The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner
Energy emissions are obviously fundamental to any carbon footprint calculation, regardless of industry sector. Apart from improving carbon footprint energy management saves money. Manufacturing emissions are generally massive in scale so for the printing and publishing industries it is more than a good idea for manufacturers to promote their environmental initiatives.
Energy management is a key tool for emissions reduction and there has been a steady flow of useful standards over the last couple of years. It started with ISO 9001 for managing a business so that it functions efficiently and produces high quality goods. Since the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management was introduced in 1996, thousands of companies worldwide have been accredited to it. Within the graphic arts industry the story continues to improve.
Agfa has recently achieved ISO 50001 for energy management and now Kodak has announced its implementation of an Energy Management System (EMS) at its factory in Osterode am Harz, Germany. This is Kodak’s largest offset printing plate manufacturing site. Kodak’s EMS includes all employees and areas of the Osterode plant. The company is currently taking an inventory of processes and analysing the energy of each process, in order to identify potential energy savings. Once this work is complete Kodak will be able to set up procedures for continual improvement. Over time this will not only help Kodak reduce energy consumption per manufactured plate. It will also help the company cut costs.
Kodak is on track to achieve ISO 50001:2011 certification for its EMS before the end of 2013. Both Agfa and Kodak are using EMS techniques and targets specified in ISO 50001 to make energy use more efficient and together they are making a key contribution to the graphic arts industry’s emissions reduction and sustainability efforts. Their initiatives reinforce print’s sustainability message, adding to an already postive story.
EMS initiatives are not just about reducing energy consumption. They are also improving environmental efficiency and business performance and sending a message of committment to customers. The establishment of an EMS for printing plate production factories further enhances the green credentials of the Agfa Azura and Kodak Sonora processless plate technologies. The use of EMS also further enhances the environmental credentials of the printing industry and gives publishers and print buyers one more reason to work with print.
http://verdigrisproject.com/blog/get-your-factories-in-shape
This article is part of the Verdigris series of stories about understanding the environmental impact of print. The Verdigris Project is supported by Agfa Graphics, Canon Europe, Digital Dots, drupa, EcoPrint, EFI, Fespa, HP, Pragati Offset, Ricoh, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
