External Articles

Here are a list of related articles on Lean and Green articles from all over the web

2024

Designing Sustainable Value Streams eBook by Katrina Appell, Catherine Chabiron and Jim Morgan – Download LEI’s latest ebook on how Lean Product and Process Development enables organizations to design and deliver innovative, profitable, and sustainable value streams…2/1/24
How can Lean Product and Process Development enable the creation of environmentally sustainable products? by Katrina Appell – Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) principles and practices enables teams to consider sustainability when making decisions early in and throughout the design process. …1/31/24
From Cradle-to-Gate to Cradle-to-Cradle: A Lean Approach to Sustainable Product Design by Catherine Chabiron – Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) can help to build a better, less consuming, less damaging society. Some companies have started to incorporate the SDGs into their corporate strategies…1/30/24
Designing for the Environment By Katrina Appell – LEI shares how Lean Product and Process Development can enable sustainable product design to foster sustainable value streams and collaborative efforts towards more environmentally friendly design. It includes a case study from Ford, focusing on their development of a circular recycling system for the all-aluminum F150…1/29/24
Sofa manufacturer deploys Lean to reduce glue and electricity – A company aimed to increase mattress production efficiency, eliminate component overproduction in the sofa manufacturing process, and significantly reduce workplace accidents. They focused on optimizing glue usage and electricity consumption. They reduced material waste by 2%, eliminated excess components by 95%, and achieved substantial savings in glue consumption (down by 32%) and electricity costs (down by 30%)
Food manufacturer uses improvement to reduce electricity and natural gas – By using process mapping and data analysis, a food processor was able to better understand their usage and problem areas related to consumption. Increasing regular data reviews and improving the condenser performance resulted in reduced natural gas consumption by 8% and electricity consumption by 6%.
Company studies process and data to reduce electricity – By learning more about power factors, standardizing start-up routines, measuring usage and identifying causes of over-consumption, they were able to reduced electricity costs by 17%.
Polymer production efficiencies reduce energy and waste, save millions each year – Equipment breakdowns, inconsistent mixtures and variable chemical usage were costing millions per year. Control charts (SPC), visual management and reengineering product formulas led to energy consumption reduction of 6% and waste production reduction of 14%.
Food producer transforms operations to become more sustainable by improving energy efficiency – By implementing equipment sensors, updating of equipment, installing LED lights and power factor correctors, they were able to reduce energy consumption by 15%, which translated into a 13% reduction in the annual energy cost. Reuse of water and dry cleaning processes led to reduced water consumption.
Paper manufacturer reduces water, energy and wood material with improvements – Through improved problem solving methods, the teams identified opportunities to improve wood quality, increase boiler efficiency, reduce air leaks, increase water recycling and reduce lime consumption, leading to 19% less water, 7% less energy and 26% less wood material (trees).

2023

Growing sustainably with Lean Thinking by Eivind Reke – Norwegian furniture manufacturer was able to transform its culture and unlock the potential of sustainable growth through the Circular HUB, to teach the next generation how to re-sell, re-furbish, and re-use furniture…12/8/2023
A lean approach to agriculture by Juan Guillermo Ramirez – Waste in the agricultural sector is a significant threat not only to the environment, the economy and farmers, but also to food security around the world…9/8/23
You say garbage, I say opportunity by Roberto Priolo and Marcelo Pinto – Winpack, a recycling company in Chile, shows us how sustainability can be the cornerstone of an improvement project and not just an afterthought…5/19/23
LEANing on Sustainability and Circularity for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – John Hamalian (Southeast Asia representative for the Lean Global Network) discusses his thoughts on LEAN concepts and their effect on sustainability and circularity in ASEAN organisations…4/16/23
Competitive Priorities and Lean–Green Practices—A ComparativeStudy in the Automotive Chain’ Suppliers by Geandra Alves Queiroz, Alceu Gomes Alves Filho and Isotilia Costa Melo – Two case studies where companies adopted lean and green practices in the automotive industry.

2022

Sustainable, efficient manufacturing is driven by data by Martin Gadsby – By adopting data-driven and machine learning technologies, companies can reduce the environmental impact of their processes and products as well as futureproof their facilities, improving their profitability and competitiveness…11/18/22
Using Lean Thinking to Shrink the Time Between Eruption and Recovery Using Volcanic Ash by Andy Stofleth – SBP is using the volcanic ash to help rebuild homes impacted by the eruption…10/20/22
2021 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (P2) Award Winners Use Continuous Improvement – Award winners Romac Industries used a Lean and Green project to reduce wastewater, and B.C. Williams Bakery Service implemented a hot melt system to fully eliminate the spray-on VOC adhesive….9/30/22
Analyzing plant data for operational improvements and sustainable operations By Wouter Daniels – By analyzing the data, process experts reduce energy consumption, improve water and wastewater quality, and cut carbon emissions. Case studies include: yield optimization of a spray dryer and waste reduction for ammonia process…8/18/22
How Design of Experiments (DOE) Helped a Pharma Company Extend Product Shelf Life by Ken Feldman – To extend the shelf life of pharmaceuticals, a DOE was conducted that identified factors that could double shelf life, reduce disposed medication and save money…5/1/22
Where Lean, Green and Digital Intersect by Rose Heathcote, Gary Cundill and Laura Mottola in The Lean Mag – The risks to the planet are real, but they can be managed by lean techniques…2/15/22
Smashed Cars, Burnt Trees, Soggy Insulation by Quality Digest – Post-disaster cleanup is expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful, but they found new steps for sustainably managing this waste for more reuse and recycling…1/10/22

2021

Lean lessons for the climate crisis by Dan Jones – Could the climate crisis force a more fundamental rethink of the way we think and act, unlocking the full potential of Lean Thinking? He discusses a few key points: the Toyota revolution, learning by problem solving, seeing the whole, and decision-making using science…12/20/21
ECU center helps businesses cut costs, improve environment with lean and energy audits – East Carolina students are trained to conduct professional energy and lean assessments in different manufacturing facilities, and share a success story at a local brewery…12/1/21
Waste Reduction of Another Kind by Larry Christley – How Six Sigma methods can be used to improve the recycling industry…12/1/21
Pathways to reduce emissions by Gary Cundill, Rose Heathcote and Katrina Appell – Imagine targeting a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions by setting our lean minds to it? The authors discuss building better, circular supply chains and designing sustainable products…11/11/21
Recycling N95 Masks Safely by Caitlin McVey – A Six Sigma DMAIC project helped triple the number of masks reused during the pandemic…11/1/21
How Lean Can Help You Go Green by Gary Cundill & Rose Heathcote – A chemical manufacturer in South Africa found 40+ opportunities of green wastes by mapping their Green Value Stream…8/31/21
Federal Heath uses reusable plugs to save money by Gemba Academy – This older video is newly released to the public, and you can see how Rick Foreman helped reduce material waste and time in their process by using reusable plugs in their operation…5/1/21
Heliatek scales up solar production with SPC by JMP Software – To scale up the world’s first organic thin-film solar panel technology, SPC alarm dashboard has dramatically shortened operators’ reaction time to out-of-control processes, to help improve yields between 1-5%…3/1/21
Why Lean Thinkers Should Ground Their Work in Sustainability by Gary Cundill & Rose Heathcote – There’s a solid business case for implementing lean thinking and an equally strong case for implementing green thinking, so why hasn’t it taken off yet?…2/25/21
Ashok Leyland Ltd receives inaugural IAQ Quality Sustainability Award – A Six Sigma DMAIC project was conducted to reduce phosphate sludge below limits despite 20% production growth, while saving water, energy and money…2/1/21
NorDan recognized by IAQ Quality Sustainability Award with new sustainable circular windows – Using Agile and PDCA cycles, they were able to develop a more sustainable 3D printed product. Watch the acceptance and summary video…2/1/21
Founder’s Choice Cabinetry Wins 2020 National Pollution Prevention Roundtable MVP2 Award – Founder’s Choice Cabinetry has demonstrated the win-win benefits of sustainable business practices, improving environmental sustainability and the bottom line at the same time with the assistance of the Lean and Green program…1/19/21

2020

The Indian Surimi Supply Chain using Environmental Value Stream Mapping – Sustainable performance of fish production is evaluated in terms of energy consumption and lead time in an environmental VSM…12/4/20
Ensuring food safety from farm to fork through industrial engineering – Demonstration of how industrial engineering principles applied to improve the record-keeping process at a vegetable farm in Iowa by developing a low cost and open source tool called FarmTabs and its beneﬁts for enhancing overall farm business efﬁciency using the DMAIC model…12/1/20
Diverting Debris and Saving Water in Denver – An innovation in cleaning street sweeper vehicles saved 25 million gallons of water and over 668 hours of staff time…11/17/20
A lean view on… the fight against climate change – Michael Ballé discusses the Toyota approach to sustainability and what it takes to push “green” to the top of the business agenda…10/15/20
Cut costs with Ecology’s Lean/Green Program – Hugh O’Neill discusses the Ecology Lean/Green program to support Washington state businesses reduce their environmental impacts using Lean methods…10/1/20
Beyond exploitation – an alternative business system – Toyota by has taken responsibility for its impact on the environment and society, and had the courage to lead the industry in developing alternatives to petrol and diesel engines…9/21/20
Practicing enterprise excellence Professor Peter Hines – A podcast interview with long-time lean researcher and consultant Peter Hines. He explores the key elements of creating a sustainable enterprise excellence journey that focuses on people and planet…9/14/20
Smooth as silk – An Esquel factory in China injected lean principles and practices into its processes to become more efficient and environmentally-friendly…8/20/20
The Kanban System’s Environmental Impacts: A Comparative Study – a study on the environmental impact of a kanban system on Green KPIs, such as Energy usage, Material usage, Water usage, Waste, and Air and Water pollution…8/10/20
How Baltimore’s CleanStat is making a difference between the city being trashed or treasured – Baltimore Data Fellow Sara Brumfield talks about the design process behind data collection and analysis tools that helped the Department of Public Works reduce overdue cleanup work orders before the pandemic…7/30/20
Lean and green in a Scottish university – How respect for people and enabling others to lead change has allowed sustainability to take center stage at Edinburgh Napier University….7/16/20
Understanding the Complexities of Waste Audits – Solid waste composition studies in Ontario (Canada) have been conducted for decades, but trying to figure out the correct sample size, frequency of sampling and distribution is not as simple…6/20/20
TMAC receives statewide environmental excellence award – Recognition for their work delivering “Lean & Green” technical training and assistance, which combines lean manufacturing practices, energy reductions and environmental best practices…6/12/20
Eight practices to put more green into lean by John Hamalian – 8 ways green can be added to our existing lean thinking, post-COVID…5/25/20
Learning the Recipe for Streamlining Food Processing – Production waste was monitored and has reduced by 50% over the last 18 months using lean training, visual management and work standards…3/1/20
Lean Applied to Startup Electric Vehicle Startup Rivian – Podcast interview with leadership at Rivian about their adoption of lean principles at a new EV startup company…2/16/20
The Role Of Quality Management In Ensuring A Sustainable Planet – The practices of quality management have proven to be very beneficial for providing a framework for corporate efforts to create sustainability (requires ASQ membership, contact us if can’t access)…1/31/20
3 tools to find the root cause of solar construction problems by Kit Kohler – Lean production has come up with several helpful tools that help teams get to the root cause of issues, which can be applied to the problems that crop up on utility, commercial, or even residential scale solar construction project…1/6/20

2019

Can a manufacturer use lean management to advance its environmental and social sustainability strategy? by Michael Balle – Lean expert answers this question about lean and sustainability…12/30/19
A focus on sustainability as a core value by Nadiye O. Erdil – Building best environmental, social practices into project improvements like lean and Six Sigma can yield many benefits…11/15/19
4 Charts that Help You Reduce Rework in Solar Construction by Kit Kohler – Improvement tools are commonly used in a factory setting, but they provide just as much insight during the construction of a large scale solar plant than they do in an automotive factory…11/12/19
The Paper Avengers – Green Belt projects throughout the City of Denver cut paper usage and saved the city thousands of dollars…11/4/19
Efficiency Through Empowerment by Rafael Reveles – MRF’s and recyclers can implement lean manufacturing strategies to hand more responsibility to individual employees and create holistic improvements across their operations…10/15/19
Volkswagen Wolfsburg Plant Gets Lean and Green Management Award – Thanks to the internal operating water cycle, every drop of water passes through the system about four to six times, helping to keep water consumption per vehicle very low…10/4/19
EPA’s Lean Management System (ELMS) Overview – Stefan Martiyan, Director of the Office of Continuous Improvement, covers the basic structure and deployment strategy of ELMS, measures and metrics used to monitor progress, challenges encountered, solutions implemented, success stories and related side projects, such as the EPA Problem Solving Corps and state-deployments…9/24/19
Lean Product Development Is Where to Cut Carbon Emissions – Consumers want products and services updated more frequently, and that’s great for consumers and business but not so great for the environment. Lean development techniques can help offset those competing forces….8/21/19
City of Detroit Uses Lean Six Sigma to Reduce New Tenant Water Account Applications Delays – The project team reduced Average Time to complete new water applications from 30 days to less than 7 without compromising the number of applications they could process…6/5/19
Toyota’s Lean Lessons for Dairy Farming by Simon Edwards – In a new book titled “The Lean Dairy Farm,” a former Toyota employee helps dairy farmers implement lean principles…5/31/19
When is an Easter egg hunt not really an Easter egg hunt? – 11 teams from across Alliant Energy combed through their work environments looking for sustainability “Easter eggs.” But they weren’t looking for chocolate bunnies or malted milk balls. They were seeking good sustainability practices and opportunities for improvement…5/15/19
Green and lean: a Gemba–Kaizen model for sustainability enhancement (Production Planning & Control) – This paper presents a model for integrating Lean and Green based on the Gemba-Kaizen approach, which also describes the structure of the WASTE Walks…5/10/19
Cutting Carbon Emissions and Product Costs Through Lean Product and Process Development – The biggest opportunity to impact costs comes during the design phase since decisions made during design lock in the on-going costs. These costs aren’t just financial, but environmental as well. Lean development can assist with reducing these costs….5/1/19
How to Document Your Solar Processes with Swimlane Diagrams by Dianna Matyola – In solar, like so many other industries, process improvement methodologies can help mitigate the risks associated with undocumented processes in the solar industry using process mapping with swimlane diagrams….4/17/19
The Hidden E-Factory: Implementing LEAN in a Recycling plant by Rafael Reveles – E-recyclers and refurbishers have a unique and changing workflows. Adopting automotive-style lean manufacturing techniques can produce consistent results and deliver higher value to help workers maximize employee engagement and productivity….4/4/19
Amazon’s New Waste Reduction Strategy: Batching by Jon Miller – Amazon is reducing waste by giving the customer the option to batch their weekly orders to arrive only once per week, instead of one at a time. Learn how that aligns with lean thinking…3/4/19
Oregon DEQ Materials Sustainability Frameworks Review – This report discusses how programs like Lean, Zero Waste, Circular Economy, Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Materials Management can be used to reduce material usage and environmental impacts…2/1/19
A City of Denver soil reuse practice avoids landfills and saves millions by Drew Brown – The City of Denver is saving taxpayers around $1.9 million dollars by giving construction contractors clear guidance on how to determine if their soil is contaminated or not…1/10/19

2018

Electrifying Clinics in Rural Zimbabwe Through Lean Impact – Researchers use Lean Startup techniques to test and learn how their tech might solve the electrification crisis in healthcare for rural Zimbabwe through solar panel installation…9/5/18
How to Run a Sustainable Organization with Dale and Dan Crownover by Gemba Academy – Dale Crownover and his son Dan from Texas Nameplate talk about their passion for sustainability and the concept of the “Triple Bottom Line” as part of their lean journey…8/23/18
Incrementalism and the Paradox of Zero by Ryan McMullan – A good discussion about lean continuous improvement vs striving for a zero waste or carbon goal from a former Toyota ES&H Manager…8/10/18
Experimenting with Electric Vehicles in Kigali – Lean Startup methods are used to test out whether taxi bike drivers would switch to electric bikes to save money and reduce environmental impacts…7/19/18
Can ‘Moneyball’ Fix How The West Manages Wildfire? by Tony Schick – To better manage forest fires, an effort within the U.S. Forest Service to bring data-driven decision-making to wildland fire management has been started, which will likely reduce overall risks and costs based on advanced statistics….7/16/18
Build Awareness Through Seeing How Eliminating Waste Reduces Costs by Tracey and Ernie Richardson – Examples of reducing paper towel waste and electricity lighting reduction based on observing waste in a process and quantifying it into dollars to bring attention to the problem…7/12/18
Agile and Sustainability City Planning by Sustainable City Network – Webinar showing how agile techniques have been integrated into a software package to allow planners to run different scenarios on proposed projects within their municipality…6/19/18
San Francisco Parks and Rec Department 5S Reduces Excess Materials and Recyclable Waste – The team conducted a spaghetti diagram and identified waste, then used 5S to clear out 74 tons of excess materials and recyclable waste, and free up 10,000 sq. ft of reusable space…3/1/2018
Mitigating the environmental fallout of a nuclear era by JMP – The Marcoule site at the french Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a research center devoted to R&D activities such as nuclear industry optimization, recycling of reusable materials in spent fuel (uranium and plutonium), and dismantling of nuclear facilities and radioactive waste management. They used DOE and data analysis to improve results and reduce experimentation costs…1/1/18
How the USDA is Keeping Pests at Bay – How scientists use data analysis to assess the risks of plant pest invasions, curtail their entry, and monitor their movements and populations…1/1/08

2017

Taking the Green Leap by Rose Heathcote – Tips to start building the business case for “green thinking” habits and behaviors in your organization…12/30/17
Industry Week Webinar: The Myers Container Journey to Continuous Improvement – Webinar with Kyle Stavig, CEO of Myers Containers, on their Lean and Green transformation to reduce waste and environmental impacts with the help of Simpler Consulting…11/7/17
AMCOM employees improve UH-72 environmental footprint at Fort Rucker by Genie Jones – Lean Six Sigma techniques are helping conservation practices for hazardous materials handling with the UH-72 Lakota aircraft…10/30/17
Portland company goes from Kickstarter campaign to $750K in sales, runs on renewable energy – by Simon Gutierrez (KPTV) – Toast uses Lean methodology and a strong environmental focus to grow their business…10/3/17
Costco Toilet Paper, Sandwiches & The Lean Value Stream by Kjell van Zoen – How buying in bulk has an impact on the environment and cash flow…9/18/17
How one freelancer took a ‘green’ turn and is helping the environment by Greta Burroughs – How a long-time Lean Six Sigma consultant switched from the corporate world into sustainability consulting…9/11/17
Six Sigma and KPI’s: Product Recycling Rate by SixSigma.US – A new KPI for organizations to consider, where you divide the number of products you recycle by the total number of products you sell, to determine the product recycling rate….7/21/17
The Planet-Saving Power of 5S by Kelly Singer – The practice of 5S workplace organization is known for its contribution to improved safety, quality, costs, and delivery time, but Tokheim has shown that it can produce environmental performance as well…7/7/17
Lean and Sustainable fashion meet at Eileen Fisher by Johanne Read and Tess De Mesa with Alice Lee – The story of how women’s clothing brand Eileen Fisher found in lean a way to support its environmental sustainability strategy…7/6/17
Jim Womack drives the Toyota Mirai and talks lean and green by Jim Womack – After a road trip from Boston to Philadelphia driving Toyota’s hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai, Jim reflects on lean and green and why the two are not necessarily the same…6/28/17
The Green Value Stream by Rose Heathcote – Anyone can learn to make a difference by understanding the downstream effect our operations, products and household-habits have on the environment, not just environmentalists or process improvement experts…6/23/17
5-S Methods to Enhance Green Manufacturing by Jordy Byrd – Lean companies, particularly those with established 5-S systems, are one step ahead of public and private sector demands for the fastest, cheapest and highest quality products with the lowest environmental impact….6/15/17
The ‘Lean’ Green: No — It’s Not a New Protein! by Madhulika Ra Chauhan – How lean techniques could be used to make buildings more green…4/27/17
The ‘Green’ Lean: For a Greener Tomorrow by Madhulika Ra Chauhan – How lean concepts can be applied to net-zero greenhouse gas building construction and joint venture projects…4/17/17
Welsh Water tour highlights Lean applied to water treatment and customer service by Brion Hurley – Tour highlights from latest Lean and Sustainable Consortium event in Wales at Welsh Water, exploring two different approaches to lean improvement water treatment and office processes…4/20/17
Can “Lean and Green” program within US EPA gain traction in Trump Administration? by Brion Hurley – How the EPA Lean toolkits can be viewed as more “business-friendly” in a new administration…4/17/17
Getting Green in the Lean Conversation by Kelly Singer – Interview with Sasha Neser, and 3 questions that can be good conversation starters and enablers for giving green thinking a foothold in lean conversations…3/28/17
Toyota Awarded Production Prize for New Paint Line with Reduced Environmental Burden – Toyota successfully reduced the size of paint line equipment by 40% and decreased CO2 emissions from the line by 32% while maintaining high quality levels…3/28/17
Lean & Sustainable Consortium visit Dwr Cymru – Dwr Cymru’s Lean and continuous improvement journey, and exploring how they connect it to their sustainability efforts…3/21/17
Eco-R, using 5S and kaizen to create a sustainable world and joyful society by Katie Anderson – How a Japanese car recycling company is able to breakdown and either repurpose or recycle almost every part of old vehicles…3/2/17
Zero waste at public events: Seven tips to get started – What are the secrets to zero waste success at a recent 6K run event? Here are seven tips from the Port of Portland experts to make your next event as sustainable as possible…1/24/17
Good for the Environment, Good for the Company – Heath Tecna provided employees with lean training and four Lean and Green events to identify ways to minimize the amount of dangerous waste, scrap material, and defects in products…1/1/17
Use Lean to Get Green by Hugh Caines – One of the Lean processes that can easily be implemented by any organization to achieve their waste diversion goals is the Gemba Walk…1/1/17

2016

Green from the Start by Kelly Singer – Jim Morgan shares his insights on how companies can increase their environmental stewardship with a truly green value stream…11/2/16
Lean and Green: Interview with Kelly Singer by Cecil Dijoux – Kelly is the managing editor of LeanGreenInstitute.com, based in Paris. She talks about how lean and green represents a credible and exciting practical alternative to the degrowth ideology…10/26/16
Five Benefits of Sustainability and Green Manufacturing by Brian Lagas – Five success stories of U.S manufacturers embracing sustainable and green principles as more than simply “a good thing to do”…10/18/16
How aerospace manufacturer makes sustainability fly cross-company by Kate Bachman – Rockwell Collins found success by establishing a combination lean and Six Sigma framework, then tailoring the approach to each facility’s local situation and resources…9/15/16
The Wild Side of Heijunka by Kelly Singer – Batch thinking is second nature to us, but in reality, nature has already figured out how to balance efficiency with resilience to survive….9/12/16
Zero waste, scaled up: A “little city” sized approach to waste reduction at the Port of Portland by Grace Stainback – Tips on how to achieve zero waste in your business and apartment complex, along with examples of activities at the Port of Portland…8/19/16
Lean, Green, and Modular by Kelly Singer – Traditional manufactures are getting left in the dust by companies who are designing modular products and processes, which is integral for lean and green companies…7/20/16
The Role of Continuous Improvement in Environmental Responsibility by Matt Banna – Many major companies like Apple, Google and IBM are taking a proactive approach and demonstrate their leadership around environmental concerns…7/14/16
Lean Green Waste: Linear Materials by Kelly Singer – Using kaizen events, it’s possible to take actions that will eventually achieve the goal of zero linear and landfill waste, highlighted by Toyota’s Recycling-Based Society and Systems …7/12/16
DMAIC Helps Agency Craft Green Electronics Plan by Dot Shaul – In an effort to reduce its environmental footprint, P&R IM implemented an electronics stewardship plan (ordering EPEAT and Energy Star products) with Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC methodology…6/1/16
Carolina manufacturers zero out waste at conference by Kate Bachman – Manufacturers relayed winning strategies, offered advice, commiserated about some of the challenges they face—and energized their waste reduction and zero waste initiatives at a recent conference…4/12/16
Lean and Green strategy: The Lean and Green House and Maturity deployment model – this paper provides an implementation structure to a Lean and Green methodology, main scientific L&G contributions and Toyota industrial best practices is presented, followed by an in-depth analysis of the synergies between Lean and Green wastes, and the tools that may eliminate them. The results are gathered and highlighted in an original Lean and Green house. The last section presents a detailed CMMI-based Lean and Green maturity model….3/1/16
Beijing Aquarium finds clarity in analytics by JMP – They developed a 3-in-1 management solution that used data analysis to decrease energy use, improve the visitor experience and preserve endangered species…1/1/16

2015

Has Lean Reached Its Peak? by Dave Blanchard – Sustainable closed-loop supply chains are needed to reduce waste outside of a company’s walls, by getting into their suppliers and looking for ways to mimic nature…9/4/15
Going Lean and Green by Simon Grogan – A story of how an injection molding company saw more impact on their bottom line when they incorporated environmental wastes into their business…9/4/15
New Lean and Green Qualification by SA Partners – A new Masters degree in Lean and Green is attracting leading-edge companies which desire to train their next generation lean and green thinker executives…8/7/15
Connecting Lean Thinkers With Nonprofits in Portland, Oregon by Matt Horvat – The story of Lean Portland, a lean community of practice connecting lean thinkers with nonprofit professionals in Portland, Oregon (USA)…5/29/15
Fighting Poverty in East Africa with Lean Six Sigma by Andrew Parris – How World Vision East Africa applied Lean and Six Sigma to help in the fight against poverty….5/20/15
Students sort through PSU’s garbage, collect priceless data by Portland State Campus Sustainability Office – PSU students sort garbage into categories to see what could have been recycled, composted, or reused, to identify opportunities for waste prevention in the future…4/28/15
Creating Optimal Ethanol from Pineapple Waste by Minitab Software – Advanced experimental techniques helped researchers in Malaysia determine the optimal settings for ethanol concentrations…3/28/15
Reducing electricity at home using DMAIC by Tracy O’Rourke – A good example of a very thorough and well documented Six Sigma project performed at her home to reduce their electricity bill…02/26/15
Environmental Templates Save Time and Money at Colorado DOT – by Tracy Nguyen – CDOT estimates that the streamlined document saved 4 months on the schedule for a recent project, and also saved between $40,000 to $80,000…02/10/15

2014

Government efficiencies saved $5.92 million, biggest gain in avoided costs – Washington state agencies have trimmed $5.92 million in spending and avoided another $27.4 million in future costs by letting workers find efficiencies in the workplace…12/26/14
How A Family Reduced Their Carbon Footprint & Saved $1,342 Per Year Using Lean Six Sigma – A good example of a family using the Six Sigma DMAIC model and tools to reduce their emissions…12/14/14
How Toyota uses Gentani to optimize performance and drive out waste – Toyota reduced its energy usage per vehicle by over 70%, reduced water use per vehicle by over 75%, and waste produced per vehicle by nearly 70% applying lean concepts. Full video from presentation..10/27/14
Improving Efficiency to Brew Better Beer with a Better Bottom Line – Alliance worked together with local breweries to reduce the costs of sewer, water and electricity by eliminating the water-soap mixture with liquid-free bottling line…9/15/14
Continuously improving sustainability (IIE Sept 2014) by Brion Hurley – How Rockwell Collins used Lean Go and See events and Six Sigma projects to reduce electricity…9/5/14
Composting and Conservation from a Lean Perspective by Marc Jensen – An example of composting at home, the effect of incremental improvement, and the way that it ties back to Lean concepts of disciplined action…9/4/14
What makes this OU professor sift through trash? by Meghan Whiting – Professor Mark Jensen talks about using Lean principles to reduce material waste through techniques like dumpster diving, along with his upcoming book…8/25/14
Lean and Green Can Be Profitable by Environmental Leader – Lean manufacturing not only cuts down on raw material consumption, energy usage, environmental waste and pollution, but data is showing that eco-friendly practices can be profitable…8/18/14
A Little Trash Talk: Improving Recycling Processes at Rose-Hulman by Minitab Software – Students at Rose-Hulman use a Six Sigma project to reduce campus recycling “defects” by 33%…7/2/14
The Forecast is Green by Rusty Callier – Uponor uses lean process VSM to develop a planning tool that will help forecast the often unstable costs of energy into its operations planning…5/15/14
What can sustainability pros learn from Toyota’s ‘lean’ process? by Ben Chandler – By focusing on increasing value, decreasing waste and respecting people, Lean is ultimately about transforming how work is done, to make it more efficient and sustainable…5/8/14
Going Green Using Lean by Namita Chatterjee – Applying Lean to Facilities Management, which includes examples of color coded visual controls for energy consumption of lighting…5/1/14
Manufacturing Goes Lean and Green by Justin Miller – Highwood USA discusses the connection between Lean manufacturing principles and the environment, using assistance from state MEP programs…4/21/14
Greening up the Gemba by Tim Kane – How to implement a paper reduction project to green your company without any executive support…4/18/14
10 tips to bolster employee engagement by GreenBiz – List of 10 ways to value and improve employee engagement based on PriceWaterhouseCooper’s journey and analysis…4/9/14
Does your production plan include lean flow? by Greenhouse Management Magazine – Applying Lean in the horticulture and greenhouse growing industry, and how it’s not much different than a manufacturing facility…4/1/14
Error-proofed deicer valve assembly protects environment, saves money by Jamie Lawson – An error-proofed valve assembly allows liquid deicers to be transferred from a bulk tank to a truck-mounted spray unit without spillage and, consequently, without waste…3/26/14
Recapturing Monozukuri in Toyota’s Manufacturing Ethos by Keivan Zokaei – Toyota’s environmental performance is driven more by internal commitments than government regulations. And by practicing its monozukuri mantra, Toyota hopes to resume its leadership in creating a more dynamic — and more sustainable — automotive sector…3/11/14
5 ways EHS pros can solve pollution challenges by Thomas Vinson of Zero Waste Network – Ways that EHS managers can move from focusing not on just the end of the pipe, but looking at the processes that drive the pollution, and helping the “real work” get done in a more environmentally-friendly way…2/14/14
Lean Manufacturing Yields ‘Green’ Results by Shawn Kitchell of Madico Window Films – Many manufacturers today have evolved their thinking so that lean and green initiatives work hand in hand, achieving the same goal of increasing profits…1/21/14
Students Calculate, Educate Ways for Campus Food Waste Savings by Diane Evans – Rose-Hulman students use Six Sigma techniques to address food waste in cafeteria…1/15/14
Small businesses strive to be lean and green by Matthew Jenkin – Small businesses have more incentive to cut costs, and don’t require huge capital investments…1/9/14

2013

5 lessons from the Japanese “kaizen” approach to sustainability by GreenBiz.com – Beaumont’s ongoing “green” kaizens by various employee teams have translated into substantial recurring resource and cost savings…12/3/13
How hospitals are reducing energy consumption by GreenBiz.com – According to the “Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for Healthcare Facilities” there are ample opportunities that can lead to savings of more than 30% in hospital energy costs….11/21/13
‘Lean and Green’ is Free by Keivan Zokaei – How environmental sustainability is following the same path as the quality movement, which promoted “quality is free”…10/11/13
How data improves sustainability by GreenBiz.com – How data scientists are being used to reduce environmental issues through process improvement…10/9/13
Steelcase as Environmental Leader by Kate Bachman – Steelcase talks about their history of environmental improvement, and how they link Green to business performance through Lean…9/23/13
Deming, Profound Knowledge, and Global Sustainability by Andrew McKeon in Quality Digest – A need to change how we look at business, industrialization, and the planet based on Deming principles…9/20/13
The lean startup movement: Lessons from Coca-Cola and Burt’s Bees by Laura Storm – A growing pool of large multinational companies have adopted what has been named lean and green management. Coca-Cola, for example, has realized a great potential for resource efficiency as a result of lean management…9/11/13
Green: The new ripple of lean by Enterprise Minnesota – Read how Minnesota companies are starting to see the “green” waste, that often gets overlooked in their traditional lean program…9/6/13
Steelcase shrinks water, energy, cleaners use in the wash by Kate Bachman – Learn how DuBois and Steelcase used a lean approach to dramatically improve their wash process to save them energy, water and cleaner, with help from the Green Supplier Network…9/3/13
Baxter Manufacturing Uses Six Sigma To Improve the Environment – Baxter saved the company 170,000 gallons of water, and saved $17,000 in three months without making a significant investment in new procedures or technology. The plan eliminated the need for expansion in the plant’s wastewater treatment plant…8/16/13
3M uses Six Sigma to Prevent Pollution – 3M achieved 61% reduction in VOC, reduced Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) by 64%, and reduced energy efficiency by 27%…8/15/13
How power metering empowers Toyota by Kate Bachman- Very detailed review of Toyota Georgetown’s effort to meter, configure and improve energy usage…7/24/13
Want lower building costs? Hire a data guru by Jim Sinopoli – The effort for many building owners to acquire and manage facility data, however, appears either ad hoc or narrowly focused on specific aspects of the building, such as energy and HVAC systems. That’s where a facility data manager comes in…6/10/13
Endeavour Awards Environmental Solution of The Year Award: Baltimore Aircoil by Manufacturers’ Monthly – Learn how a company used lean manufacturing principles to embed sustainability into the way they run their business…5/29/13
Saying Goodbye to Energy Inefficiency (pg. 2) by IndustryWeek – Big-dollar investments and smart process improvements continue to deliver improved energy management at U.S. manufacturing operations…5/15/13
Tapping workers’ know-how to save American jobs by EDF Solutions Newsletter (p.8) – Union workers use knowledge of processes to identify energy savings opportunities during ‘treasure hunts’, to help companies save money and jobs…5/8/13
ASME: Sustainable Manufacturing by ASME – Graduate students in the field of Sustainable Manufacturing at the University of California at Berkeley are working to apply the basic mantras of manufacturing, “If you can’t measure it, you haven’t made it” to study sustainability throughout the production of engineered goods. This brief introduction to sustainable manufacturing describes the state of the field and the value of applying a systematic approach to sustainability in engineering…5/1/13
Is Lean Manufacturing Green Manufacturing? by Al Brandenberg – Can lean manufacturing, as exemplified by the renowned Toyota Production System, be a path to greener manufacturing? It would make sense, as both concepts can involve stripping out the waste from operations. A leaner operation will likely consume less energy and fewer resources, resulting in lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and less waste to the landfill…4/15/13
Lean Manufacturing’s Unexpected Windfall: A Lower Carbon Footprint by Sustainable Planet – Lean manufacturing can not only cut the carbon footprint of a plant or company, but of an entire industry…3/27/13
How GM Makes $1 Billion A Year By Recycling Waste by Forbes.com – When GM started its commitment to landfill free manufacturing in 2005, it invested about $10 for every 1 ton of waste reduced. Over time, it reduced program costs by 92 percent and total waste by 62 percent, and makes $1B per year from recycling…2/21/13
Innovation in Energy Goes Hand-in-Hand with Green Manufacturing by David Dornfeld from UC-Berkeley – Insourcing means better business decision making, which needs to include the results of green manufacturing innovation. This is an opportunity to include environmental metrics into the economics of insourcing decisions…2/20/13
Sustainability Pays: Studies That Prove the Business Case for Sustainability by Hunter Lovins from Natural Capitalism Solutions – This annotated list describes the ever-growing number of studies, most by conventional management consulting houses, academic institutions and similar establishment entities that prove this assertion…1/25/13
Using Six Sigma to Design a Rain Gauge by Lawrence V. Fulton – In this case study from ASQ’s Quality Progress, the Six Sigma approach for new designs (DMADV and simulation) were applied to design and construct a new rainwater harvesting system in a sustainable home in Texas…1/1/13

2012

Using control charts to monitor your car by Rick Haynes from Smarter Solutions – In May of 2012, I thought that I noticed a drop in my Gas Mileage, so that I decided to keep a close watch on it. When it did not seem to change as it cooled a bit, I plotted the data in an individuals chart and noted an apparent process change…12/4/12
The top 3 myths about going sustainable by Kristen Joiner – The top 3 reasons why focusing on sustainability can seem implausible, and then a few observations that might help you shift your perception of the challenge…8/26/12
Green objectives in value stream map by Jaap – Green Value Stream Mapping is not on the business agenda yet. This is a missed opportunity, since the demand for green processes and products by the customers will steadily increase…8/14/12
IBM Establishes Green Sigma Coalition – It combines real-time metering and monitoring with advanced analytics and dashboards that allow clients to make better decisions that improve efficiency, lower costs and reduce environmental impact…7/29/12
IBM uses Six Sigma to help public cut energy, waste – They launched a consulting service to help government organizations analyze energy and water use, assess waste management, evaluate overall environmental impact and develop improvement strategies….7/28/2012
Zero landfill underscores zero-VOC achievement by Kate Bachman – Purdy Professional Painting Tools achieved zero-waste-to-landfill, to complement their zero-VOC paints, using dumpster dives to assess the waste streams…7/20/12
Being Lean Means Going Green by SME – Lean thinking comes together with the need to “go green” (be that in the conservation of energy and resources or the reduction of carbon emissions)…7/2/12
Becoming Carbon Neutral by Microsoft – A summary of their strategy to reduce their environmental footprint and achieve carbon neutrality using three strategic pillars: be lean, be green, and be accountable…6/1/12
Leaner and Greener by Enterprise Minnesota – Instilling green and lean as cultural cornerstones helps manufacturers realize significant savings, attract top talent and keep one step ahead of the competition…6/1/12
How to Save Money on Your Company’s Energy Bill by Industry Week – a cost-effective way to analyze energy usage and identify opportunities for improvement, called energy kaizens, along with a list of common issues to look for…3/2/12
Is There a Leaner Way to Footprint? by Kumar Venkat – Tesco has dropped their carbon labels, so the exercise of footprinting products and organizations needs to be rethought, using lean process improvement…2/21/12
Lean Manufacturing is Green Manufacturing by Sarah Webster of Manufacturing Engineering magazine – The next waste under attack in lean manufacturing is energy. It’s not just because “being green” is in vogue for marketers, either…2/1/12
DNREC Goes Lean – by Larry Nagengast – Delaware’s DNR used lean to fix a cumbersome process for approving air-quality permits that was slowing down businesses and diverting the department’s experts away from monitoring air quality…1/1/12
City of Coppell First Texas Municipality Registered to ISO 14000 by TMAC – The city was the first certified/registered Environmental Management System (EMS) developed by a municipality in the state of Texas…1/1/12

2011

Green is the new gold for Wisconsin manufacturers by Buckley Brinkman – A new report on an innovative pilot program to promote sustainable manufacturing in Wisconsin validates the premise that “green is the new gold” for state manufacturers, and reveals the stellar financial and environmental benefits that can be achieved with sustainable practices…7/26/11
Zero-waste-to-landfill Challenge excerpt from Denise Coogan safety & environmental compliance manager, for Subaru of Indiana Automotive – The following is excerpted from Denise’s presentation at the Green Manufacturer Network’s Take on the Zero-waste-to-landfill Challenge, held at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, where they achieved zero landfill in 2004…5/18/11
A Lean and Green Kaizen Model by Andrea Pampanelli, Environmental Manager at GKN – GKN Driveline in Brazil developed a pilot Lean & Green Model application by using environmental concepts in a stable cell to investigate the benefits this could have for the environment and the business, in terms of waste reduction, improved lead time and greater employee commitment…4/30/11
Going Green and Going Bananas by Ian Gotts from Nimbus – To go “Green” requires changes to how people work, interact and use technology. He argues there are both business and environmental benefits to cloud computing…4/18/11
There’s a Green Monster in the Boardroom by Diana Davis from the PEX Network – The environment used to be anathema to the boardroom, and the costs of tackling things like carbon emissions were considered an expensive burden on the economy. Now, it seems, companies are willingly starting to tackle some of the issues themselves….04/01/11
‘Lean and Green’ featured at 2011 Eco-Conference by Jason Schulist from DTE Energy – Summary of a presentation where he discussed how to use Lean and Six Sigma to foster sustainability within an organization, and how Lean Six Sigma can drive progress and sustainability as well as be adapted and extended to meet social and environmental bottom lines…2/7/11
Lean is Green by Tim McMahon – Not only can lean and green lead to energy savings, productivity savings, and savings from improved utilization of materials, but it can also lead to innovations that involve creation of new products out of waste materials….1/1/11
Lean is the Means to be Green by Tim McMahon – Sustainability expands the definition of waste to include the wider range of consequences of business actions including environmental and social consequences. Lean processes are inherently less wasteful and in this sense promoting lean processes can help organizations become more sustainable….1/1/11

2010

Jeffrey Kendall grows Liberty Tire Recycling through best practices by Carolyn LaWell from Smart Business Pittsburgh – Only a few months after committing to lean manufacturing, Liberty Tire Recycling began to see financial results as well as a boost in employee morale…12/27/10
Kaizen Sustainability: A Lean Approach to the Environment – by Pete Abilla – Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos provides detailed examples of how they use “earth kaizen” events to reduce their environmental impact at their global fulfillment centers…9/8/10
Green Is Lean by Tim McMahon – You can get started today with Lean and Green using a number of simple efforts in conjunction with your improvement activities…6/28/10
Lean in Materials Recycling of Cooperativa Alianca (Brasil) by Bruno Battaglia – Report on how a Brazilian company improved their recycling using lean methodology, which also improved its productivity, income and work environment…4/1/10
Lean and Clean at Carlson Engineered Composites – Consultants and staff identified lean opportunities for the facility and identified a number of additional lean opportunities…4/1/10
Leaning Toward Green by Christopher Chapman – Case study on how a company used lean to uncover ways to reduce its energy use and environment-related waste, building a more-efficient production cycle…3/1/10
Is lean green? Is this the right question? by Keivan Zokaei – Precursor to “Creating a Lean and Green Business System“, explains how lean companies can only get so far with improvements, unless they have a holistic approach that incorporates the environment into every day activities…3/1/10
DMAIC Helps Agency Craft Green Electronics Plan by Dot Shaul – Improving energy efficiency and electronics stewardship by following Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC methodology…2/26/10
Using Green to Re-energize Lean by Darcy Hitchcock and Ian Young – While many of the best companies in Australia have been using Lean concepts to improve their performance, they have found that focusing on sustainability has supercharged their efforts and inspired a new wave of innovation from their employees…2/1/10

2009

Toyota’s Tsutsumi Plant – tour a green role model by Matt Brogan – Toyota’s Tsutsumi production plant in Aichi, Toyota City promotes some of the company’s many sustainable initiatives, where employees volunteer for green initiatives around the plant and are awarded incentives via an eco-point program…10/31/2009
Paper: The impact of Six Sigma in the performance of a Pollution Prevention program – The total number of Pollution Prevention (P2) projects recognized increased 6.9 times and the total amount of pollution prevented increased by 62%…10/1/2009
How process improvements also create better environmental and workplace safety performance by Frontier Magazine (Boeing) – In addition to saving time, reducing costs and eliminating waste, the Lean+ initiative is also being used to reduce energy consumption…9/1/09
Lean & Green (Cranfield University Source Newsletter) by Peter Hines – Explores how Lean and Green can be and should be brought together to drive sustainability and bottom line results. Including examples of new Lean and Green tools…7/1/09
IBM’s Green Sigma Coalition Lines Up Industry Leaders by Environmental Leader – Announcement of coalition that applies Lean Six Sigma principles and practices to energy, water, waste and GHG emissions throughout a company’s operations…6/23/09
How GE’s ‘Treasure Hunts’ Discovered More Than $110M in Energy Savings by Gretchen Hancock – How GE has rolled out and conducts their successful Energy Treasure Hunts without corporate mandate…5/13/09
Balanced on the Lean/Green Tight Wire: The Role of Lean and Six Sigma in Organizational Survivability and Environmental Sustainability by Clyde Parker from Starsixsigma – Coming under scrutiny is our capacity to minimize process wastes and the prudent consumption of environmental resources…02/11/09
On the Road to Climate Neutrality by JMP – University of North Carolina uses statistical software to visualize the university’s greenhouse gas inventory, help track energy use, and help identify opportunities for energy efficiency in order to achieve its commitment to become climate neutral by 2050….1/1/09
Are Lean and Green Programs Synergistic? – by Gary G. Bergmiller and Paul R. McCright – Synergy exists between Lean and Green Programs, suggesting that firms pursuing Leanness will be more successful if they also pursue Green objectives…01/01/09
Lean & Green Summit: Learning to Create Sustainability’s Next Generation – by AME Target Magazine – This article reflects concepts shared by several presenters during the 2008 Lean and Green Summit (Nike, Burgerville, Green Supplier Network, and National Center for Manufacturing Science)…01/01/09
Data Offers Insights on Energy Alternatives by JMP – NREL scientists use scripting and data mining capabilities to gauge the performance of solar energy systems, and are now generating reports in a matter of minutes that previously took a week or more….1/1/09

2008

Finding the Green in Lean Six Sigma by Chris Reed from the US EPA – At the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lean and the Environment Initiative, we talked to companies and collected stories of best practices or recent successes in integrating environmental ideas into their Lean Six Sigma processes…11/6/08.
Lean Green Thinking in Operations by General Cable – Discussion on how they use Lean and Six Sigma to address environmental issues. View the full document here…9/1/2008
The Zero Effect: How to Green Your Facility by Brad Kennedy – Defects aren’t the only metric that manufacturing managers are trying to drive down to zero — landfill waste, carbon emissions and energy grid use are the new targets…6/9/08
From Lean to Green at Interface, Inc by AME Target Magazine – Interface’s sustainability efforts and how they are using Mass Energy Balance as the primary tool to help with this effort. The article explains where lean and sustainability are similar and where they are different. It defines terms as it goes because lean and green terminologies differ. Examples from Interface illustrate how and where they improved…5/1/08
Lean And Clean With Green Purchasing by Mickey North Rizza – This article looks at green procurement initiatives and the results that make a “clean” difference….4/27/08
Let ‘Lean’ Guide You To ‘Green’ by Catherine Greener – Many companies are surprised to learn that they can take the tools, systems thinking and lessons learned from Lean and apply them effectively to the operationalization of sustainability….4/16/08
Environmental Lean Solutions: Case Study from Toyota by Pete Abilla – A firm can still be enterprising, make money, care about people, and care about the earth. This is evident in this package reduction example….2/7/08
Reducing the Cost of Biofuel Production by JMP – Novozymes is improving the enzymes that render a more cost-effective and sustainable process for commercially viable biofuels using data analysis…1/1/08
Breaking Breadfruit’s Birth Source at the Chicago Botanic Garden by JMP – By analyzing DNA fingerprinting data using statistical analysis, they were able to determine that two different wild species gave rise to breadfruit to different extents in different geographic locations. …1/1/08
How The Nature Conservancy Protects Precious Coral Reefs by JMP – Data analysis is used to help monitor water quality at some of the world’s largest coral reefs…1/1/08

2007

Food Chain Centre proves benefits of lean thinking by Rick Pendrous – Twenty-five projects involving farmers and processors set up using Lean production techniques reported savings of £14.4M over the past five years…11/26/07
Continuous Improvement Gets a Green Makeover by Brad Kenney from Industry Week – Reducing waste, emissions and pollution is simply good business. How green is just a new twist on the old game of continuous improvement…11/15/07
Lean Manufacturing, the Environment and the Bottom Line by Mitch Kidwell – Environmental concerns are a part of the lean concept. Emissions to air and water, as well as the generation of solid/hazardous waste, represent a waste of production (that is, no value to the customer), just as surely as the need for protective equipment (such as gloves and ear plugs) is, and that eventually lean would address them…3/26/07
Applying Lean Thinking to the Fresh Produce Industry by Food Chain Centre – The fresh produce industry collectively – growers, processors and their customers in retail and food service are wasting £400m. These savings could be reduced by applying lean techniques suggested in this research paper…1/1/2007

2006

Reliance Wins Award for Recycled Waste Improvements – Six sigma project resulted in increase of recycled waste by 15%, and it also had a positive effect on the community by increasing earnings of rag pickers and improving the quality of collected PET bottles…7/1/06
Beyond Lean Toward Green by “Life” is Our Ultimate Customer: From Lean to Sustainability by Greg Langenwalter – An overview of both the why-to and some of the how-to of sustainability, with emphasis on how it follows from lean manufacturing….1/1/2006

2005

Workshops help sites lower utility bills by Frontier Magazine (Boeing) – Teams of employees around Boeing are reducing energy by taking part in Energy Accelerated Improvement Workshops (EIAW)…6/1/2005

2004

Lean and Green by Jon Miller – One of my greatest personal ‘a-ha’ moments on the tour was in learning what leading Lean companies in Japan are doing to reduce waste through environmental management and energy conservation….9/6/2004

2003

Beyond Lean Toward Green by Ian Young from the Lean to Green Consortium – Australian manufacturers show how a lean approach to environmental sustainability yields big benefits to the triple bottom line…9/25/03