EFQM SUSTAINABILITY GOOD PRACTICE COMPETITION Submission report Sustainability Good Practice Title Description of the Good Practice Definition of the product, service, and the problem, issue, opportunity or necessity detected Desired benefits/results (leading or lagging indicators for the introduction of the Good Practice, e.g. : Economic Stakeholder satisfaction Prestige/image Process performance Environmental impact
‘Think Green’ The ‘Think Green’ project was created to reduce the overall impact of our business on the environment, in combination with cutting down energy/waste usage and costs Electronics manufacturing site with approximately 500 employees. Whilst no significant ‘problem’, it was decided to focus our strategy on minimizing waste generation and energy usage, and more importantly, involve our employees in achieving this. At Siemens Motion Control, Congleton, carbon minimization doesn’t just simply fit within our business objectives - it is a fundamental driver, as demonstrated by our mission statement.
The ‘Think Green’ project was created to reduce the overall impact of our business on the environment, in combination with cutting down energy/waste costs, which are increasing fast – we wanted to further raise environmental awareness on site, using the ideas of our employees to drive change and reduce environmental impact and costs as a result. We felt that if this culture was brought to life, it would give results in all areas – stakeholder satisfaction, economic savings, improve processes by reducing energy used/waste generated, whilst achieving its ultimate aim – to reduce our environmental impact. Therefore, both the resource and the driving force come from the heart of our business. Existing indicators for energy, waste, savings and employee engagement were used via our existing balanced scorecard system, to ensure the effectiveness of the ‘Think Green’ project
could be measured. A combination of training, awareness raising and investment in environmental projects have ensured that the business has reduced carbon emissions on site by around 50% per unit manufactured, and changed the culture of our business, influencing employees to not only think about the environment at work, but also to consider how to travel and manage their home life whilst taking the environment into consideration. In the last business year over £94,000 of green improvements have been implemented, with business cases submitted for even more. The project was chosen because of various reports in the media pointing to the fact that life as we know it in the UK, and in particular manufacturing, is currently not environmentally sustainable – part of our strategy for the future is to ensure that we reduce our carbon emissions, and maximize our energy efficiency, so we can sustain our business performance to ensure we not only reduce our environmental impact, but also leave the factory and the planet in a condition where future generations can continue to prosper. The success measures, aims and targets are simple – only sustainable companies will survive the challenges the future holds, and the campaign has put us in a position not only to overcome these, but also to seize each barrier as an opportunity to improve and become even stronger in this area. Approach(es) undertaken : Have you explored how, and/or, if others do it? How did you analyse your current competence level to idenfity any gaps? How did the creation of this Good Practice eveolve e.g. new idea generation process, pilots, iterations, … People participation: how many? The role of leaders/champions Engagement of partners/suppliers, if relevant? Specific training required/given
Benchmarking was carried out against other Siemens businesses, and we established that there were many pockets of excellence amongst the business, there was no overall cultural approach that comprised training, behavior, implementation and measurement, so we decided to create our own – and ‘Think Green’ was born!
‘Think Green’ – The Siemens Congleton environmental awareness campaign
Our current level of competence was already known via our balanced scorecard, and although we were in no way poor performers, we felt that we should build a culture of constantly improving our environmental performance. The ‘Think Green’ concept was introduced for the 2010 business year, but ‘Think Green’ training covering all environmental issues was delivered to all managers and key stakeholders, with a condensed version prepared for factory employees in early 2010, and awareness raising campaigns published to coincide with Siemens UK’s ‘Sustainability Month’ in May 2010. The project was managed through the site ‘Ideas’ suggestion scheme, so that cost savings could be monitored. In addition to this, more detailed monitoring was carried out through existing KPI’s for energy and waste, delivering positive results: Employees from all areas of the company were involved, with spokespersons from areas including manufacturing, IT, development, logistics all being nominated to co-ordinate and liaise their departments with the campaign. The project was lead by the in-house Environment, Health and Safety representative, with regular updates and debate with the site management team at the monthly management meetings. Implementation plan for the Sustainability Good Practice: Where was it implemented? How? Why there?
‘Think Green’ was implemented at our manufacturing location in Congleton, Cheshire, and quickly became at the heart of everything we do. In addition to many simple improvements (i.e. turning off power to areas not in use, and turning down temperatures to save energy), we have had some more ‘outside the box’ suggestions, ranging from geothermal energy and wind turbines, to power generation and heating of hot water using solar energy. Although some projects with extremely high costs and poor payback periods have been declined or assigned a lower priority, this has not discouraged people, and some of the more ‘wacky’ suggestions, such as the solar hot water and the ‘wormery’ (see below), have been approved. Implemented technologies from our employees ideas are wide ranging, and include: Increasing the temperature in our IT server rooms by 5oC, therefore reducing the demand on the air conditioning unit, saves over 45,000kWh of electricity, equivalent to £4,000 per year Installation of a management system for our compressors, to ensure they only run at the level required, massively improving efficiency and saving around £30,000 per year. Use of our own inverters in several applications (extract fans,
coating line conveyors, and development tests saving around £12,000 per year). Introduction of ‘dry mix recycling’, to allow previously landfilled waste streams to be segregated and recycled, saving 15-20 tonnes of waste from going to landfill each year. ‘Hippos’ and ‘Cistermisors’ implemented to massively reduce water usage from toilets and cisterns across site, saving around £4,000. The implementation of a ‘wormery’, containing soil and 50,000 worms, which convert over 6.5 tonnes of biodegradable waste (including restaurant waste, paper towels, card) into top-grade compost, which we will sell to our employees, with all proceeds going to local charities. through our CAST (care and share team). The wormery has become an integral part of our site tour, with schools, peer groups, and customers alike seeing our innovative new waste stream, and hopefully seeing that we are committed to sustainability, and hopefully learning from the experience and taking away their own ideas to implement too, improving the environment outside the boundaries of our site.
Recent pupils on a school visit experience the ‘Wormery’ as part of their site tour
Assessment & Refinement of the Sustainability Good Practice: What results/benefits were achieved? How did they compare with the desired benefits/results mentioned above? Expected/unexpected benefits/results? What changes to further improve the Sustainability Good Practice have you initiated/planned to initiate?
The ‘Think Green’ project has been a massive success, and more importantly, has set out our strategy and vision for environmental management in the future – with almost £95,000 (and counting) of green savings implemented the project has already surpassed expectations, and continues to surprise: The amount of electricity used per unit manufactured on site has been reduced by around 18% on our best previous year:
Despite the cold start to 2010, we have seen a 25% reduction in gas usage in the last 12 months:
In addition to this, 22% less waste is sent to landfill per unit manufactured:
During the summer of 2010, our highest ever recycling statistic was recorded (81% of waste recycled) – the average figure in previous years has been around the 60% mark. In terms of purely carbon savings, the overall carbon footprint of our electric and gas usage reduced by over 28%:
And taking into account our increased production this year following the downturn, our carbon footprint per drive produced has been reduced by more than 50%
All the statistics discussed so far cover our carbon impact onsite, when you consider that our products are designed to save energy, and in our customers hands save an estimated 4 million tonnes per year, then our business truly is carbon positive.
Summary of impact on your organisation (This should link to the desired results mentioned above)
One of the main benefits accrued which was not foreseen in the original plan is that most of the improvements we have implemented have been envisaged, formulated and driven and delivered by our own employees – a fantastic, pleasant learning point for the company, finding hidden talent around every corner during the project. The feedback from customers, stakeholders, and peers within Siemens UK has been excellent, and our commitment to EHS is considered one of the highlights of our location. One of the main learning points has been that following improvements in the area of waste, we are not far away from being able to recycle/reuse all waste streams, and the vision for the future will be to work towards a ‘zero-landfill’ culture. The improvements in the energy area will massively reduce our carbon footprint, and also contribute to a reduced obligation charge under the new Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation. Many of the improvements implemented here at Congleton have also been ‘pinched with pride’ by other Siemens UK businesses. More recently, we have been approached by the local council to share our practices and assist with their own ‘carbon management planning’ and also be the ‘Congleton Sustainability Group’ in the town to use our ‘Think Green’ training to support their Eco Schools project that is run in 15 local primary schools. So the benefits to the environment are not limited to this site alone – the ‘Think Green’ campaign is also helping others to reduce their impact on the environment. The continuing benefits of the projects are directly seen through the culture – we have an organisation and workforce dedicated to continually improving the sustainability of our business, and this stands us in a strong position in a future which holds spiralling fuel prices, lack of landfill space, and rewards for companies who invest in green technologies – we are ready for the challenges the future holds!
