Wednesday, December 21, 2016


For the past few decades, globalization has changed logistics and supply chain management. Products may be manufactured and assembled across different countries. Often manufacturers or importers have very little idea how the imported parts/goods are made. It is estimated that over 30 million people could be working in an environment of slavery or forced labor worldwide. Trafficking men, women and children is a big business around the world. According to the International Labor Office, modern day slavery could generate over $150 billion every year.
There are hundreds of products that could be made by modern day slaves. These products are that we use every day like coffee, chocolate (cocoa), smart phones, computers, garments, and hand bags to name a few. What are we doing to prevent it?
There are many governmental and non-governmental agencies and private organizations are involved to prevent this. US Aid (www.usaid.gov/news-information/frontlines/democracy-human-rights-governance/fighting-modern-day-slavery) is involved around the world to prevent it from happening. This organization helps protect the victims and prosecute traffickers. UNICEF’s Child First program (www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/trafficking/end) and Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org/en/) are working to prevent the trafficking of children. There are many private non-profit organizations around the world working to prevent human trafficking and help people who are trapped as slave labors. 
In our modern world, globalization will stay with us. When a company outsources manufacturing their products or imports goods from foreign countries, the company needs to be very careful. The company should make sure that any slave labor or child labor is not involved in manufacturing their products. Even companies that import goods from a foreign country should be aware of this huge problem. Using slave labor could tarnish the image of a company once it is unveiled.   Due to current refugee crisis the number of slave / forced labor is growing.
Here is a resource from US Department of Labor on this subject: www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/tvpra_report2014.pdf

Monday, November 28, 2016

Single Use Plastic Grocery Bags 

Related image
These are not jelly fish, but plastic grocery bags
(Picture from www,globalgarbage.org.br)

Discarded plastic grocery bags are everywhere – in the rivers, oceans, roadsides and in your backyards.   These bags, also called T-shirt carry out bags, are great polluters. They are also inexpensive to manufacture. It costs about 2 to 5 cents each to buy. Brown paper grocery bags cost around 12 cents each to buy.  So due to low cost of T-shirt bags, these bags are overused. T-shirt bags are made out of petrochemicals, which are not biodegradable and will last for up to 1000 years in the environment.  These plastic bags could also be broken down into small pieces and become micro-plastics and enter the food chain. It is estimated that Americans throw away about 100 billion of the T-shirt bags annually.

T-shirt carry out bags are 100% recyclable. Unfortunately, about 12% of these bags are recycled. Manufacturing T-shirt carry out bags will emit less greenhouse gases. Some studies suggest that plastic bags take 40% less energy to manufacture and 80% less solid waste compared to recycled brown bags. These T-shirt carry out bags are very light weight and require less energy to transport and less room to store.

Large grocery chains have been making an effort to recycle these T-shirt carry out bags. Some states and local organizations are taking action to reduce the use of these T-shirt carry out bags.   In 2014, California was the first state to pass a bill to ban T-shirt bags in large retail stores. The stores in California also charged a minimum of 10 cents for the use of recycled brown bags.  In 2014, the city of Newburyport, MA banned the use of T-shirt grocery bags, which affected the retail stores. There are other organizations such as environmental groups and stores working to control the use of T-shirt carry out bags. 

Many stores are selling their own reusable grocery bags for as little as 99 cents.  In Massachusetts, there is a volunteer organization called The BagShare Project, where volunteers sew reusable grocery bags from donated materials. The main goal of this organization is help consumers not to use T-shirt carryout bags. If a customer forgets to bring a reusable bag, then he or she can borrow one and return the bag after using it.

There are many efforts going on to reduce the use of plastic T-shirt carry out bags. These carry out bags are 100% recyclable, but only 12% are recycled in the USA.  As a result, we see the bags polluting our environment or even our backyards. Consumers should be educated to recycle their plastic bags. We should have more places to collect and recycle T-shirt bags.  It takes much less energy to manufacture and transport these bags. I think, the best solution is BYOB - Bring Your Own Bags!



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Lean through Green

The central point of Lean Manufacturing is eliminating waste in manufacturing systems.   The elimination of wastes could be achieved in a variety of ways such as reducing manufacturing process time and wait time, implementing proper inventory controls and reducing of defects.

Green Manufacturing is a concept in manufacturing that is used to produce products by having minimal environmental impact.   It could be achieved by minimizing waste, recycling, conserving energy use, controlling pollution.

The central point of both Lean and Green Manufacturing is the elimination of waste.   So, we can achieve a Lean Manufacturing environment by going Green.   For start-ups and small manufacturing organizations it could be better to create its manufacturing systems by adapting the philosophy from Green Manufacturing. 

Green Manufacturing is a relatively newer concept.   Start-ups and smaller manufacturing organizations might think, that it may not be meaningful to go green because their environmental impact could be very small.   Is it possible to be competitive by implementing Green concepts during the early stages of the development of an organization?   This could be answered by the design of manufacturing systems that are geared towards Green Manufacturing Systems and the belief system of the founders / owners of the organizations.  Is Green Manufacturing worth the investment?  There is one goal common in both Lean Manufacturing and Green Manufacturing is eliminating of waste.   So eliminating waste from the system could be great starting point to be efficient and competitive in a Green Manufacturing environment. It is also easier and less costly to grow and maintain a Green Manufacturing environment system than converting a non-green company to a green company because the employees are properly trained and a system is already in place.  A Green Manufacturing System should be designed with a long term vision.

It is ultimately the responsibility of the founders of start-ups and the owners of small manufacturing companies’ owners to decide to be Green or not.   Green Manufacturing could a good business practice.   It will save our environment and it is possible to stay competitive at the same time.   It could meet the expectation of the society as a responsible manufacturing organization.