve all seen those depressing pictures of sea creatures stuck in some sort of plastic packaging, so clearly, a product - from its inception to its “death” - needs to be eco-friendly to fit the bill for green manufacturing.

Let’s look at some materials that allow this.

• Hempcrete: Hempcrete is regarded as a highly sustainable building material that could be incorporated into certain green manufacturing plants or processes. Hempcrete is made from hemp, water, and a lime-based binder, and while it’s not strong enough to hold heavy structural loads, it can be used for walling in various structures due to its insulation and absorption properties. The benefits of hempcrete are numerous: it’s energy-efficient as the insulation decreases the need for heating or cooling, the material is non-toxic, it’s very durable, and finally, rather than adding to emissions, it sequesters carbon dioxide . This makes it a carbon-negative material, which sequesters carbon both during its production (while the hemp grows) and once it’s a finished product.

• 3D printing and additive manufacturing: 3D printing and additive manufacturing refer to the same process - creating a physical, 3D object from a digital (CAD) file by adding successive layers of material until the object is complete. So how can 3D printing in manufacturing be sustainable? For starters, 3D printing and additive manufacturing waste very little material, as most of what gets used winds up in the finished product. This is in opposition to more traditional methods such as subtractive manufacturing, where they cut out parts of a bigger lump of material to arrive at the product. Moreover, 3D printing can help manufacture cost-effective products and reduce manufacturing time . The reduced manufacturing time means that 3D printing has fewer emissions . Finally, 3D printing that reuses raw materials and faulty products also reduces waste by upcycling it.
• Bioplastics: Bioplastics are alternatives to plastic that are generally renewable and biodegradable. They are usually made from biomass like corn and sugarcane or microbes like yeast . Some bioplastics can even be composted, but it depends on the exact materials in question and the conditions of the product. The advantages of bioplastics arise from the fact that they’re made from renewable materials and are naturally recyclable and biodegradable, which reduces emissions and the use of single-purpose plastic bags - which take forever to degrade and are a major pollutant. When it comes to sustainable production, bioplastics are often used for biodegradable packaging , but their use value goes beyond that. The industrial applications of bioplastics include electronics, automotive & transport, coating & adhesives, fibers, consumer goods, building & construction, etc.

When it comes to sustainability, the benefits always outweigh the risks

Although there are still some obstacles that halt business owners from introducing green manufacturing to their own companies, namely the lack of concrete guidelines and metrics, it’s nonetheless the right time to make meaningful changes through sustainability in manufacturing. Despite the lack of regulation citing specific metrics, monitoring Greenhouse Gas Protocols and LCA, mapping out a sustainable development plan in-house, and automating manufacturing processes are some of the best tools owners can utilize in the process.

Green manufacturing is already becoming increasingly important to shareholders, consumers, and regulators, so getting on the train sooner rather than later will put businesses ahead of the competition and grant more time to plan and balance budgets for this transition. And beyond that, as sustainable manufacturing practices aim to reduce waste and the use of resources, they also mean reduced costs and increased profits. Not to mention that by becoming a part of eco-friendly manufacturing, you’re becoming a part of a brighter future.

So, what are your thoughts about Sustainable Manufacturing? Let us know in the comments below.?

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