SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT | 10 Six sustainable actions you can take now 4. Start small: The IfM talked to practitioners from a range of A simple yet e昀昀ective variation is to approach teams global manufacturing 昀椀rms, as well as sustainable that can look straight away at the di昀昀erence between manufacturing experts, to identify common success energy used on good days and bad days. Teams can factors and best practices in businesses that had identify ideas and processes that have been proven achieved consistent, rapid sustainability improvements. to work as they have “been done before”. One The study revealed that using continuous improvement organisational sustainability example achieved over initiatives can be an excellent way of achieving rapid 15% in improvements remotely simply by identifying sustainability improvements, demonstrating that the and acting on performance variation in annual journey towards sustainable manufacturing doesn’t production and resource data. have to be expensive. 5. Get people involved: 1. Look at your existing resources: Wide engagement and commitment were found No organisation can improve without understanding to be the most in昀氀uential factors in achieving its current condition, so it is vital to 昀椀rst assess existing rapid improvements and a successful sustainability resources at surface level. While identifying current transformation in a company. Quick sustainability waste may seem trivial, the research shows it’s very wins can be used to seek top management buy-in important and is the 昀椀rst and most vital step towards by communicating their success in achieving cost conservation. Choose three to four priority issues savings, as well as environmental bene昀椀ts. and identify target performance dimensions such 6. Recognise e昀昀ort and success: as energy/CO2, water, waste and/or potentially one Creating a working environment that recognises and other signi昀椀cant pollution challenge for your business. rewards e昀昀orts towards sustainability improvements Not only is reducing energy consumption good for can help employees at all levels to engage with sustainability performance, it also reduces costs, so this sustainability challenges. It is critical to make alignment with key business drivers helps sustainability employees feel important and at the heart of the to quickly become mainstream. improvement process. 2. Don’t wait for a full sustainability strategy: Set realistic targets that are achievable in the short term to avoid discouragement and build con昀椀dence among employees and managers. It can help to start by Download the full report holding internal discussions on priorities and focusing on well-known issues and impact points. For example, • Discover ways manufacturers during interviews in the study, companies highlighted achieve rapid sustainability opportunities to switch processes and equipment o昀昀. improvements 3. Include sustainability KPIs: • Understand success factors What gets measured gets improved. Monitoring and barriers in progressing metrics that align with sustainability is key to driving sustainability initiatives sustainability improvements through continuous • Receive a checklist with 20 improvement. It’s enough to start small with KPIs, recommendations selecting a few that track the current sustainability to drive resource condition in a cell or facility, such as the use of e昀케ciency electricity, water, coolant or the volume of materials waste. It’s also important to share these metrics often (ideally in real time) with key stakeholders, especially on the shop 昀氀oor, so they can also seek improvements and start to drive those KPIs in the right direction.