PLANIFICACIN ESTRATGICA PARA LA SOSTENIBILIDAD

STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

By Theresa J. Barker

Executive summary

Business managers and corporate executives understand that strategic planning has
become more concerned with green manufacturing, or the process of adapting
manufacturing practices for sustainability. Planning for regulatory developments, building a
trustworthy green reputation with the public and incorporating new technology to make
manufacturing processes more efficient can improve the bottom line. Cradle-to-cradle
design provides a paradigm that can open new markets and build customer loyalty, all
while conserving raw materials and natural resources.

Business managers and corporate executives understand that sustainability concerns

have become a factor of strategic planning over the past 10 years.

In a recent poll by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 88 percent of 175 private equity and

corporate executives stated that sustainabilitys importance in business decisions and
investments will increase in the next two years, as reported on GreenBiz.com.
Furthermore, 22 percent report that they are developing sustainability strategies. Green
manufacturing, the process of adapting manufacturing practices to address sustainability
concerns, is a large part of this trend.

Developing a sustainability strategy can be a challenge. Sustainability involves uncertainty

for example, will concerns about global warming actually impact the companys
business? It is difficult to know where to start. How can managers best make the decisions
required to benefit the future of the planet as well as the profitability of manufacturing
processes?

Focusing on specific strategic areas is critical to success. As Daniel Esty and Andrew
Wilson stated in their book Green to Gold: At the operational level, managing
sustainability issues, no matter what the company calls them, works best with a defined
focus. Thinking about environmental challenges quickly becomes daunting.

Further, being green for the sake of improving the planet is not enough; sustainability
initiatives need to maintain or increase profitability, as affirmed by Forest Reinhardt in his
article, Bringing the Environment Down to Earth, from Harvard Business Review on
Green Business Strategy, Managers need to go beyond the question Does it pay to be
green? and ask instead, Under what circumstances do particular kinds of environmental
investments deliver benefits to shareholders?

Sustainability strategy for manufacturing falls into three major areas: global warming,
green building and the changing value of natural resources. The forward-thinking
manufacturer will benefit from specific planning strategies for all three.

Planetary problems

In the face of debate about global warming whether it is occurring, whether human
activity is to blame, and what the extent will be there is sufficient concern by the
scientific community and by the public to merit business planning. In What Every
Executive Needs to Know about Global Warming, from the Harvard Business Review on
Green Business Strategy, Kimberly ONeill Packard and Reinhardt wrote that risks include:

Shifts in the weather

Potential regulatory changes

The battle over public opinion

Addressing these risks in your sustainability strategy will put your company ahead of the
competition. Although it may be tempting for managers to feel defensive about new
regulations and to worry that potential costs may be difficult to calculate, it is clear that
planning for these risks is more prudent than ignoring the problem.

For the past decade, experts have been investigating the link between human activity and
the Earths temperature. Even small increases in average surface temperature are
predicted to result in dramatic weather shifts such as storms, floods and droughts, as well
as more variability in weather patterns. Mitigating the impacts of these weather shifts is
straightforward. First, evaluate your weather-related assets to account for increased risks.
Insurance may incur higher costs, or coverage may need to be increased. Second,
consider how your product markets may shift due to weather changes. For example, a hot-
weather product such as an air conditioner may have increased demand in locations with
previously tepid temperatures, or it may be in demand more immediately in other locations
due to sudden spikes in weather temperatures.

Climate-motivated regulations already are affecting businesses. Government mandates

require products to use less energy, and energy costs are increasing, especially for fossil
fuels. Assess the impact of fuel- and energy-related regulations on your future operations,
such as your fleet costs and commercial building utility costs. Can you reduce fuel demand
through improved technology such as more fuel-efficient vehicles or improved energy
efficiency in facilities? Coupled with the risks of new regulations, there are business
opportunities for new technology and products in renewable energy, process control
equipment, responsive appliances and control devices. Can you take advantage of those
markets to increase sales and value for the company?

In the arena of public opinion, many companies are beginning to produce sustainability
reports that document their efforts toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Showing
that you are thinking about the problem and working to improve your manufacturing
operation will go a long way toward earning the publics trust. Pressure to be more
sustainable and green is being brought to bear by consumer groups, investors and
shareholders alike. Management is realizing that if you dont provide a sustainability
position as part of your public communication, you will be viewed as part of the problem,
even if you are making changes to your operations to address sustainability concerns. At
the same time, your sustainability position must be credible and authentic; avoid
greenwashing or overstating your claims.

Think systematically about your sustainability efforts, and document the benefits of those
efforts to the Earths environment and to the companys value. One way to begin is with an
assessment of your carbon footprint and an explanation of ways that the company is
striving to reduce the use of carbon in its operations. That will provide a focus and a
platform for demonstrating improvements and a positive trend over future years.

Better buildings

For a manufacturing operation with assets such as plant facilities, distribution warehouses
and industrial laboratories, green building practices are an important part of sustainability
planning. Green building technology has advanced substantially over the past decade, and
green building practices can offer significant opportunities and efficiencies that create
financial advantages.

What is a green building? As described by Charles Lockwood in Building the Green Way,
from the Harvard Business Review on Green Business Strategy:

Green buildings, as many know, have less impact on the environment than standard
buildings. Their construction minimizes on-site grading, saves natural resources by using
alternative building materials, and recycles construction waste rather than sending truck
after truck to landfills. A majority of a green buildings interior spaces have natural lighting
and outdoor views, while highly efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating and air-conditioning)
systems and low-VOC (volatile organic compound) materials like paint, flooring and
furniture create a superior indoor air quality. Ten years ago, green building was
considered experimental, but a number of developments, including LEED certification,
have shifted green building to mainstream thinking. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) rating program has become a strong standard for construction and
renovation and is widely adopted. For instance, all capital projects for the University of
Washington must meet a minimum of LEED silver certification, as mandated by state
government. Harvard University just gained its 50th LEED certification.

Certification covers a variety of sustainable building practices, including water use, energy
efficiency, and materials and resources. LEED standards for green building practices also
provide an incentive and protection for investing in new or renovated buildings, since they
assure future buyers or tenants that the building meets sustainability standards.

And, according to Lockwood, the financial advantages of green building practices have
been proven by hundreds of U.S. and international studies. Reduced utility costs top the
list. Lockwood cites the example of Genzyme Center. The 12-story LEEDplatinum
headquarters for Genzyme Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., uses 42 percent less energy and
34 percent less water than a comparably sized standard building. Additional financial
benefits arise from higher employee productivity (approximately 15 percent on average)
and reduced absenteeism, a result of using alternative building materials without
formaldehyde and other toxins. Such toxins, often included in standard building materials,
can impair employee health. Productivity is also improved by green design criteria such as
letting in abundant daylight and offering individual climate controls, which boost employee
morale while reducing energy use.

As the market for green building materials, mechanical systems and furnishings has
exploded, prices have become much more competitive with standard materials and
systems. Based on information from Turner Construction Chairman Thomas C. Leppert,
Lockwoods article reports that construction of a basic LEED-certified building costs on
average only 0.8 percent more than a standard building. This is according to four industry
studies of more than 150 sustainable buildings across the United States.

After installation, green building materials and systems pay off in long-term cost
reductions. For example, motion-sensitive light sensors shut lights off when areas are
vacant, and highly efficient HVAC systems require less energy than standard systems.
Water conservation is another cost savings area, where landscaping design for reduced
water use and water-conserving irrigation systems can reduce water requirements
dramatically. Green roofs roofs planted with water-absorbing vegetation that absorb
rainwater runoff better manage multipoint surface water pollution while cutting energy
costs over conventional roofs that build up internal building heat.

Companies need to plan construction and renovation projects with an eye toward green
building practices. It is predicted that standard buildings will become obsolete and lose
their value as more green practices are adopted. Even if your organization doesnt plan
new construction in the near future, it should check out the guidelines for converting a
standard workplace into a green building provided by the LEED-CI (LEED-commercial
interiors) program. They are available on the U.S. Green Building Councils website at
www.usgbc.org.
Look for energy incentives and long-term energy and water cost savings. For instance,
Puget Sound Energy used the LEED-CI program to renovate its corporate headquarters in
Bellevue, Wash. This resulted in substantial energy cost savings each year. It also
provides prescriptive incentives in energy cost reductions for buildings that use LEED
certification in construction and renovation.

Other LEED rating systems that may be of interest, depending upon your industry, include
existing buildings: operation and maintenance (EB: O&M), core and shell (CS), healthcare
(HC) and retail.

The changing value of natural resources

Can you make your raw materials more productive? The value of natural resources used
as raw materials for a manufacturing process is changing due to scarcity considerations
and increased regulations. Increasing the productivity of your existing raw materials will
position you better against the impact of increased costs or reduced availability of those
natural resources.

Cutting waste is critical. Experts tell us that a vast amount of natural resources are wasted
in the production of goods. William McDonough and Michael Braungart, the originators of
the cradle-to-cradle design approach, put it this way in Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the
Way We Make Things: According to some accounts more than 90 percent of materials
extracted to make durable goods in the United States become waste almost immediately.
The product itself contains on average only 5 percent of the raw materials involved in
the process of making and delivering it.

Cradle-to-cradle design is a new paradigm for making things. The traditional way has been
termed cradle-to-grave because once the producer had made the goods and they were
in the customers hands, products went into the waste stream and ended up in a landfill.
Cradle-to-grave design offered little opportunity to reclaim the goods or the raw materials
used in the manufacturing process.

In cradle-to-cradle design, the producer provides for the disposal of the product when the
consumer is finished with it. Sometimes called closed-loop manufacturing, this approach
involves design for the full lifecycle of a product, from raw materials to finished product and
then back to raw materials again. Some producers provide take-back programs. For
instance, HP provides free recycling for laser printer cartridges that are then refilled and
reused. Others provide remanufacturing or refurbishing, such as Apples popular line of
refurbished Mac computers.

And some forward-minded manufacturers are shifting to designing the product as a

continuous flow of service, in which customers pay for the usefulness provided by the
product, rather than the product itself. Carrier Corp., the worlds largest manufacturer of air
conditioners, now offers contracts for comfort in commercial buildings to provide a
specified temperature and air quality level. Carrier can meet the contract through a
combination of efficiency upgrades. This approach avoids unnecessary disposal of valued
raw materials, such as steel, aluminum and others, into landfills.

Manufacturers are achieving higher productivity from natural resources in surprising and
innovative ways. In addition to the need to reduce waste, there are three primary drivers
for the shift:

Government regulations mandating pollution prevention, product recovery or

greater energy efficiency

Economic value to be gained from reuse, recycling or remanufacturing used

products

Customer, investor and shareholder demand for conservation of natural resources

In more than 19 states, governments have passed laws mandating the recycling of
consumer electronics products as the responsibility of the manufacturer. Under such a law
in the state of Washington, manufacturers selling consumer electronics products have
funded an electronics recycling program, E-Cycle Washington, and the program has
recycled more than 78 million pounds of electronics in the first two years of operation.
Europe has been even more aggressive in imposing legislation mandating manufacturers
responsibility for end-of-life disposal of products.

In addition to consumer electronics, carpet is another product that has received attention
from legislation; the state of California is in the process of regulating carpet recycling.
Germany takes it one step further with its Green Dot program, in which manufacturers
are compelled by law to pay for the cost of recycling their consumer products.

For a long time, the scrap metal industry has realized economic value from salvage, and
other industries are following suit. Caterpillar remanufactures its engines and parts with a
same as new warranty and quality, which extends the length of use of the original product
and eliminates the need for completely new raw materials. Often, the price is much lower
for a remanufactured part, which appeals to a new market segment. Remanufacturing
makes parts for older models more readily available, building customer loyalty and repeat
sales.

Todays medical devices are sophisticated electronic products, and they constitute another
promising arena for remanufacturing. Hospital beds produced by multinational Hill-Rom
are remanufactured in Indiana by a small firm that specializes in that industry. Hill-Rom
has a stellar reputation for quality, and the remanufactured product provides a more
affordable, yet still high-quality, alternative to new.

Increasingly, companies are confronted with expectations for sustainable business

decisions. Not only that, but corporations develop brand loyalty and new markets by
building a trusted green image. As Reinhardt described in Bringing
the Environment Down to Earth, the recreational clothing company Patagonia has a
strong brand identity for environmental conservation among high-end consumers. Shaw
Industries, a flooring manufacturer in Dalton, Ga., provides 100 percent recycled carpet
products that satisfy cradle-tocradle design criteria. Nylon 6 carpet is manufactured, sold
and installed. After it is worn out, it is brought back to Shaws Evergreen recycling facility in
Augusta, Ga., and remade into raw carpet fiber for manufacturing.

Increasing the productivity of your raw materials is a smart move to address risks of future
scarcity and cost volatility. As described by Marc Epstein in Making Sustainability Work,
three strategies can boost natural resource productivity while maintaining or increasing
profitability:

Redesign the product

Re-engineer the process

Rethink the market

When developing your products, consider designs with replaceable parts, eliminating the
throwaway aspect of the produced asset. Repairable and remanufactured products build
customer loyalty, extending the life of your brand. Look at reducing the packaging of your
product, which eliminates waste and may be more cost-efficient.

Enormous amounts of natural resources such as water or fuel often go into the
manufacturing process. In todays market, new technologies are being rapidly developed
to improve efficient use of water, fuel, forest products and other natural resources.

You may be able to reduce the use of those natural resources significantly by evaluating
new technologies and re-engineering your manufacturing process.

Examine other sources of waste in the process. Some waste may be suitable as biomass
fuel or may be converted into raw materials for a different process. For instance, Reinhardt
reported that yogurt cups produced by Stoneyfield Farms are reclaimed and turned into
toothbrushes, and scrap plastic packaging at Unilever is made into park benches that are
donated to the national parks.

As with any business, pay attention to new trends. Rethinking the market is a good
approach, particularly if you can design your product as a continuous service flow. Xerox
has done that in the world of office copiers. Their copiers are leased to customers, rather
than sold, and then remanufactured to a high standard of quality to be placed in customer
sites all around the world. Copiers can be upgraded as advances are made, without
having to sacrifice the natural resources and raw materials used in manufacturing the
original unit.
Or perhaps you can develop a sustainable product that will command a premium from
customers. Reinhardt cites an example in the textile market: Ciba Specialty Chemicals
designed a line of textile dyes that dramatically reduce the required salt in textile dyeing.
The new dyes cut customers costs for salt by 2 percent of net profit and eliminated the
need for costly wastewater disposal. Ciba was able to command a higher price for the
dyes because customers that used the products lowered their costs and improved quality
in the dye fixing process.

Green manufacturing is no longer an esoteric experiment. Thanks to new technologies for

resource efficiency, green building standards and inventive market strategies for
sustainability, green manufacturing can be a strategic way to improve the bottom line.

SUSTAINABILITY PIONEER

The sustainable manufacturing movement lost one of its driving forces when Ray
Anderson died Aug. 8. Anderson founded Interface, the largest producer of commercial
carpet tiles in the U.S. After reading Paul Hawkens book, The Ecology of Commerce, in
1994, he started pushing to make his company fully sustainable by 2020. The company
has been a leader in using recycled materials and renewable energy sources. The Georgia
Tech industrial engineering graduate continually made the business case for sustainability,
noting that his changes saved Interface hundreds of millions of dollars while improving the
quality of its products.

Theresa J. Barker is an affiliate assistant professor in industrial and systems engineering

at the University of Washington. Her doctoral research at the University of Washington
focused on reverse logistics and sustainability in manufacturing. She also has an M.S. in
industrial engineering and a B.S. in mathematics from the university. She served as chair
of the 2011 IIE Applied Solutions Conference, and she has published papers and given
several seminars and presentations in the field. She has worked for Boeing, Microsoft,
IBM and Walt Disney World, and she is a principal with BARK Consults, a sustainability
consulting firm.
COMENTARIO:

La planificacin estratgica para la sostenibilidad ha generado un papel de gran

importancia para los gerentes y las organizaciones debido que ayuda a adquirir
un concepto muy claro de nuestra organizacin, lo cual se hace a su vez posible la
formulacin de planes y actividades que nos lleven haca sus metas, adems
permite prepararse para hacer frentes a los rpidos cambios del ambiente en que
opera la organizacin. Cuando el ritmo de la vida era ms lento, los gerentes
podan establecer metas y planes simplemente explotando de la experiencia
pasada, pero hoy los hechos suceden con demasiada rapidez para que la
empresa sea siempre una gua digna de confianza y los gerentes se ven en el
caso de desarrollar nuevas estrategias apropiadas para los planes nicos y las
oportunidades del futuro.

Tambin la planificacin se ha convertido en un tema de bastante inters para el

desarrollo sostenible para el medio ambiente por medio de fabricacin de zonas
verdes debido a las preocupaciones sobre el calentamiento global que realmente
han tenido un impacto en el negocio de la empresa, los gerentes se les hace
bastante difcil saber por donde comenzar ya que ellos son los encargados de
tomar las decisiones necesarias en beneficio del futuro del planeta, as como la
rentabilidad de los procesos de fabricacin.

Las empresas de hoy en da tienen que tener presente cuales son las causas
principales que esta haciendo efecto al planeta ya que esto mas tarde puede ser
un gran problema hacia a las normas de las empresas. Debido a que los altos
mandatarios gubernamentales estn exigiendo productos que ahorren menos
energa, especialmente de los combustibles fsiles. El impacto del consumo de
combustible y las regulaciones relacionadas con la energa en sus operaciones
futuras, tales como los costes de la flota y comerciales costos de servicios de
construccin , Los edificios verdes, como muchos saben, tienen un menor impacto
sobre el medio ambiente que los edificios convencionales. Su construccin reduce
al mnimo en el lugar de clasificacin, ahorra recursos naturales mediante el uso
de materiales alternativos de construccin, y recicla los residuos de construccin
en lugar de enviar camiones despus de camin a los vertederos. La mayora de
los espacios interiores de un edificio verde tienen luz natural y vistas al exterior, si
bien son muy eficientes HVAC (calefaccin, ventilacin y aire acondicionado) y
sistemas de bajo VOC (compuestos orgnicos voltiles) materiales como pintura,
pisos y muebles crean un aire interior superior, calidad. "Hace diez aos, la
edificacin sustentable se considera experimental, pero una serie de
acontecimientos, incluyendo la certificacin LEED, han cambiado la edificacin
sustentable para el pensamiento dominante. El LEED (Liderazgo en Energa y
Diseo Ambiental) programa de clasificacin se ha convertido en un estndar
fuerte para la construccin y renovacin y se ha adoptado ampliamente.

La certificacin abarca una variedad de prcticas de construccin sostenible,

incluyendo el uso del agua, la eficiencia energtica y de los materiales y recursos.
Estndares LEED para las prcticas de construccin verde tambin proporcionan
un incentivo y proteccin a la inversin en edificios nuevos o renovados, ya que
aseguran los futuros compradores o inquilinos que el edificio cumple con los
estndares de sostenibilidad.

Las empresas tienen que planificar proyectos de construccin y renovacin con la

vista puesta en las prcticas de construccin verde. Se prev que los edificios
convencionales se quedan obsoletos y pierdan su valor a medida que ms
prcticas ecolgicas se adopten. Incluso si su organizacin no tiene planes de
nueva construccin en un futuro prximo, debera revisar las directrices para la
conversin de un puesto de trabajo estndar en un edificio verde proporcionada
por el LEED-CI (LEED comerciales interiores) del programa.
 REFERENCIA BIBLIOGRAFICA

Theresa J. Barker. PLANIFICACIN ESTRATGICA PARA LA

SOSTENIBILIDAD [EN LINEA] Septiembre / Octubre 2011 Industrial
Management-Planificacin estratgica para la sostenibilidad Disponible en<
http://www.iienet2.org/details.aspx?id=28954 [Citado el 04 de Octubre de 2012].