Reduce your footprint and drive growth with sustainable manufacturing
Learn what sustainable manufacturing means, explore the benefits of sustainable production, and find out how manufacturers are uniquely positioned to reduce their environmental impact while decreasing costs, improving efficiency, and driving growth.
What is sustainable manufacturing?
Sustainable manufacturing is the sustainable production of goods and services using processes that reduce the overall environmental impact of your operations.
By transitioning to sustainable production systems and business practices, your manufacturing organization can:
- Conserve resources and drive efficiencies
- Optimize energy consumption
- Reduce emissions and minimize your carbon footprint
- Improve water and waste management
- Ensure the health and safety of your workforce
Today’s consumers are searching for sustainable, responsibly sourced products, and they’re demanding greater transparency about manufacturing processes. As a result, manufacturers are facing ever-increasing pressure to transition to sustainable production practices.
Because the manufacturing industry accounts for large-scale industrial processes, these organizations have a disproportionate influence on the environment. In fact, 20 percent of global CO2 emissions come from the manufacturing and production sectors1. As a result, manufacturers are uniquely positioned to make a major positive impact by improving their sustainability efforts.
Sustainable production: Good for the planet, good for business
Sustainable production isn’t just good for the environment—it’s also good for business. That’s because sustainable manufacturing allows manufacturers to save on production costs, increase resilience, improve agility, accelerate business growth, and gain a competitive edge.
Plus, environmental sustainability is now a top priority for many consumers and employees. As they continue to see the negative impacts of climate change, people across the globe are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, conserve resources, and protect ecosystems for future generations. By accelerating sustainability efforts, manufacturing organizations can build brand trust, boost customer loyalty, and enhance employee satisfaction.
Driving sustainability throughout the product lifecycle
Consumer demand for sustainable and responsibly sourced products is on the rise. In this climate, it’s more important than ever for organizations to embrace sustainability throughout the product lifecycle—from development to manufacturing to retirement.
A product’s lifecycle includes the following stages:
- Concept
- Development
- Launch
- Manufacturing
- Distribution
- Use of product
- Recycle, reuse, or retirement
What is sustainable design?
Sustainable design, also known as environmental design, is the process of designing, developing, and producing a product at an affordable price without causing harm to the environment. Instead of making minor tweaks to existing product manufacturing processes, this thoughtful, comprehensive approach makes sustainability a priority from the very beginning of the product design phase.
By focusing on sustainability in product design and throughout the manufacturing and distribution process, organizations can minimize the negative impact a product has on the environment. Manufacturers play a particularly important role in driving sustainability in the production phase of a product’s lifecycle.
How to achieve sustainable manufacturing
Because the manufacturing industry has an enormous impact on our planet’s environment, manufacturers can make significant positive change by embracing and accelerating sustainable production efforts. Additionally, organizations across a range of industries can help lay the groundwork for sustainable manufacturing by prioritizing sustainability in product design.
8 best practices for sustainable production
Here are eight sustainable production best practices that can help you drive meaningful change across your manufacturing operations:
Create a sustainability team to spearhead your efforts
As you build your team, include stakeholders from each department within your organization. This will ensure that you’re accelerating sustainability efforts across all your operations and business functions.
Forge a path to net zero
Set long-term sustainability goals, establish benchmarks, and determine how to effectively track and report your progress.
Understand your environmental impact
Measure the inputs used in your production processes to gain a clear understanding of your overall impact. Evaluate your products, processes, and facility operations and identify ways to boost efficiencies and improve performance.
Embrace new innovations in sustainability
Move beyond compliance and forge a path to net zero by adopting innovative technology:
- Shift from on-premises computing to cloud solutions to decrease energy consumption and carbon emissions.
- Tap into Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and mixed reality solutions to optimize energy consumption and keep a pulse on emissions data.
- Explore solutions designed to help you record, report, and reduce your environmental impact.
- Modernize operations and increase resilience in your supply chain by transitioning to a smart factory.
- Decrease water consumption and wasted materials with real-time monitoring and controls.
- Optimize operations and increase efficiencies with automation.
Reduce consumption
Look for ways to work more efficiently so you can slash the amount of time you spend manufacturing and decrease your organization’s energy consumption.
Streamline data collection to improve sustainability reporting
Unify data intelligence from across your organization to get clear insights. Explore technology solutions designed to help you visualize your emissions activity, stay on track to reach your goals, and report your progress.
Transition to more efficient IT options
Identify opportunities to replace your IT tools, systems, and activities with more efficient alternatives to reduce your carbon footprint.
Improve transparency and accountability
Enhance transparency across your value chain to reduce your environmental impact. Digitally connect your supply chains to strengthen collaboration and accountability and improve reporting.
Risks vs. rewards of sustainable production
If your manufacturing organization is transitioning to more sustainable practices, you will certainly face some challenges along the way. However, the rewards of sustainable manufacturing far outweigh the risks.
Barriers
Here are a few of the challenges manufacturers face when they adopt sustainable production:
- Budget issues: Without a clear strategy and careful planning, some manufacturers struggle to make the shift to sustainable production in a cost-effective way.
- Lack of innovation: Manufacturers that don’t embrace the latest technologies have a difficult time measuring their environmental impact and reaching sustainability goals.
- Poor data collection: Many manufacturing organizations aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to collecting data and measuring and understanding their environmental footprint. Without clear insights, it’s difficult to improve operations and reduce their impact.
- Insufficient support: It’s not enough to set goals and embrace sustainability in one area of the business. To make significant change, manufacturers must garner support from stakeholders and teams across the entire organization.
Benefits
When manufacturers take a thoughtful approach to sustainable production, they quickly reap the rewards, including:
- Reduced costs and waste: By improving operational efficiency, manufacturers cut down on waste and operating costs.
- Better brand trust: When manufacturers shift to sustainable production, this strengthens their reputation and builds customer trust.
- Business growth: Because many of today’s consumers are seeking sustainable products, manufacturers that pursue sustainability attract new customers and boost loyalty among existing ones. This gives manufacturers a competitive advantage and allows them to drive business growth.
- Satisfied employees: By embracing sustainability, manufacturing organizations can empower their workforce and enhance employee satisfaction.
- Improved compliance: Manufacturers that transition to sustainable production can easily meet and exceed regulatory requirements, which often leads to greater business opportunities.
- Resilience and agility: When manufacturers accelerate sustainability efforts, they build resilience, increase agility, and future-proof their business.
Factories of the future: Sustainable manufacturing today and tomorrow
The transition to sustainable production is not always an easy shift for manufacturers—but it comes with countless rewards and opportunities. That’s why manufacturing organizations across the globe are accelerating their sustainability efforts and taking steps to reduce their environmental impact. In fact, 31 percent of manufacturers are now using sustainable materials in their supply chains2.
It's clear that environmentally sustainable manufacturing operations are gaining momentum. With the ongoing development of new sustainability technology platforms and smart factory solutions, the future of sustainable manufacturing is bright. As people and governments across the globe continue to prioritize the environment, manufacturers will be expected to embrace these technologies and make the shift to sustainable production.
As a manufacturer ourselves, sustainability is very much top of mind at Microsoft. We’re on a mission to be carbon neutral and water positive by 2030—and by 2050, we’ll remove our historical emissions since we were founded in 1975. But we’ll only find success by partnering with others to amplify awareness and develop joint solutions that benefit both businesses and the environment.
Fuel sustainability progress and drive business growth
No matter where you are on your sustainability journey, explore ways to reduce your environmental impact, increase efficiencies, and create new growth opportunities.
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