Sustainable Manufacturing Consortium launched by local companies and Partners in Project Green

Partners in Project Green and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) have established a new Sustainable Manufacturing Consortium. The consortium is a group of 11 manufacturers from cities across Ontario, including two from Brampton, that are committed to attaining World Class Environmental Sustainability Performance. Approximately one-third of businesses in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone, a 12,000 hectare area surrounding the Toronto Pearson International Airport, are in the manufacturing sector. This sector alone accounts for at total energy consumption of 13,757,000 GJ in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

One of the biggest hurdles that the manufacturing sector faces when dealing with sustainability initiatives is the speed in which sustainable technologies change and evolve. Members of the consortium are striving to reduce their consumption by leveraging each others strengths through sharing, learning and improving the implementation of the best practices in their operations. Their overall goals are to achieve accelerated results in implementation time, levels of innovation, organization and personal performance and the ability to sustain improvements.

"We were struggling with the scope of work relating to sustainability," said David Haigh, VP Operations Canada, TREMCO Inc. "The consortium allows us to exchange ideas and conduct an audit of our processes and benchmark ourselves. We share the results and learn from the best practices currently in place."

Each member has has full ownership over the direction of the consortium through the creation of a vision and an annual strategic plan, while all administration for the team is the responsibility of Partners in Project Green and TRCA. Sharing, learning and improving are facilitated through consortium events, individual member company coaching days, and facility assessments. Membership privileges include sustainability diagnostic for measurement and development of individual members, access to the High Performance Consortium Network (a national network) and access to specialized resources.

"Sustainability is about being around for the long haul, one important component is looking at the impact of our products beyond traditional financial and pollution regulation metrics," said Philip Ling, VP Technology, Founding Partner, Powersmiths International Corp. "For many manufacturers, the majority of the impact of their product is not directly in their manufacturing plant, but in the supply chain and at their customer sites. For example, our product designs start a chain of events that include extracting, processing and shipping raw materials that make up our products. Furthermore, many of our product designs determine how much power, water or other resources are consumed while operating - and our designs also determine how reusable and recyclable are products are at end of life. These are complex inter-relationships, beyond what we can address alone. Fortunately, by working together as a group, with sustainability as our common focus, we can accelerate our progress much faster than we can imagine!"

Members of the Partners in Project Green Sustainable Manufacturing Consortium are committed to environmental sustainability for their organization and sharing their best practices. Brampton based members of the Consortium include;

• Powersmiths has been practicing sustainability long before it became mainstream and most recently completed their Carbon Footprint according to the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol, including the elusive Scope 3 emission sources which reaches all the way back to the extraction of raw materials.

• Velcro Canada completed a lighting retrofit that resulted in a 50% reduction in energy use from lighting and will save the facility more than $42,000 annually.

For more information on the Partners in Project Green Sustainable Manufacturing Consortium, or to see about joining yourself, please email admin@partnersinprojectgreen.com. Or visit www.partnersinprojectgreen.com to learn how your company can begin greening the bottom-line.