15 minute read
7 Business Operational Sustainability
x
Emerging Managers
Advertisement
Ms. Mansi Shrivastava Environmental Engineer DTU'20 Incoming MS student at Wageningen University Research '22
Business Operational Sustainability
Sustainability generally is understood as a term that ref ers to the consumption of the resources available at a rate that should not get exploited f or f uture generations. Similarly, if we talk about Business Operational Sustainability, we are ref erring to the f act whether a business can handle the existing practices without putting the resources that can be utilized by the f uture generation at risk. Operational Sustainability can also be mainly f or economic or social resources.
Discussing three types of sustainability:
1. Ecological Sustainability This term can also be ref erred to as equal sustainability as it denotes that the community can access similar resources equally. Social Sustainability demonstrates an understanding of the basic needs of all residents
3. Economic Sustainability
If a country or a city requires a more long-term economic balance, they would need to consider economic sustainability. Therefore, it’s quite unfair to have one business that af f ects the overall condition of a region’s economy because it hampers the business’s ability to prosper.
Here, the main concept or the basic understanding is to inf er that whether the company’s perspective is towards using the current resources sustainably. So, a company’s use of natural resources, recycling capacity, and waste reduction are analyzed through the production and sales process.
2. Social Sustainability
What is Sustainable Business?
It is a business that consists of environmental, social, and economic impacts that are associated with operations and the sustainable use of the resources f or the long-term survival of many businesses. A business should always be able to have a positive social, environmental, and economic impact, and taken together it is Collecti-
vely ref erred to as the triple bottom line.
Tips to Increase Your Social Impact:
1. Make sure to review the 10 principles of the
UN Global Compact and abide by them. 2. Always be able to buy f air trades, this would ensure a f air wage f or workers. 3. Ensure that there is a positive social impact of your company policies on your employees. 4. Evaluate the impact of your corporate giving programs. 5. Understand all the conditions that are required f or the supplies to be produced. 6. Make sure your business meets the necessary requirements of all the f air practices f or the labor f orce. 7. Check the ISO 26000 standards on social responsibility f or companies.
Tips to Green Your Office:
1. Use of e-mails instead of paper. 2. Print on both sides of the paper. 3. Try to buy and use recycled paper. 4. Use of eco-f riendly cleaning supplies and detergents. 5. Unplug items when not in use. 6. Create a green team and track the amount of waste produced, and work towards it. Free Ways to Begin Greening Your Business:
1. Of f ice Paper- Switch from 100% virgin paper to recycled paper products. 2. Hand towels- Switch to recycled hand towels 3. Toilet tissue- Switch to recycled bath tissue 4. Electronics and of f ice equipment- Turn it off when not in use, make sure the products have an ENERGY STAR rating. 5. Recycling- Check with the city sanitation department to see what can be recycled and where it can be recycled. 6. Of f ice supplies- Use recyclable or ref illable items. 7. Printing and copying- For printing, reset the def ault f ont size on all devices to 10 or 11. 8. Cleaning supplies-
Use green cleaning products or a green cleaning service.
How to Incorporate Sustainability in Operations Management?
Two basic challenges that are f aced while linking business strategies with Operations:
1. Formulation of Operations Strategy that aligns with the business and the environment. 2. Implementation of the strategies.
3. Steps were undertaken to overcome these challenges: 4. Enabling sustainability into the stages of operations strategy. 5. Analyzing the f orces that could impact sustainability and its relation with the concepts. 6. Presenting possible outcomes of evolving sustainability.
Managing Sustainability
To manage sustainability, it is very important to understand that sustainability operations strategy and its sustainability operations are analyzed together.For the same Huff’s framework presenting dimensions of the strategic process was used. So, the process is divided into two processes:
Strategy Formulation and Implementation
According to the f igure above, any idea starts with making the strategy f irst and then operationalizing it. Comparing two situations: (“how things are done” and “how things should be done”). The f ormulation shows the 5 key questions that need to be answered: The first one is “where” (in the value chain) it is considered to be one of the core inf ormation that needs f or the understanding of the managing and technical staf f . The second question is “why”, knowing the reason for integration would lead to the growth strategy that ultimately helps in the cost reduction strategy. The third question is “what”, answering what we exactly need to execute to pinpoint the operations that are going to be affected by the change. The fourth one is “who”, knowing who are the stakeholders gives an idea of the amount of change that can occur. The f if th one is “how”, to know how exactly are we going to organize the entire procedure.
Therefore, after finding the answers to all the 5 key questions, the implementation would become much easier f or the operational managers, we conclude that SUSTAINABILITY is an OPERATION.
References:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/business-definition-operational-sustainability-25509.html https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_a-primer-on-sustainable-business/s04-operationsmanagement.html https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827115000906
Emerging Managers
Ms. Somjeeta Chatterjee B.Sc in Politics and Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science
Women in Economics- Debunk, Disrupt and Diversify
How can you expect diversity of thought, if the thinkers themselves look identical? It’s much like expecting the perpetual drizzling British weather to become like that of Mauritius- one can only dream! Yet, the dream that can be turned into reality, is the diversity of thinkers. Yes, by that I mean Economists. In terms of ‘pluralism’ in Economics, what strikes me f irst is the f act that, in the UK and across many countries in the world, merely a 1/3 of Economics undergraduates are females… please allow yourselves to let that sink in.
Some of you may have read or heard about the dire need f or there to be higher gender diversity in ‘STEM subjects’ in the media. ‘STEM’ refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Yet, not many people seem to highlight the f act that even STEM subjects have higher numbers of female students than Economics and Finance. The graph below depicts this f act for the USA, but the scenario is very similar f or many countries all over the world. These numbers drop even f urther when it comes to f emale Economists in the labour market. Why is this an issue? Pluralism should not exist f or the sake of plurality, but rather, because it can help to shape better policies.
A table of purely or majorly male policymakers should not be allowed to decide whether they should levy tax on f emale sanitary products, or whether women should be granted access to abortion. The table should include all, whether they identif y as male, f emale or LGBTQ+. Clearly, the number of students being higher in STEM subjects than in Economics, proves that the common misconception, regarding women pref erring to
avoid the mathematical rigour required of Economics, is misleading. Part of the reason why f emales studying Mathematics may not choose to study Economics, could be due to the existence of a f alse perception regarding the subject. Since Economics and Finance are not a common part of the secondary school syllabus, students may not actually realise what exactly the subjects are all about!
So, what should the next steps be?
A group of academics and students are starting to realise this problem, and more importantly, they are acting on it. In my University, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), I and a group of undergraduate students have set up a research project on how we can increase numbers of f emale Economics undergraduate students. Our motto is to ‘Debunk, Disrupt and Diversify’ the discipline!
To address the elephant in the room, we want to debunk the myth that Economics is a ‘dismal science’, as described by the renowned Victorian philosopher Thomas Carlyle in the 19th Century. Economists are not monotonous; not all of them only care about ‘money’! Particularly, studies have indicated that many women place a lower weight on f inancial return when choosing their career options; the idea of making a dif f erence to the world seems more appealing to them. On the contrary, the image of Economics being a ‘money’related subject appeals to more men. Hence, our aim is to change the perception of Economics for those who are about to choose their University subjects. Particularly, through our project, students should be able to realise that studying Economics will provide them with ample opportunities to change the world. We want to disrupt this statusquo of gender-imbalance and make Economics a more diverse discipline. Policymakers and senior executives should represent the pluralist thoughts and ideologies that the world stands f or. They should make policies f or all, not f or the f ew.Thus, together let’s debunk, disrupt and diversify Economics.
Reference:
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/economics-and-finance/economics-has-a-gender-problemand-it-starts-at-school
x Emerging Managers
IOT in Operations Management
“If you think that the internet has changed your life, think again. The IoT is about to change it all over again!” — Brendan O’Brien, Chief Architect & Co-Founder, Aria Systems
From the invention of the Internet in 1983, there have been major developments and waves but the great Tsunami came when f ixed internet, mobile internet and IOT were invented. IoT is cyberphysical systems incorporating internet connectivity with the ability to sense and react to the world in innovative and highly useful ways.
The Businesses that survive in the 21st century are pioneers in IoT, willing to learn and take risks building virtual teams internally and externally, their success is determined not by age but by their ability to develop agile, f lexible business solutions.
The f our major components of IoT are Sensors & Actuators like position, presence, proximity, Motion, Velocity, Displacement, Temperature, Acceleration, tilt, humidity, sound, leaks etc. Connectivity includes Ethernet, Bluetooth, WiFi, LTE, GPS, LAN, MAN, WAN, USB, 3G, 5G etc; Data and Analytics. IoT is at its f lex because the hardware is cheap, Connectivity is pervasive, Development is easy, Moore’s law continues to exist, Metcalfe’s law also exists.
The major benef iciaries of IoT are users, makers and the operation environment.
IoT can be used to improve customer experience to reinvent, improve operational ef f iciency and cost reduction, develop a new business model the inf ormation you need to make an IoT device differs f rom businesses to organizations.
Type of data mostly required are as f ollows:
1. Process duration.
2. Individual labourer.
3. Idle time versus dynamic time.
4. The time between request accommodation and initiating of request.
5. Time spent on workers on each job each day, week and month.
6. Cost per work.
7. Time spent looking f or devices.
IoT solutions f or Transportation and Logistics are sensors in vehicles which report the state of each vehicle this reduces the truck operations and delivery systems costs as the delivery disruptions are less, on-time delivery is increased with optimized logistics systems.
IoT solutions f or Oil and Gas are Sensors placed on oil rigs which enable operations to identify problems bef ore they occur this reduces time to oil extraction and utilization of all the assets ef f iciently.
IoT solutions f or Smart city are connected devices improve a multitude of city services, increased revenue and reduction of cost with the efficiency of operations, optimized personnel with more data. This improves the quality of lif e. IoT enables a person to have a quantif ied self and lif elogging with measuring all the activities, having a digital diary, understanding oneself, maintaining physical health etc. Other examples of IoT enabled services are Smart Parking, Smart Waste Management. The major revolution in the field of operations is IOT in warehouse and supply chain operations. The simple and intuitive concept that is helping to digitally transf orm the supply chain and the way consumers live is Home automation in smart houses.
IoT is becoming widespread in the supply chain as broadband Internet has become more widely, available and af f ordable, the cost of connection to the Internet has decreased, having access to realtime data f rom loT can help to identif y potential risks in the supply chain, provide real-time traceability and enable notif ication when shipments will be late due to weather and other delays.
The reasons f or the use of IoT in supply chains are that it enables real-time visibility, help companies ensure compliance with chain of custody regulators, especially f or sensitive cargo, Facilities
integration between systems to enable seamless supply chain. Enables perf ormance measurement and monitoring so that malf unction can be detected.
Improves f orecasting accuracy. Helps to reduce equipment damage. Can capture load discrepancies and notif y all in real-time. Enables better track and trace of inventory. Enables continual f eedback in real-time for the warehouse that “live-unload” trailers. Can provide direction and f eedback to truck drivers regarding conditions and trailer delivery times. Helps to prevent damage of goods.
Including IoT technology will result in digital transf ormation that delivers the f ollowing benefits:
1.10%increase Fieldworker real-time utilization rates.
2.50% Reduction in Of f ice administration costs by eliminating re-entry of f ield data.
3.19% Increase in asset availability.
4.60% Reduction in Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).
5.100% real-time Management / Data insights on
GeoPal dashboards.
It may seem to you as if we live in an Internet of Everything world today. Business models are developing to enhance customer experiences. Keeping the Internet of Things secure is a top priority to saf eguard personal data.
In the world of warehousing, IoT has taken hold. To speed up the handling and shipping of inventory, warehouses are using more of IoT devices. Robotic and AI solutions are being utilized in warehouses and operations in concert with warehouse workers to improve perf ormance and reduce errors. Facility managers now can rely on
IoT f or the workhorse of their operation and reduce their dependence on unreliable workers.
We all need to get SMART.
Emerging Managers
World Class Manufacturing
Manuf acturing has been growing continuously since the beginning of the industrial revolution. In the current competitive and global era, it is a must for an organization to have its manuf acturing practice, which is ef f icient, lean, f lexible, and cost-effective.
World class manuf acturing is a group of concepts that sets standard of production and manufacturing f or organizations across the globe to f ollow. Japanese manuf acturing is considered a pioneer in the concept of world-class manuf acturing. Automobile, Electronic and Steel industries were f irst to be introduced with World class manuf acturing concepts.
World class manuf acturing is a process driven approach where various philosophies and techniques are used in one or more combinations. Some of the techniques in world class manuf acturing are as f ollows:
● Quick replacement ● Make to order ● Streamlined Flow ● Total preventive maintenance ● Smaller lot sizes ● Collection of parts ● Doing it right f irst time ● Higher employee involvement ● Cellular or group manuf acturing ● Zero Def ects ● Just in Time ● Cross Functional Teams ● Increased consistency ● Statistical process control ● Multi-Skilled employees ● Visual Signalling
Idea behind using techniques mentioned above is to f ocus on creating cost ef f icient organization, operational ef f iciency and reducing waste. This will help in creation of a highly productive organization that uses concurrent production techniques rather than sequential production methods.
World Class Manufacturers
World class manuf acturers try to implement best practices and invent new practices, to stay above the rest in the production and manuf acturing sector. Quality, cost ef f ectiveness, f lexibility and innovation are the main parameters that determine world-class manufacturers. These manuf acturers implement robust control techniques but, to make the system ef ficient, there are f ollowing f ive steps to be f ollowed. on production of products that are aligned with f orecasted demand to meet customer expectations.
● Postpone product mutation: To achieve a higher degree of customization many changes must be made in the f inal product. However, it is important that mutation conceived in the design stage, implements only af ter final operation.
Principles of World Class Manufacturing
There are three major principles that drive world-class manufacturing.
● Implementation of lean management and just in time leads to reduction in wastage theref ore reduction in cost.
● Implementation of total quality management encourages zero tolerance towards def ects and leads to reduction of def ects.
● Implementation of total preventive maintenance will lead to stoppage of production due to mechanical f ailure.
● Reduction of tuning of machinery and set up time: It is important that organizations can reduce or cut back time in tuning machinery bef ore production and in setting up of machinery.
● Reduce WIP material: It is a tendency of manuf acturing organizations to maintain a high level of WIP materials. Increase in WIP leads to increase in cost and decreased WIP results in more f ocus on production and f ast movement of goods and materials.
● Cellular Manufacturing: It is necessary that production processes are divided according to their nature, that is combining processes with similar nature together.
● Remove the trivial many and focus on vital few: It is necessary f or an organization to focus
Aspects of World Class Manufacturing
The major aspects of the world class manuf acturing process are as f ollows:
● Operations area ● Industrial culture area ● Product development area ● Market/client area ● E-Perf ormance area
