Frost & Sullivan to the Industry - Sustainability is not a Destination, it is a Journey!
A Sustainability Report should be a mirror that reflects the systems and processes that are embedded into the organizational DNA
Mumbai, India, 7th May, 2013 – Frost & Sullivan concluded its 4th edition of the ‘Green Manufacturing Excellence Summit and Awards (GMEA), on May 3, 2013. Its mission through the GMEA is to educate organizations about the need of ‘Sustainable Development’, to assist in their sustainability journey and motivate those who have inched ahead of others by recognizing their efforts. Frost & Sullivan, through its year round assessments, feedback, benchmarking and sharing of best practices, believes that “Sustainability is not a Destination, it is a journey!”
The day, which started with the summit, provided a platform for showcasing some of the best practices in sustainable manufacturing from diverse manufacturing industries that Frost & Sullivan assessed for Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards. The Summit was a forum for deliberations and sharing of thought and experiences by industry stalwarts who have been pioneers in the field of sustainability. The focus was on the strategic aspects related to sustainability as well as the mechanism for implementing the Green strategy. Commendable work being done by companies in various facets that take the ‘Green’ and ‘Sustainable’ mission forward, like biodiversity, energy management, water management, logistics amongst others were brought to the fore with a clear focus on business benefits. The summit also highlighted a few innovative technologies in renewable energy.
One of the focus areas for manufacturing industries today is taking sustainability to their supply chains. Nitin Kalothia, Director, Manufacturing & Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan, took the audience through the process by which an organization could initiate the journey for creating a sustainable supply chain. According to him, “finalizing the boundary in the supply chain and understanding supply chain risks are the starting steps towards this journey. The process has to bring in required business benefits or mitigate a long-term sustainability risk. So far, companies have focused on improving supply chain efficiency and reliability with respect to cost, quality, and delivery. But, they now have to also focus on environmental and the social sustainability in Supply Chain.”
Another relevant area for the industries is Sustainability Reporting. Surya Bansal, Program Manager, Manufacturing & Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan presented ‘The Indian Scenario and Strategic way by which an Organization should Approach Sustainability Reporting’. According to her, “India has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to reporting on Sustainability. Many countries like China, Sweden, Spain, and Germany are way ahead of us in this.” She insisted that, “companies focused on identifying and implementing meaningful sustainability projects should use reporting as a means to communicate to stakeholders the progress made. Report preparation should not be an objective by itself!”
Frost & Sullivan believes, that for some companies, sustainability report becomes a platform to showcase their philanthropic activities, dubbing them as CSR activities. However, it should be realized that CSR needs to be a strategic advancement, if any benefit is to be gained from it - to the society or organization. In reality, a Sustainability Report should be a mirror that reflects the systems and processes that are embedded into the organizational DNA.
Presentations were made by some of the leading corporates on integrating sustainability into their business and the roadmap to be followed for implementation. For instance, Ericsson India Private Limited,Hindustan Unilever Limited, and Vedanta Aluminium Limited presented on Sustainability Strategy, Framework and Deployment Process.
Some of the other best practices presented by representative from various industries, covered, “Hybrid” Energy Solutions, Innovative Solar Technologies, Green Factory, Managing Biodiversity Risks, Building a Green Supply Chain, “Solar Powered” Fuel Pipelines, Waste Heat Recovery Systems, and Lean Way to Green.
The evening concluded with celebrating the best in the industry through Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards. Mr. Pradeep Banerjee, Executive Director, Supply Chain, Hindustan Unilever Limited graced the occasion as the esteemed Chief Guest.
Supporting the initiative, Mr. Banerjee was of the view that, “We need to look at new models of growth that will decouple our growth from environmental impact. It makes immense business sense. Becoming green does not add costs. In fact, it is the other way around. The pursuit of sustainable growth will enable us to find new models of growth, which will not only be sustainable but will also deliver savings.”
Media Partners who supported this event were - Auto Monitor, Ayyati.com, Chemical Weekly, Communications Today, Construction Business Today, Eco-business.com, Efficient Manufacturing, Manufacturing Today, Minerals and Metals Review, Pharmaquest.biz and Search Magazine.
To know more about Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards and its methodology, please log on to http://www.frost.com/gmea
To participate in Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards or know more about the summit, please send an e-mail to Ravinder Kaur/Nimisha Iyer Corporate Communications, at ravinder.kaur@frost.com / niyer@frost.com or write to us at gmea2013@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation, and leadership. The company’s Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO’s Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses, and the investment community from more than 40 offices across six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.
Media Contacts:
Ravinder Kaur
Corporate Communications – South Asia
M: +91 99401 41714, P: +91 44 6681 4080
E: ravinder.kaur@frost.com
Priya George
Corporate Communications – South Asia
M: +91 98403 55432, P: +91 44 6681 4456
E: priyag@frost.com
Nimisha Iyer
Corporate Communications – South Asia, Middle East & North Africa
M: +91 98200 50519, P: +91 22 6607 2004
E: niyer@frost.com
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