Successful Lean & Green Conference at Drupa

The conference addressed the economic and environmental benefits of ‘Lean & Green’ as an industry strategy. Lean & Green is an approach that stresses the mutual economic and environmental benefits of lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing reduces costs and saves time while simultaneously improving green performance by reducing waste. Simply put, lean manufacturing not just good for the environment – it is good for business.

This conference emphasised that effective responses on lean environmental issues require creative cooperation across the entire industry process chain. There were three themes: Environmental Footprint with a focus on energy; Sustainability for success including practical application of lean manufacturing; and Communicating on the environment including labels and certification.

The presentations ranged from legislative frameworks to methodologies and best practice examples. Printing companies from the USA and Hong Kong shared their experiences and successes. NGOs spoke about the future of the environment and energy supplies, outlining why it is important for every industry to act. Printing industry experts presented applicable practical concepts for lean & green, carbon calculators as well as environmental labels which are available for use worldwide.

Finally, there was a presentation of a case study on Elle magazine. Over 20 years, its retail price has remained the same while its environmental performance and efficiency have improved. This keeps the magazine in profit despite the retail price has been eaten away by inflation. Elle is a real world example of the benefits of lean manufacturing.

Attendees and speakers included printers, suppliers, industry associations, universities, NGOs and governments, to make it a fully cross-industry event with robust debates.

Mr Michael Makin, President of the WPCF said that, “The conference was a wonderful success and addressed all of the key environmental issues facing graphic communications professionals today. From Lean and Green tips from printers to the perspective of the NGO, the event delivered a powerful series of topics.”

“The conference speakers demonstrated that there is a direct correlation from a Lean & Green approach to provide strong benefits across the industry value chain. The holistic management of economic and environmental issues is a key to sustainability, and also impacts on the use of print as a medium,” added John Dangelmaier, President of PrintCity.

PDF downloads of the conference presentations can be downloaded after completing a short survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LEAN_GREEN_SURVEY.