Business News
Xerox Earth Awards: Environmental Efforts Drive Stronger Business Results
Wednesday 15. July 2009 - Employees of Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) have demonstrated once again that what is good for the environment is also good for business.
The company’s 16th annual Earth Awards honored projects from around the globe that collectively totaled $7.3 million in cost savings, more than 1.3 million pounds in waste elimination, and 500,000 KWH in energy reduction.
“The Earth Awards program is a solid example of living our values. Every day Xerox people do their part to protect the environment while driving business results. Each of the innovative Earth Award projects delivers a clear benefit to the environment, the business and our people,” said Patty Calkins, Xerox vice president, Environment, Health and Safety.
The company’s Earth Awards began in 1993 to reward Xerox employees across the globe for their dedication to improving the performance of the company’s operations while helping to protect the environment. This year, more than 50 award submissions came from 16 global Xerox facilities, including Ireland, Canada, Brazil, India, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. Each entry was judged on the following principles: innovation, direct benefits to Xerox, duration of the project and documented, measurable results. For 2009 there were a total of 20 award winners. Some examples of winning projects include:
Webster, New York: A team at the Webster Consumables Manufacturing Plant addressed the overwhelming amount of packaging associated with incoming parts. They researched and found reuse/recycle applications for the material and as a result, 800,000 foam sheets, 200,000 pieces of tag board, 60,000 plastic bags, 57,000 corrugated cartons, and 6900 plastic skids have been reused or recycled.
Wilsonville, Oregon: Used an alternative material in an equipment cleaning process. The new process proved faster and more environmentally responsible. Plus, it saved 400 pounds of material per year from heading to a landfill and eliminated $37,000 in labor costs.
Rio, Brazil: This team established a goal of 20 percent reduction in waste generated and in doing so eliminated more than 10 tons of toner waste from landfills with the help of Lean Six Sigma. Things like one-time use cloths were replaced with washable cloths. Metal barrels were replaced with reusable bags and toner was used as product for roadways. They even composted cafeteria waste for use onsite.
Mississauga, Canada: Reinvented a process to manufacture EA Toner, or emulsion aggregation (EA) technology, a Xerox patented nanotechnology- based process that yields sharper image quality, higher reliability, and reduced toner usage in an energy efficient manufacturing process. The new process improved the amount of time it took to create the product, drastically reduced the amount of water used and increased product yield. The new process saves Xerox more than $140,000 a year.
Another Canadian team from Mississauga helped generate $12.5M in equipment sales. Xerox Canada earned Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification for onsite print services sites across Canada. As a result, several accounts cited FSC certification as a differentiator in their decision-making process. The value of these contracts totaled $12.5M.
Venray, Netherlands: By replacing an old chilled water system with one that uses a natural refrigerant (NH3) this team reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 130,000 kg in only six months. Xerox will benefit from an estimated yearly energy reduction of 300,000 KWH and cost savings of $15,000.
Dundalk, Ireland: Used Lean Six Sigma to identify processes that yielded energy reductions of six percent. By enabling the use of off-peak electricity for some processes they realized cost savings of $100,000 in 2008 and $175,000 in the first quarter of 2009.
Yukon, Oklahoma: Turned binder tape from waste to energy. Trimmings from the binder tape process were diverted from landfills and redirected to a cement kiln where they would be used as a fuel source. The project took about nine months to complete, and 720 pounds of trimmings have been converted to energy to date.