PPRC's Lean and Green Assistance

Updated June 2010.

Lean and Environment Resources

Lean and Environmental Projects and Case Studies in Region 10

Woodfold Mfg., Inc. - 1997 Case Study - a team involving Oregon Manufacturing Extenstion Partnership, PPRC, and Woodfold Mfg. employees, worked to identify numerous environmental improvements during a value stream mapping (VSM) exercise, including water conservation and material efficiency through spray transfer efficiency improvements.
ON Semiconductor - 2009 Case Study - a team involving Idaho TechHelp, PPRC, Idaho State government, and ON Semiconductor - used a VSM including facilities, equipment, and environmental inputs and outputs to identify numerous improvements. A kaizen implementation event and establishment of a green team, are saving the company over $400,000 per year.
Washington State Department of Ecology's Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Unit (HWTRU) and the Washington State MEP, Impact Washington, partnered to jointly deliver lean and P2 services to three Washington manufacturers in 2006 and 2007.

Canyon Creek Cabinet Company in Monroe, Washington
Lasco Bathware in Yelm, Washington
Columbia Paint in Spokane, Washington

Decagon Devices - 2010 Case Study - Impact Washington and Washington State Department of Ecology's HWTRU partnered to assist Decagon in improving productivity and transitioning to lead-free solder methods in their instrumentation manufacturing.
Lean and Environment at Givaudan - 2010 Case Study - a team involving Oregon Manufacturing Extenstion Partnership, PPRC, the Innovative Productivity Center and Givaudan staff used a value stream map, facility walkthrough, and previous energy audit recommendations, to identify numerous priority and plan for implementation. Over the course of about one year, the company implemented several of the changes, leading to water conservation (and reduced wastewater generation), and significant energy improvements.

Additonal Lean and Environmental Projects and Case Studies

EPA Lean and Environment Case Studies and Best Practices
Green Manufacturing: Case Studies in Lean and Sustainability - this book compiled by the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, offers practical, in-depth case studies of environmental, and energy issues -- including the application of lean principles to these issues.
Green Suppliers Network - Lean and Clean Case Studies
"At Goodrich, Lean Includes Reducing Environmental Waste" Newsletter "Lean Directions" 2006.
Value & Energy Stream Mapping (VeSM) - Projects and methodology conducted by the California Manufacturing Technology Consulting to incorporate energy consumption into value stream mapping.

Resources and Tools

PPRC's Facility Enviromental Checklist for Lean Providers - offers a handy checklist and set of questions to use during facility walkthroughs and lean events, to bring more environmental wastes to the forefront. Covers corporate environmental policy, energy, fuel, water, toxics, waste, air quality, and stormwater.
U.S. EPA's Lean and Environmental Toolkit - offers practical techniques and strategies that can help lean, environmental, and other specialists deliver environmental improvements as a routine task of lean driven business operations.
U.S. EPA's Environmental Professional's Guide to Lean and Six Sigma - provides an overview of common Lean and Six Sigma methods, explains why environmental professionals should consider integrated Lean and environment efforts, describes how Lean differs from pollution prevention and sustainability, and outlines different models for advancing Lean and environment implementation efforts.
U.S. EPA's Lean and Energy Toolkit - offers strategies to use lean to specifically address energy conservation.
U.S. EPA's Lean and Chemicals Toolkit - offers strategies to use lean to address time, cost, risk, and quality issues, related to all aspects of chemical manufacturing, management, and use.
Lean Manufacturing and the Environment - EPA sees an important connection between lean manufacturing and environmental improvement, and defines lean and environment, summarizes EPAs efforts to enhance the environmental benefits of advanced manufacturing techniques, explains potential benefits of incorporating environment with lean, and links to several case studies and other resources.
Lean Manufacturing and the Environment - Ignoring the 8th Deadly Waste Leaves Money on the Table - This article by Mitch Kidwell discusses the results of a Shingo Prize-winning study commissioned by the EPA. The study found that lean helped many companies save money by taking steps that also benefited the environment, as well as productivity, even when they were not consciously trying to do so.
Working Smart for Environmental Protection: Improving State Agency Processes with Lean and Six Sigma - is a primer on how state environmental agencies have used lean and six sigma to improve permitting and other agency processes.
The P2Rx Topic Hub for Lean Manufacturing is a primer on lean - offering a quick guide to the essential pollution prevention (P2) information on lean manufacturing.

Organizations Involved in Lean and Environment

The Green Suppliers Network program is a network of organizations promoting lean along with environmental improvement and pollution prevention.
Impact Washington is the Washington MEP, and one of a national network of MEPs supported by NIST. They were involved with the Washington lean and environment pilot projects.
Washington State Department of Ecology's Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Unit has managed three lean and environment pilot projects in Washington State.
Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting, Ltd. provides facilitation, analytic, and strategic support to EPA's Lean and Environment Initiative and Ecology's Lean and Environment Pilot Projects and Lean Design Project.
Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC) is a non-profit offering pollution prevention and waste minimization services to agencies and business (with a pending website and lean/green rapid response service).
Society of Manufacturing Engineer's "Lean to Green" Sustainability Tech Group is leveraging the lessons of Lean to advance the "next generation of lean" and innovation across industry.

Lean Service Organizations

The Northwest Lean Network (NWLEAN.net) assists companies to implement lean manufacturing and lean production systems, and offers helpful online discussions and information sharing.
Lean Enterprise Institute publishes books, workbooks, and case studies, offers workshops and conferences, and conducts research that helps companies transform themselves into lean enterprises, based on the principles of the Toyota Production System. They also offer assistance to managers and executives to develop leadership to sustain lean enterprises.
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is working to modernize U.S. manufacturing and make manufacturers more competitive. Visit NAM's webpage on Lean Manufacturing.