Cleaner Production Training in Asia:
Experience from the ASEAN Environmental Improvement Program
Originally published in the Journal of Cleaner
Production, 7:75-81, 1999.
Burton Hamner
Hamner and Associates LLC
5534 30th Avenue NE
Seattle, Washington USA 98105
Tel: 206-526-5308. Fax: 208-279-4991
Email: Bhamner@cleanerproduction.com
Web: www.cleanerproduction.com
Abstract
A regional program conducted Cleaner
Production training for business managers around Asia from 1993 to 1996. The training
programs developed are described. Participants were surveyed after the training to
identify what aspects of the training they found to be the most useful. A majority said
that basic business improvement and management communication methods that were described
as aids to CP implementation were among the most useful topics. The conclusion is that CP
training programs should not just focus on technical approaches, but should also include a
significant amount of basic business improvement methods.
Introduction
Pollution can impose high costs and risks on companies.
Training employees, suppliers, and customers in cleaner production and cleaner production
strategies can significantly reduce these costs and risks. These strategies include
activity-based costing of wastes, process analysis using Total Quality Management tools,
risk prioritization, and application of the Cleaner Production Hierarchy. Training is most
effective when it is highly participatory and includes case studies of companies that have
successfully prevented the generation of wastes and pollution. From 1993 to 1996 the ASEAN
Environmental Improvement Project (EIP) provided training in cleaner production and
cleaner production for factory managers throughout Southeast Asia and developed a series
of training modules for executives, managers and technical staff that addressed the
particular concerns of each group. This targeted training approach resulted in very high
satisfaction ratings from training participants and stimulated the development of numerous
company cleaner production programs to reduce waste costs and risks.
Business Environmental Objectives
Treatment of pollution is an expensive requirement. It also
increases corporate risks by adding a complex, regulated final step to the production
process. Industries have the common objective of reducing these costs and risks, while
achieving compliance. But in the last ten years a new objective has been adopted by many
organizations. They seek not only to minimize compliance costs, but also to eliminate the
generation of wastes at the source. Their Cleaner Production (CP) objectives have led to
increased efficiency in materials use, elimination of hazardous and toxic substances, less
waste generated and reduced treatment requirements.
Methods for cleaner production are now well known in the developed
countries. In the United States, hundreds of organizations deliver technical and
management information on CP to industry. There are many successful environmental
partnerships between business and government because they share the common objective of
preventing pollution through production improvements.
CP specialists who have worked with thousands of businesses agree that
the most important element in a successful program to reduce environmental costs and risks
is training. This is because pollution can only be prevented by the people working
directly on business processes, making conscious decisions about ways to avoid
environmental problems. This includes production staff, and also marketing, research,
design and engineering, accounting and human resources. In contrast, pollution control is
usually implemented using outside expertise, and only the pollution control engineer or
the environmental manager is responsible for making sure that it works.
The importance of training as a business environmental objective is
recognized in the many environmental management standards being established around the
world. The most important standard, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
specification, explicitly identifies training as one of the major components of a
verifiable EMS. The business managers who developed the standards are conducting cleaner
production training in their own companies as a critical complement to their pollution
control technologies. Without such training, the production employees are usually unaware
of the high costs and risks of pollution control, and they do not know the best strategies
for reducing the environmental problems caused by the particular business processes on
which they work.
Cleaner Production Strategies
The best strategy to prevent pollution is to follow the flow of
production and apply appropriate management and technical tools at each step. This ensures
that potential costs and risks are reduced as early as possible, and that each department
uses the methods with which they are most familiar. Effective training courses offer
examples of each of these elements to reinforce the fact that cleaner production is a
general management strategy that requires internal team efforts.
The Cleaner Production Hierarchy is a set of strategies that follows
the production process, from R&D to waste treatment. The individual elements are all
standard business practices. It is the application of the ideas from the beginning of the
production process that makes the difference, because this ensures that potential
requirements for waste treatment are avoided as soon as possible. During training
sessions, these points can be illustrated with case studies and discussion by
participants. Table 1 lists the elements of the Hierarchy and training ideas for each one.
Note that there is a wide range of management skills and
responsibilities needed to understand and implement all the elements of the hierarchy.
This illustrates the need for cross-functional teams in organizations in order to take
advantage of all the possibilities for cleaner production.
Table 1.
The Cleaner Production Hierarchy: Training Issues and Solutions
1. Cost Accounting
1.1. Cost Awareness and Responsibility
Business people ALWAYS underestimate the true cost of waste
and pollution. Training needs to focus on identifying all the costs of waste and
pollution, especially including the value of lost raw materials. Participants can build
cost inventories in group discussions and identify reasons why costs are not accounted
for.
1.2. Baseline Environmental Costs
Establishing a factory environmental cost baseline provides the
basis for determining where prevention will be most cost effective. Participants can
discuss approaches to doing a current costs study.
1.3. Cost Analysis and Activity-Based Allocation
When baseline costs are known, they must be allocated to
responsible parties. Activity-based costing provides accountability by process.
Participants can discuss the management issues in allocating waste costs to the waste
generators.
1.4. Forecasting and Budgeting
Long-term forecasting is critical for environmental cost management
and cleaner production. Participants can identify trends in regulation and technology and
develop timelines for expected future expenses.
2. Source Reduction: Strategies to reduce materials use
2.1. End Product Design
Changing the design of the product can significantly reduce
pollution. Using a classroom product such as an overhead projector, participants can
identify design changes that would reduce the pollution from its manufacturing.
2.2. Toxic Chemical Substitution
Replacing a toxic chemical ingredient with a non-toxic substitute
can eliminate the need for treatment at the end of the pipe. Water-based paints are a good
example for use in training.
2.3. Reduced Chemical Concentrations
By reducing concentrations of particular chemicals, treatment to
manage them can be reduced.
2.4. Purchasing Control
Purchasing should include environmental criteria and evaluation of
the environmental performance of suppliers. Participants can identify types of waste
generated through purchasing practices, such as packaging of purchased goods.
2.5. Distribution Control
Tight control over chemical distribution within the company reduces
wastage and accidents. Participants can discuss inventory management systems they use
effectively.
2.6. Water Conservation
Most companies use more water than really necessary, and therefore
have to treat too much wastewater. Participants can identify common examples of water
wastage. The full cost of water can also be discussed.
2.7. Housekeeping
Preventing spills and leaks, and keeping a cleaner plant, reduces
accidents and spills. Participants can share their shop floor management strategies.
3. Waste Reduction: Strategies to reduce generation of waste
3.1. Benchmarking
Benchmarking identifies the best performance standards among
competitors. Participants should share their knowledge of cleaner production strategies in
their industry and how they might obtain more information.
3.2. Process Training
Small investments in training of process operators can produce big
improvements in process efficiency and reduced waste. Yet training is often
under-utilized. Participants should examine the obstacles to training and how to overcome
them.
3.3. Maintenance
Improving equipment maintenance can significantly reduce pollution
generation by stopping leaks and spills and reducing wash-down needs. More frequent
maintenance improves production efficiency. Participants can develop a comparison of the
costs of more maintenance vs. the costs of downtime and waste due to lack of maintenance.
3.4. Improve Process Control
Simple process control equipment such as float valves, flow meters
and sensors can significantly reduce production errors that lead to waste. Participants
can identify production steps that are manually controlled and what kinds of automated
controls would be effective replacements.
3.5. Change Process Design
Changing the layout or steps in a process can often reduce water
needs and waste generation. For example, the use of three-step counter-current rinsing has
greatly reduced water use in thousands of electroplating companies. Lots of examples are
the best training tool for this topic.
3.6. Equipment Improvement
New equipment that is more efficient reduces the generation of
waste from the process. The savings from reduced treatment may quickly offset the cost of
new equipment. Participants need to relate the cost of new equipment to the total cost of
waste and pollution control created by the existing equipment.
4. Recycling: Strategies to re-use or regenerate materials
4.1. Waste Stream Segregation
When waste streams are segregated or kept apart at the process
level, they do not contaminate each other and create a single large problem. Participants
can draw process waste diagrams and identify where large mixed waste streams are created,
and consider the options for managing the waste streams separately.
4.2. Closed-Loop Recycling
Segregated waste streams can sometimes be recycled directly back
into the process through a closed-loop system, thereby eliminating all waste from the
process step.
4.3. Re-Use
Often, wastes can by re-used elsewhere in a factory, or even by
nearby businesses, without treatment. Cooling waters and non-toxic cleaning waters can
almost always find other uses. Participants can identify ways to capture and store
reusable wastes.
4.4. Recycle
Sometimes wastes must be re-processed to recycle them. For example,
evaporators can recover almost all the water from some waste streams and the water can be
reused. Simple technologies such as distillation and filtration should be explained.
4.5. Exchange
It may be possible for a business to give wastes to others who can
use them. Participants can list their waste types and discuss other industrial uses for
them.
5. Treatment: Strategies to convert or process wastes into
profitable materials
5.1. By-Product Recovery
If waste streams contain potentially valuable materials, recovering
the materials before final treatment may be cost-effective by offsetting the cost of
treatment chemicals. Recovered materials can be re-used or sold. Participants should
consider the value of raw materials in the waste streams.
5.2. Waste Conversion
Additional processing can turn an existing waste stream into a
brand new product. Many examples should be used here.
________________________________________________________________________
Training Experience
Extensive Asian experience in cleaner production training was
developed by the ASEAN Environmental Improvement Project (EIP) from 1993-1996. EIP was a
program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help
member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Thailand,
Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore, with environmentally sustainable
industrial development. EIP was part of a larger program, the U.S.-Asia Environmental
Partnership. The project management office was in Manila. Louis Berger International, Inc.
(EIP), an international planning and environmental consulting firm, was the implementing
contractor for EIP
The goal of the ASEAN EIP was to facilitate environmentally acceptable
economic development in ASEAN countries by strengthening local, national, and regional
capabilities in environmental management. It specifically aimed to help private sector
initiatives to reduce the generation of industrial wastes. By introducing U.S. technical
and management strategies for cleaner production, the EIP assisted the ASEAN nations to
advance towards environmentally sustainable growth.
EIP conducted training courses in cleaner production for industry
managers, government officials, consultants and academics. Courses were presented in the
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. The courses were designed to
meet the needs of specific audiences, and resulted in significant awareness and new effort
in participating industries. Over 1000 professionals participated in training sessions.
Training Solutions
Tailored Presentations
Training must be designed to meet the needs of the audience. By
targeting the training towards different levels of authority, more useful information can
be provided and participants are better able to interact with each other. Experience has
shown that training production managers alone seldom leads to implementation success
because the production managers cannot get the support of their top management to make
significant changes. Top executives must also be trained to see the benefits of pollution
and to know their own roles in implementation.
EIP designed four types of training program in cleaner technology and
cleaner production:
- Two-hour seminars for senior executives and company owners, covering executive
strategies for leading the company and implementing management systems for cleaner
production
- Half-day workshops for financial managers and accountants, covering total environmental
cost analysis, cost allocation strategies, and cash flow forecasting
- One-day workshops for consultants and academics, covering how to market cleaner
production services and how to develop training curriculum
- Two-day workshops for production managers, covering "bottom line"
environmental issues, cleaner production strategies, company integration, implementation
tools, Total Quality Management tools for process analysis, and information resources.
Case Studies
Because the participants in cleaner production training are
usually experienced managers, it is critical to provide real-world examples of cleaner
production actions taken by other companies. Theory alone is not effective. Fortunately,
there is a wide range of sources available, covering most industry categories. The case
studies are used to illustrate the basic training concepts, and to provide technical
information about specific industry problems. EIP instructors were personally familiar
with a large number of companies that have made cleaner production a success, and can
relate their experiences to the audience. New case studies are continually becoming
available, primarily through government environmental programs, and EIP maintained close
contact with primary sources of case information. As a result, training classes can be
provided for specific industries with heavy emphasis on process-specific problem solving.
Using the case studies, EIP instructors were able to teach cleaner
production in a very relevant manner, regardless of their own familiarity with particular
industries. This is a very important point, because it is more important to have a good
trainer in charge than an industry expert. Experts know the material, but seldom are able
to manage the challenges of delivering one or two full days of training to a large group
of professionals. Good trainers know how to use case studies and audience expertise to
ensure that sufficient industry-specific information is provided to the participants.
Participatory Techniques
Because the participants in cleaner production training
sessions are usually experienced professionals, participatory techniques that rely on
their combined experience and interest in each other are the most effective for training.
Although some technical subjects or short presentations must for practical purposes be
delivered in a lecture format, this format does not work well for intensive full day
training sessions. EIP developed a training approach that used group discussions and
exercises, combined with workbooks for individual tasks, that provides effective
participation while maintaining a steady flow of information.
Many of the topics in cleaner production are already familiar to the
participants. EIP trainers often acted as discussion guides, posing a question for the
audience to answer as a group. The instructors pointed out that the techniques being used
in the class can also be used by the participants to teach others in their own companies
when they return. This encourages participation and interaction. Some of the topics
covered in participatory exercises used in cleaner production training include:
- The many cost categories of pollution
- Causes of waste
- Motivations of different staff levels to implement changes
- Successful communication tools for environmental awareness
- Process analysis tools
- Work team strategies
Through group discussion and presentation of case studies, managers see
how these subjects can be applied in establishing their own programs. A basic principle of
professional training is that the participants usually know more than the instructor about
various issues, so using their group knowledge provides the greatest level of information.
Quality Improvement Tools
Quality improvement programs in companies focus on reducing
wastes and defects. Thus they are very similar in their goals to CP programs. If pollution
is defined as waste and a defect of production, then quality improvement tools can be
successfully applied for CP solutions. Some of these tools include process flow
diagramming, cause-and-effect analysis using fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams, run charts for
waste generation, Pareto diagrams to identify top priorities, quality circles, and the
Japanese 5-S method for improving shop floor productivity. This approach is important
because it shows participants that CP is not a new set of skills to be learned, rather it
is the application of well-known and proven tools and skills to a new set of priorities.
Also, it shows that CP can be implemented within an existing quality program, which is
very important to business people who are reluctant to try implementing a new program
because of the time and management required.
Resources
Training serves as both as a skill-building exercise and a
catalyst for action. But participants need to know what resources are available to help
their programs keep going months and years after the training. EIP developed a directory
of industry environmental information resources, which covers eighteen industries and
identifies a wide range of industry-specific environmental information sources. This
directory was used to help industry managers identify information partners and sources for
research, funding and further training. Training was also provided in the various
international programs that provide cleaner production assistance. The United Nations, the
World Bank, and many national governments extend technical and financial assistance for
cleaner production to businesses in developing countries.
Focus on Management
Many people enroll in cleaner production training programs
because they know it is a good idea but they don’t know how to make it happen.
Perhaps the comment most often heard by trainers is: "I want to implement a cleaner
production program but I can’t get any support." This is a management issue
rather than a technical one. EIP found that technical cleaner production workshops that
provide specific technical solutions to industry problems, even very-low-cost ones, do not
commonly lead to implementation by the participants. This appears to be due to the fact
that there are many management obstacles to making changes in the daily production process
and human resources system.
Table 2 lists comments taken verbatim from surveys completed by
participants in EIP’s two-day workshop on Industrial Pollution Prevention. Note the
strong interest of the participants in management and communication approaches. It is
clear that cleaner production training must include a significant number of basic business
management tools. Although some might consider this to be off the subject of CP, in fact
CP is really the application of basic business management methods using a set of
priorities established in the CP Hierarchy. It should not be assumed that training
participants have a good understanding of business management tools. Often the line
managers and even senior managers of industrial companies have risen through the ranks and
have had little formal training in these tools. Simple concepts such as cause-and-effect
analysis, pareto diagrams, team-building exercises, and cash-flow analysis may be very
unfamiliar to them, and yet these tools are very effective means for implementing CP.
Table 2
Comments Received from CP Training Participants
What was most helpful part of the training course?
|
|
- learning to quantify the costs of wastage
- TQM tools
- process analysis, team building, motivation to pollution prevention, the pollution
prevention hierarchy
- it helps me to further refine my knowledge of sources of environmental impact
- understanding environmental stakeholder philosophy
- the TQM program
- looking into the expenses of the company and starting the evaluation from there
- success stories shared by participants
|
- process analysis tools
- pollution prevention success stories
- open forum/discussion on P2 implementation
- systematic approach of forming maintaining committee
- resources for implementation, and success stories
- total quality management approach
- the discussion of strategic environmental management, life cycle analysis, and lots of
examples
- team building and resources for implementation
|
What were the most important skills you learned?
- presentation skills for convincing management of the potential benefits and savings for
the company
- use of accounting figures to assist in putting value, instead of intangibles only
- total quality management, process analysis/cause and effect, motivation tools, costs
- getting management support for strategic environmental management projects
- how I can reinforce our Pollution Control Officer in the strict implementation of our
environmental projects
- doing step by step by planning all the necessary things and have more communication with
our management
- management tools to convince managers to adopt a P2 program
- learned action plan for information dissemination implementation of P2 in different
section of the local community
- total quality management on environment
- the art of motivating
- systematic evaluation/auditing to improve pollution prevention in industry
- to anticipate what would motivate the participation of members of P2 team
|
- process mapping, communication tools
- tools to get what I wanted from my boss
- motivation under the role of management
- learned the role of management in implementation
- a new and systematic way of addressing wastage
- how to convince top management on waste reduction program
- why waste happens and prevention
- role of management for team building
- how to motivate people to get involved in program
- communication skills
- ability to share knowledge of what I have learned to other companies
- role of management for team building
- ways of convincing top management to implement the project
- to communicate to president and board members about pollution problem
- communication skills - to communicate from the management down to the lowest-level
operator
- how to save time and materials in production
|
Training Implementation
Training programs for individual companies should follow a
schedule that builds top management support, identifies opportunities, and provides the
middle managers with the skills needed to implement cleaner production. The following
schedule is recommended for implementing a cleaner production training program in a
corporation:
Top Executive Seminar: The president/owner and the senior
managers of all departments are trained in the motivation and philosophy of cleaner
production, and their role in supporting improvements. Discussion elements include the
many types of cleaner production strategy and their theoretical underpinnings, such as
life cycle analysis and total cost account, and the potential contributions of each
business function manager. Specific coverage is given to ISO 14000 and the importance of
an environmental management system for long-term industrial environmental sustainability.
Walk-Through Assessment: Plant managers are trained in an actual
walk-through of the plant how to conduct a production-flow assessment to identify
cost-effective cleaner production opportunities. The walk-through identifies areas for
potential improvement that can be used as examples in the next training session.
Clean Production Analysis and Implementation: Plant managers and
engineers are trained to understand how all the elements of cleaner production fit
together, how to analyze a production process using TQM tools, strategies for implementing
a CP program, and cleaner production information resources.
Financial Analysis of Clean Production Options: Financial
managers and production engineers are trained how to work together to create a baseline of
current environmental and pollution costs, allocate costs to responsible processes, and
develop cash flow models to forecast cost differentials between current and alternative
cleaner production processes.
Top Management Review: The training process will usually itself
identify a number of potential areas of improvement for the company. The top management
needs to be debriefed on these areas and given more training in strategies to ensure that
cost-effective solutions are in fact implemented in a reasonable time frame.
Recommendations should be given in within an Environmental Management System framework
that enables the implementation process to prepare the company for ISO 14001
certification.
Successful training is an evolutionary process both for the trainer and
the trainee. EIP found it was necessary to have an increasing focus on top management.
Without top management support, technical training usually cannot be implemented by
participants. When top executives understand the basic strategies of cleaner production,
and provide the right management system for their employees, technical training is
sometimes unnecessary because the employees find the low-cost and no-cost solutions on
their own.
