General Plastics Uses the Green Masters Program to Build Sustainable Success
The Green Masters Program is a comprehensive action manager that helps your organization build Environmental, Social, and Governance success. The program is a certification, benchmark, and recognition program for businesses and is a tool that is available for no cost to all Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council Members. This post shares about how General Plastics, a full-service custom plastic thermoformed, built their sustainability program using the Green Masters Program Action Manager Tool.
Sustainability Team Development
Vice President of Operations Patrick Cain says General Plastics views sustainability as a holistic way to operate more efficiently and continuously. General Plastics started in 2016 by building an Environmental Management System(EMS), then grew to develop a sustainability team that included their Quality Manager, Manufacturing Engineer, and Plant Manager.
The newly integrated team supports buy-in across upper management and shift supervisors so that sustainability and safety are on the minds of everyone throughout day-to-day operations. The team meets once a month to review progress, data, and goals and twice per year to discuss long-term strategy. Their objectives are focused on three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, and Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Green Masters Program provides a Foundation to GPs Sustainability Efforts
The General Plastics sustainability team didn’t have a sustainability program or extensive knowledge in sustainability, so they used the Green Masters Program to build their foundation. The Program helped them understand what to focus on and gave them action ideas and best practices. They found that the program action manager brought new knowledge to their employees and influenced their strategic planning process. During their six years in the Green Masters Program, they’ve developed processes and systems for data collection across operations and formed an integrated sustainability team. The team created a dashboard (Image below) that team members update monthly. It motivated employees and stakeholders to get involved and attracted prospective employees and clients.
Results
A few of the improvements General Plastics has made from participating in the Green Masters Program include; upgrading all lighting to LED, trimming cells in their rotary forming area, trimming set up reduction projects, purchasing new, more energy-efficient equipment, and setting up double framing on their rotary machines. Significant returns on investment seen from these examples include:
Upon converting to LED lighting, they saw a savings of 8% of electricity cost per year, saving 199,198kWH of electricity consumption annually and eliminating 141 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
They also purchased new energy-efficient equipment. One of the new rotaries gives them a 9-year return on investment, reduces idle use, and saves them about $42,000 per year.
General Plastics sees the Green Masters Program as a way to “develop a process to manage long-term change while motivating the workforce that their daily actions do make a difference.”
If you are ready to determine what action make sense for your business, you can learn more
General Plastics Company Profile
Currently celebrating 34 years, General Plastics, Inc. (GP) is an ISO 9001 & 14001 certified, full-service custom plastic thermoformer located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They use innovative approaches suited for transportation, office, medical, health & wellness, gaming and arcade, food & beverage, and construction across the United States and Canada. When Bob Porsche purchased the company in 1987, GP only had 6 full-time employees but now has over 75 full-time employees. They also expanded their facilities over the past 30 years growing from 11,000 square feet to over 93,000 square feet.
The Green Masters Program's action manager can help your organization build its Environmental, Social, and Governance success too. The tool is available at no cost to all Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council Members. To learn more, visit https://www.wisconsinsustainability.com/membership.
