| As a national expert on the environmental implications of Lean manufacturing, Ross & Associates provides analytic, strategic, and communications support to EPA’s Lean and Environment Initiative. Lean production (or Lean manufacturing) is a business model developed by Toyota that emphasizes eliminating waste (non-value added activity) while delivering quality products and services to customers when they want them. Organizations in numerous manufacturing and service sectors are rapidly expanding implementation of Lean methods to reduce costs, improve product quality, and increase responsiveness to customer needs. Research has shown that Lean can result in substantial environmental gains.
Ross & Associates won a Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research for its 2003 research report, Lean Manufacturing and the Environment, prepared for EPA. The Shingo Prize is the leading business award for lean manufacturing. This report examined the relationship of industry Lean manufacturing efforts to environmental performance and the environmental regulatory framework, and outlined recommendations for EPA and other environmental agencies.
Ross & Associates has provided a variety of communications, outreach, and facilitation support to EPA’s Lean and Environment Initiative since its inception in 2003. Ross & Associates helped EPA to establish partnerships with private companies and federal and state agencies to leverage Lean trends to improve environmental performance. Ross & Associates developed most of the content for EPA’s Lean website (www.epa.gov/lean) and has assisted EPA with efforts to develop and disseminate case studies and best practices for enhancing the environmental gains from Lean. Ross & Associates has also produced numerous presentations and training modules on Lean and environment integration techniques.
Working with EPA’s Lean and environment partners, Ross & Associates developed three toolkits for EPA that provide Lean practitioners with practical strategies for integrating environmental considerations into Lean methods. The Lean and Environment Toolkit (first published in 2006) describes how to enhance the environmental results of Lean methods such as value stream mapping, kaizen events, and 5S, while supporting Lean’s focus on the elimination of waste and non-value added activity. The second toolkit Ross & Associates developed, The Lean and Energy Toolkit, shows how to use Lean methods to reduce energy use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The third toolkit, The Lean and Chemicals Toolkit (published in 2009), looks specifically at Lean strategies for reducing chemical wastes and risks.
To introduce Lean techniques to environmental audiences, Ross & Associates recently developed The Environmental Professional’s Guide to Lean and Six Sigma. This guide provides an overview of common Lean and Six Sigma methods, explains why environmental professionals should consider integrated Lean and environment efforts, describes how Lean differs from pollution prevention and sustainability, and outlines different models for advancing Lean and environment implementation efforts. Ross & Associates is also helping EPA to develop a strategy for the next generation of Lean and environment efforts.
Read the Lean and environment toolkits Ross & Associates developed for EPA:
View the Shingo Prize winning Lean and Environment report Ross & Associates prepared for EPA »
Read about the Washington Lean and Environment Project »
Learn about Ross & Associates’ work on EPA and State lean and six sigma process improvement efforts »
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