Green production is a difficult achievement, but the following five companies make it look easy. These companies strongly focus on going green, and they've taken their production lines to renewable levels. Compared to most modern production companies, the following businesses have "gone green," and continue to outdo their competitors in terms of environmental consciousness.
They don't just create green products; they create them using green processes, and the result is more eco-friendly products produced from eco-friendly production lines - and nothing is greener than that.
"Climate change is already impacting human health," says Johnson & Johnson's Senior Director of Global Energy, Dennis Canavan. "We need to do this for our children."
Canavan may be in charge of the company's energy department, but his sentiments seem to be shared company-wide. Johnson & Johnson is one of the most socially responsible manufacturing companies in the world. In the United States, the company relies on solar energy to power its businesses. Around the world, the company insists on keeping things sustainable by creating its Band-Aid Brand product packaging using wood garnered from responsibly managed forests.
The company expects their factories to adhere to green policies and reduce waste, such as the case in their Brazil manufacturing facility, where 77 percent of waste is recycled.
IBM went green before "green" was a buzzword. Beginning in 1967, IBM has always sought to develop strategies to reduce the company's carbon footprint. According to IBM's environmental policy, the company is strongly focused on "…protecting the environment, and conserving energy and natural resources." By the year 2000, IBM had reduced its power consumption by 5.1 billion kilowatt hours, including production.
The company continues to "Use development and manufacturing processes that do not adversely affect the environment, including developing and improving operations and technologies to minimize waste, prevent air, water and other pollution, minimize health and safety risks, and dispose of waste safely and responsibly."
Container Exchanger doesn't just offer green products, such as used pallets, the company also utilizes its green products to create greener solutions for itself. The company's website reads, "Container Exchanger strives to keep your business viable with green solutions," and by employing these solutions in their own factories and warehouses, Container Exchanger has earned a reputation for being green where it counts (manufacturing/production). The company's used pallet containers are green because they've been reused, but they also help to reduce scrap and save space.
Recipient of a 2010 German Innovation Award, Schott was honored for its innovation in product development, manufacturing, and marketing. In terms of manufacturing, Schott is a forward-thinking green company. Their focus is on creating appliances that function at top levels, but aren't created using heavy metals. Heavy metals are incredibly difficult to extract from the earth, and yet the earth is ravaged daily to extract these metals in order to create appliances for consumers.
In an effort to reduce the impact of heavy metal farming, Schott created the world's first glass-ceramic cooktop. It includes no heavy metals in its design. Furthermore, the eco-friendly company works to reduce manufacturing emissions and waste, across all of its locations.
With a nickname like Brother Earth, it's to be expected that the home-office-products company is eco-friendly. Brother places a strong focus on eco-friendly practices in its factories, including all of their overseas factories. The company is working to ensure that its factories not only adhere to strict environmental standards, but also manufactures more eco-friendly products. Using solar panels, and other natural energy sources, Brother has certainly earned its spot on this list.
