Monthly Archives: December 2008

To Green or Not to Green Your Christmas Tree

Posted on December 20, 2008 | Leave a comment

In the spirit of the season, I just had to comment on this article when I saw it in the Le Mars Daily Sentinel.  Yeah, I know, I read way too many articles or have too much spare time if I am reading a newspaper in Iowa, but it just caught my eye in my Google search for something to write about.

They were comparing the virtues of a real Christmas tree and its environmental impact versus the fact that we are cutting down tree to get it.  Sometimes it seems to me that we can’t see the forest for the trees (yes, pun was intended).  It is unlikely that these trees would ever have been planted at the tree farm if people did not want live trees for Christmas.  So the reality is likely that demand for trees helps lessen our carbon footprint.

I am not sure how much energy it takes to grow a  tree, cut it down and haul it from the Great White North to Central Texas, but I’m sure it’s a lot.  How about the little man who sleeps in his motor home on the tree lot for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas with his generator powering the string of Christmas lights, or the gas burned to go get the tree and bring it home.  The list goes on and on. 

It is easy to slant an article toward the point of view of either side.  Wouldn’t it be great if there was a uniform way of measuring the impact of a product and weigh it against the good?  My guess is it would not matter.  People want what they want. 

Most people don’t care what country builds something until they need to deal with tech support.  Why should they care how a product impacts the environment until they have to pay $4.50 a gallon for gas?  The same reason as tech support, cause by then it is too late.

I will probably squeeze one more post or two in before the New Year, but right now, I would challenge you to think about the joy of the season.  Forget about everything going wrong with the world and focus on what is going right.  This time of year, everyone smiles a little more and is a little nicer.  The air smells fresher (maybe from the Christmas trees).  I hope we never get so environmentally focused that we give up Christmas cards in favor of email greetings.  And I hope the Le Mars Daily Sentinel has a prosperous New Year and doesn’t wipe out too many trees with their paper.  Do you think they recycle Christmas tree to make them?

Brad

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Posted in Uncategorized

DESA Comes Back From China

Posted on December 16, 2008 | Leave a comment

Well, the swing back to American manufacturing continues.  DESA Heating, a Kentucky based manufacturer of heaters has signed a two year contract with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association to move jobs back to Kentucky in order to cut costs.

Across the country, manufacturing companies are starting to look at costs differently.  Low cost regions are not always the best answer.  When you have to ship raw materials halfway across the globe and tie up your money for  six to eight weeks or more, those costs begin to add up.  During the height of the rise In gas prices, it was not unusual to see fuel surcharges that added more than 20% to the cost of shipping.  When this cost is not factored in, it can wreak havoc with your bottom line.

In  recent posts, I have been talking repeatedly about Toyota, and what I deem the new American manufacturing model.  This model balances low cost regions with other alternatives.  In the new global economy, there will always be a need for low cost labor regions for manually intensive production, but one size does not necessarily fit all.  Manufacturers need to look at all aspects of their supply chain  and devise the supply chain scenario that is most cost effective for them.  China is great for some products, Mexico for others and the United States for yet more alternatives.  

Look at your total cost of acquisition, including logistics, cost of capital and warehouse space to hold larger orders.    You may find that in the words of Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.”  At least for some of your products.  It is a lesson my customers understand, and yours should too. 

Brad

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Posted in Green Manunfacturing, Leadership, Offshoring

Business Week Sees Growth in Green

Posted on December 11, 2008 | Leave a comment

In its small business section last month, Business Week has an interesting article regarding manufacturing growth in the green sector.  This article focuses on how small companies can establish new markets through focusing on the manufacture of innovative green products.  These products can be easily sold to larger industries looking for a green method of reducing costs.  As our nation focuses on alternative energy sources and ways to do things with less energy and more efficiently, this will become more the norm, but for now, companies embracing green resources have an open playing field.

 This article came to my mind again this week as talks continued about stimulating the economy through the focus on green and the further talks of bailing out the ailing auto industry.  proposal is the generation of $2 million green collar jobs via $100 billion in tax credits and direct investment.  What is not immediately clear, is how this money would be spent to actually make this happen.  How do we change an entire industry to provide the technology America wants and needs?  What further remains to be seen is whether, as gas prices continue to drop, whether the public will forget what got us to $140 per barrel oil, and go back to our ways of waste.  Even as interest in the cost effectiveness of hybrid vehicles continues to fall, it is important to look back at where we were so that we do not lose our focus on the creation of greener technologies.

We should learn from the lessons of the auto industry, who ignored the advice of Edward Deming and his quality teachings, only to have Toyota learn it first.  Today, Toyota is still one of the world’s most progressive manufacturing companies, leading the charge toward lean manufacturing.  Through lean and green techniques, the American manufacturer can establish areas of competitiveness, if we do not become complacent through the prospect of a government handout.  With the expansion of other world economies, America needs to reestablish itself as the leader in innovation.  Only through innovation can we gain a competitive advantage over lower labor markets.  We have to be first to be able to achieve the highest margins.  We simply cannot sit back and wait for someone else to develop the technology we need while the government rewards poor business practices.

I would challenge all US manufacturers to look inside themselves and eliminate the waste within their organizations and create a culture of lean and green.  At VirTex, this is our focus and we are continually investing in the development of new ways to reduce our waste, wherever it may occur.  Our customers have come to expect it and now embrace it.  It’s time other manufacturers did the same.  We are lean and ready, even for a continued economic down turn.  Are you ready?  Go green.  Green pays.

Brad

http://www.virtexassembly.com

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Posted in Green Manunfacturing, Leadership, Lean Manufacturing