Lean and Green: The Move to Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing

摘要

This article presents the results of a national survey of environmental manufacturing practices. Efforts by firms to improve manufacturing processes and increase productivity create substantial opportunities for environmental improvement. The adoption of advanced manufacturing process innovations provides incentives for the adoption of environmentally conscious manufacturing strategies. Close relationships across the production chain, between end-users and suppliers in particular, facilitate the adoption of this related bundle of environmental and industrial innovations. Firms and plants that are R&D-intensive and manufacturing innovators possess the capacity to both improve productivity and reduce environmental costs and risks.