MT Magazine September/October 2023

FEATURE STORY

THE ENERGY ISSUE

28

3. Act responsibly. Align your talent to your mission and live consistent with that mission. Create a stewardship mentality, not just a sustainability initiative. We encourage you to reach out to your local Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, community college or university, or economic development group to see what programs, tools, or support they might offer to get you further along on your company’s sustainability journey. As always, please reach out to AMT if you want to share your journey – both its challenges and successes.

natural resources. Sustainable manufacturing also enhances employee, community and product safety.” In other words, when it’s done right, sustainability enhances the health of both the business and its employees. The EPA has teamed with five other agencies to provide small and medium-sized manufacturers with custom assessments to increase profits and create new job opportunities while reducing pollution and energy use through E3 (Economy-Energy-Environment), a technical assistance program. Sustainability is not a one-time goal or short-term program that can be forgotten once accomplished. It isn’t a product of regulations or a response to investor pressures but an intentional response acknowledging all that is interconnected and impactful within an ecosystem. Sustainability is continuous improvement exemplified. American companies often talk of Kaizen events, short-term brainstorming events designed to create change for the better, but true Kaizen requires achieving sustained continual improvement; sustainability is a pillar. Why It Matters Manufacturing and supply chain applications are systems engineering disciplines now more than they have ever been. Therefore, a business value proposition may lie in the offering itself, a customer’s engagement with those offerings, or the means by which those offerings are delivered. Sustainability has encouraged additional areas of value provisions to our marketplace in ways that might improve not just a carbon footprint but also availability, operability, and efficiency. What We Should Do There are a few steps that every company can take to step into a more environmentally sustainable mindset. 1. Think strategically. Understand the needs of today but consider what must be true for your company to thrive 10 or 20 years from now. 2. Plan knowingly. This includes creating purpose-driven projects and using data-driven metrics. For example, set a goal for reducing operational carbon emissions by a certain percentage and specify that you will achieve it by incorporating carbon sequestration or capture technologies or using reclaimable, recyclable packaging.

If you have any questions about this information, please contact Tim at tshinbara@AMTonline.org.