And yet, while this fortunate position is exploited to good effect for the winning and production of work, it seems that sometimes print is not reaping the full rewards it might, particularly when it comes to the environment.

For, within those client sectors, there are multiple lessons for print to learn and apply when it comes to greening up its processes and procedures. On the face of it, they may seem ill fitting or irrelevant to print’s particular parameters of business. However, looking beyond the sector-specific elements there are universal benefits to be drawn for all.

And so PrintWeek decided to take a look at what the print industry may be missing out on. Some of the following may well have already found a home in print in one form or another, and the example here may be how to take it further, but elsewhere there are ideas that print may not yet have even considered.

AUTOMOTIVE
What’s the initiative? The Toyota Production System (TPS) otherwise known as ‘lean manufacturing’. Although some experts argue that Henry Ford invented this concept, the most effective practitioner has undoubtedly been Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, which embarked on the lean path in the 1930s.

The theory behind TPS is simple – the company strives for the "absolute elimination of waste, overburden and unevenness in all areas to allow members to work smoothly and efficiently". This process is known as kaizen, which roughly translates as ‘improvement’ or ‘change for the better’.

How can it be applied to print? The kaizen approach can be applied to any manufacturing industry and there are lots of books and websites to help.

A good way to learn more is by attending a Toyota ‘Lean Approach’ one-day course, involving a series of presentations, a factory tour, workshops and a Q&A session. The course covers areas such as human resources and quality management, with optional workshops including an introduction to kaizen and practical problem solving. Courses are run regularly at the company’s Burnaston plant (dates for 2013 seminars have not yet been confirmed).

The company asks for a minimum donation of £1,000 per delegate, which goes to the Toyota Manufacturing Charitable Trust.

RETAIL
What’s the initiative? Energy efficiency and waste management. Retailers have led the way in this area for a number of years now, with many enjoying significant benefits as a result.

In January this year, Sainsbury’s opened a new store in Leek, Staffordshire, featuring cutting-edge LED lighting that will give the store a lighting energy saving of 59%. It also features a biomass boiler to heat the store and water supply, rainwater harvesting which will reduce the store’s water consumption by 45% (compared to a store built in 2005/6), and natural refrigeration, reducing carbon emissions by 33%. But it’s not just industry behemoths leading the way. High-street off-licence chain Bargain Booze recently revealed that it had reduced energy bills in 100 of its stores by 41% on average (or £5,000 a week) through the installation of efficient lighting and intelligent energy-management systems.

How can it be applied to print? The starting point in learning about waste management from retailers has to be the creation of a waste management system (WMS). Tesco revealed in 2009 that, thanks to its WMS, it had achieved zero waste to landfill. The system involved a combination of colour coding and designated recycling containers in store, which made it easier for staff to recycle. It also involved really scrutinising just where waste was being generated. Thomas Bergmark, a senior advisor in sustainability at Bergmark Sustainability, reports that a WMS would in this way lead many printers to reduce their chemical consumption.

"The problem is that the chemical companies send their experts to the production floor to give advice," he says. "But without pointing any fingers, I would say that some of these guys are not optimising these processes, despite the fact that it’s a huge part of the total cost of their processes, so there could be very substantial savings."

Meanwhile, although introducing the kinds of energy-efficiency measures the likes of Sainsbury’s are rolling out might seem beyond printers’ budgets, research by McKinsey and Company suggests that even businesses working on a much smaller budget can achieve a reduction in energy consumption levels of 25% through little or no cost. It’s just a case of working more smartly, says Bergmark. "All the big retailers – from Walmart to H&M, Ikea to M&S – have a number of environmental priorities that are important to them and there are opportunities for the printing industry to apply the same thinking to their own business."

Printers should also tap up the Carbon Trust, which offers energy efficiency advice to businesses with varying budgets.

PROPERTY
What’s the initiative? Green buildings. Although the property industry may be one of the last large industry sectors to green up, over the past few years developers and construction companies have made significant inroads into reducing the carbon footprint of their buildings, using more energy-efficient materials and installing renewable energy sources on new-build developments.

How can it be applied to print? There are a number of different ideas that printers could borrow from the property industry, says Kate Heslegrave, managing partner at CSR consultancy 4Front Consulting, who has assisted property companies in going green. She cites the example of one property company that owns industrial units and installed LED lighting rented from a third party, thus reducing the initial financial outlay. As a result, the company reduced energy bills by 70%.

Another area where the property industry has focused its attentions is building-management systems (BMSs) that are used to heat and cool buildings. "What you usually find is that nobody has looked at the BMS and its settings for years," says Heslegrave. "As a result you’ll have heating and cooling coming on at same time and usually well before it’s needed.

Some property companies have generated savings of 30% just by tweaking the settings to make them more effective and better suited to a business’s hours of operations. It’s a no-cost solution."

Many new-build developments are also taking advantage of government grants to add renewable energy sources on site. "This is an area where commercial property best practice can be applied to the buildings that printers own," says Heslegrave. "We worked with one property company that had a vast expanse of empty land around their building that wasn’t being used so they installed photovoltaics that generated all of the electricity for the building. They were also able to sell some surplus electricity back to the grid, turning it into a money maker."

FMCG
What’s the initiative? Supply-chain management. The world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) groups have incredibly long and complex supply chains that encompass raw materials through to packaging suppliers. To keep their roster of suppliers in check and ensure the groups are achieving efficiencies throughout the supply chain, they implement supply-chain-management systems.   

How can it be applied to print? Most of the FMCG groups invest thousands of pounds in clever software and technology that allows them to keep tabs on what’s happening. Clearly your average printer, who might typically only deal with a handful of suppliers, doesn’t need to shell out on such expensive kit. But, by looking at how its suppliers work, a printer could really save, according to Kate Heslegrave. "For example, if somebody supplies a product to you that’s encased in lots of packaging you’re going to have to throw that packaging away and pay for its disposal. However, what some of the FMCG groups are doing – and some retailers – is telling their suppliers to either take the packaging away with them or not to supply such bulky packaging. Your supplier will comply because they want to keep supplying you."

Another good FMCG practice is collaborating on deliveries to retailers. "Because they’re supplying the same locations, some FMCG companies are starting to group together with other businesses, both in the same sector and from others, to share transportation and reduce emissions," says Heslegrave. Printers could implement a similar model by approaching clients to ask if they have other suppliers in the same area they could partner with on a shared-delivery scheme.     

LOGISTICS
What’s the initiative? Carbon neutrality. It sounds like it would be virtually impossible to create a carbon-neutral logistics service, but that’s exactly what DHL Express’s 2006 GoGreen initiative achieved.

How can it be applied to print? Printers with a fleet of vehicles can follow the same measurement and offsetting process to negate the carbon impact of their transportation.

DHL uses a two-pronged attack. Firstly it creates a carbon dioxide report of the emissions generated from the transportation of the items being shipped. Then it helps customers offset this by investing in certified carbon dioxide-reduction projects. At the end of each year, DHL issues a certificate showing the carbon dioxide emissions a business has accrued versus the neutralisation of these emissions through various offsetting schemes.

The certificate is verified by a third party and can be used by companies either internally or externally to prove to clients that their business is meeting its targets.