PSDA-1

Report on Green Operations

Management of an Organisation
POM602

Submitted to: Submitted By:

Dr. Sumeet Singh Jasial
Abhimanyu Chaudhary(440621A03)
Rishabh Mittal(121A29)
Saloni Singh(121A15)
Sudhanshu Patel(121A31)
Vipinmeet Singh Kohli(121A32)
Yadagani Avinash(440621A01)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. Contents Page no.

No.

1. Introduction to Green Operations Management 3

2. Components of Green Operations Management 4-5

3. Practices of Green Operations 5-9

4. Generic framework of Green Operations 9-13

5. Inside the Dell Green Lifecycle Framework 13-21

6. Gap Analysis 21-27

7. Suggestions 28

8. References 29
INTRODUCTION
Green Operations Management (GOM) has the similar components as the conventional
operation management, but it aims to achieve productivity by minimizing the harm caused
to the environment. Green Management basically means the rethinking, or more
accurately, being more mindful of how organizations are operating with respect to the
environment. It is not the human factor within the organization that is being managed but
the components of the organizations operating activities that are being managed by the
green management.
Early research on GOM mainly directed towards segmented areas of operations
management, such as quality management. Over the past decades, GOM has attracted
significant research interests from academia, many issues remain under-addressed
which have hindered the effectiveness of GOM practice, although the needs for and
benefits of GOM cannot be overemphasized for sustainable development.

Organizations of all shapes and sizes are working to turn their processes, products,
facilities, and direct sustainable business practices into competitive advantages.
Among all functions of a manufacturer (i.e., finance, marketing, and operations),
operations have the greatest environmental impact. Therefore, it is most important to find
opportunities to reduce the environmental burdens from the organization’s activities
through environmental management programmes.
The discussion about how to integrate environmental issues into the company’s activities
needs continuous reflection. An important approach is to consider Environmental
Management as a strategic tool. In this way, at a corporate level, the environmental
SWOT analysis can help to identify external threats and opportunities and relate them to
internal strengths and weaknesses of a company.
Identifying environmental threats and opportunities or setting sustainability challenges
may contribute to the development of a sustainable competitive advantage for a company.
It is important to note that there already exist some practices that might facilitate the
company’s path towards a sustainable future. The following sections provide a brief
explanation of these practices: Green Building, Eco-Design, Green Supply Chains, Green
Manufacturing, and Reverse Logistics.

Components of Green Management

I) Green Design

● Green Design Database- By employing more energy-efficient, waste-

reducing, lightweight materials that are toxin free and easily recyclable
in product design.
● EuP LCA Management System- “Life Cycle Analysis” (LCA) in
compliance with EuP requirements, is regularly carried out on all
products.
● Recycle Collaboration System- During Product Design, ease in
disassembly and distribution for the 3R (Reuse, Recycle and Recovery)
is strongly taken into consideration.

II) Green Collaboration System

● A strict compliance to “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Directive (WEEE),” “Restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS)” and
“Energy-Consuming Products, Eco-Design Directive (EuP) is very
important.”
● At the same time, to fully implement green business management,
organization should build a “green cooperative information system” to
control each stage from the suppliers of raw materials, production,
manufacturing, transport, to usage and disposal to insure all meet green
requirements in every aspect.

III) Carbon Footprint Disclosure

● As greenhouse gases (GHG) continue to raise global temperatures and

adversely affect the global climate by voluntarily controlling and reducing
their “carbon footprint,” the organization aims to fulfil what we believe to
be a basic corporate responsibility, with an eye towards benefitting
society as a whole.

IV) Green Production, Package & Shipping

A GOM organization uses less material for packaging and utilizes reused and
recycled materials as much as possible.
 ● Reduced- If the packaging is sufficient for protecting the contained
product, using less material shrinks the box to an optimum size and thus
reduces costs associated with manufacturing, transportation and even
carbon emissions.
● Reuse & Recycle
● Product Shipping

V) Green End of Life

During product design, ease in disassembly and distribution for the 3R (Reuse,
Recycle and Recovery) is strongly taken into consideration. Disposed products
are reused or recycled, when possible, for extended life and value that benefit
resource savings and future developments.

Practices for Green Operations

Green buildings
Environmental issues should be considered from the very beginning of the operations
cycle, i.e., from the planning and construction of an industrial plant.
The core idea of Green Buildings is to reduce operational costs through better
environmental performance. For example, the criteria used by the “LEED”
methodology of the US Green Building Council to assess environmental
performance of a building consist of the sustainability of the site (e.g., using
green or brown fields, proximity of markets or suppliers, etc.), water efficiency
(e.g., use of rainwater), energy use (e.g., intelligent control systems.),
resWalmartces and materials (e.g., use of certified wood, etc), indoor
environmental quality (e.g., low emitting materials of volatile organic
compounds) and finally, innovation and design process (e.g., use of innovative
techniques). Ries et al. (2006) affirm that there are five major areas of
improvement: (1) gains in worker productivity, (2) reductions in health and
safety costs, (3) improvements in indoor environmental quality, (4) reduction
in maintenance costs and, (5) energy and water savings.
This practice is also important to non-manufacturing activities (sales centres,
offices, etc.) where energy and water may be the main environmental
concerns. Another concern related to companies’ facilities is the end-of-life of
their buildings and the residual financial value.

Eco-design

This practice refers to the environmental concerns in product or process

design and, as such, it influences the entire life cycle of a product. For
 example, The long decision lead time in the automotive industry: “According
to the German carmaker BMW, it takes about 3-4 years to design a car, 7-8
years to manufacture it, and it would be in use for about 10-12 years; thus, in
all, a decision taken today will have its effect for about a quarter of a century
if it is not victim of irresponsible disposal of waste.” Moreover, product design
is often complicated by uncertainty inherent in the evolution of environmental
trends and regulations.
Among characteristics like functionality, product safety, comfort, efficiency and
aesthetics, R&D teams are also required to consider the impact of the
product/process on the natural environment. Karlsson and Luttropp (2006)
argue that Eco-design also ought to include concepts such as sustainable
consumption, reduction of the volume of “desire” and aims to enable human
satisfaction in concert with a positive role in sustainable product development.
As an example, power and speed have been differentiators for some car
automakers, although their customers are not usually allowed to drive their
vehicles at high speeds due to the traffic law.
Eco-design has several functional subcomponents: design for reusability,
recyclability, and remanufacturing; design for disassembly; and design for
disposal. To achieve successful implementation of Eco-design practices it is
essential to have a combination of customer needs and desires with respect
to the environment, aimed at bringing satisfaction and functionality. Last, but
not least, communication throughout the organisations’ functions (marketing,
engineering, etc.), avoiding concentration and isolation of R&D teams. The
interaction, communication, and commitment of people outside R&D can
avoid a non-feasible idea from going to implementation causing further and
higher costs.
Green supply chains

The green supply chains (GSC) concept brings environmental and

sustainability issues to the buyer-supplier relationship. According to Gilbert
(2001), greening the supply chain is the process of incorporating
environmental criteria or concerns into organizational purchasing decisions
and long-term relationships with suppliers.
Between 1996 and 2002, the cost of materials bought by the 100 biggest US
manufacturers increased by almost 12% according to Purchasing Magazine’s
estimates (Liker and Choi, 2004). Moreover, in 2001, the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award Committee made “key supplier and customer
partnering and communication mechanisms” a separate category on which it
would judge the best companies in the United States. These facts show how
important it is to promote a solid and sincere relationship with suppliers to build
competitive advantages. Indeed, there are three approaches involved in the
development of a GSC: environmental, strategic, and logistical (Nunes, 2004).
 Considering the environmental sphere, a company could consider the use of
cleaner fuels for transportation, green purchasing, and transfer of
environmental technologies to suppliers. As GSC also involves long term
relationships with suppliers, there is a strategic approach involving the
selection of suppliers, partners, and the knowledge or technology to be
transferred. These are strategic issues that might affect the factors of
adaptability, agility, and alignment of objectives in the supply chain. The third
approach relates to logistics. Thus, GSC would also need to be considered
considering costs, feasibility to move, store and distribute material, personal
training, etc.
Gilbert (2001) supports the idea of two categories of initiative to stimulate
greener supply chains. The first involves better coordination with suppliers on
environmental efforts to enable development of greener or more
environmentally friendly products. The second is demanding improved
environmental performance at suppliers’ operating facilities, such as the
requirement to obtain ISO 14000 certification or achieve a set standard of
performance. In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows
that proactive management of supplier environmental performance can lead
to product and process simplification, more efficient resWalmartce utilization,
quality improvement, liability avoidance, and enhanced leadership image
(EPA, 2000).

Green manufacturing

For the countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development) manufacturing accounts for 40% of sulphur dioxide emissions
(the precursor of acid rain), 60% of water pollution, 75% of non-hazardous
waste and 90% of hazardous waste (OECD, 1995). As a result, research
spanning the engineering, natural sciences, public policy, economics, and
business literature has proposed various strategies and actions to improve the
environmental performance of manufacturing (Jones and Klassen, 2001).
The concept of green manufacturing is based on the philosophy of
industrial ecology. The basic aims of green manufacturing are to increase
efficiency continuously and therefore “Reducing” the use of inputs through a
reduction of waste. “Re-use, “Re-manufacturing” and “Recycling” complete
the Walmart’s “Rs” of industrial ecology. It is important to highlight the level of
energy required to reduce, re-use, remanufacture and recycle. “Reducing” is
the most important practice from the point of view of energy conservation. On
the other hand, Re-using, Re-manufacturing, and Recycling practices are
important to avoid the final disposal of valuable or harmful components as
landfill. In addition to this philosophy of 4 Rs, a Green Manufacturing policy
must consider regulatory compliance and employee health and safety.
 Major benefits are basically: cost reduction, energy and water conservation,
minimization of overall output of waste, and in terms of financial, ecological
and health costs. Moreover, it is also possible to identify new products and
business opportunities using wasted materials. Total Quality Environmental
Management and Environmental Management Systems may play an
especially key role in the establishment, implementation and monitoring the
environmental performance of manufacturing function.

Reverse logistics

Reverse Logistics is considered in many publications as part of green supply

chain management but in this work, it is treated as a separate tool from green
supply chain practices. The main reason for this is because different skills and
ways of thinking are needed to run a programme of Reverse Logistics. De
Brito (2003) noted that traditional logistics uses “forward” thinking;
nevertheless, product recovery approach is a vital condition for the future.
Fleischmann et al. (1997) give some examples of how several countries have
enforced environmental legislation, charging producers with responsibility for
the whole product life cycle. Nevertheless, companies can make Reverse
Logistics a profitable activity by recognising the value of some components in
the products discarded at their end-of-life, by avoiding landfill costs or
environmental liabilities because of fines. Shrivastava (1995) note that in
some end-of life items, such as used tyres, 95 percent of what is discarded as
waste is usable energy. Similarly, discarded automobiles have many reusable
components and materials, but they are simply scrapped because currently it
is too expensive for them to be recovered. Thus, a set of criteria is needed to
identify what can be reused. Fleischmann et al. (1997) suggest a number of
criteria based on (1) reuse motivation, (2) type of recovered items, (3) form of
reuse, and (4) involved actors.
According to Fleischmann et al. (two thousand), product recovery networks
comprise the following functions: (1) collection; (2) inspection/separation; (3)
re-processing; (4) disposal and, (5) redistribution. Dowlatshahi (2005)
considers the strategic factors for Reverse Logistics, explaining the
implications of costs, quality, customer services, environmental concerns and
finally, political/legal concerns. For instance, does the cost of Reverse
Logistics increases significantly the overall cost of the products? What are the
costs of not doing it? How does an illegal action affect the company’s image
and financial performance? Moreover, is the customer keen to buy a product
that has reused components? All these questions show how Reverse
Logistics must be addressed as a strategic weapon.
Therefore, a Reverse Logistics system should take into consideration the internal
processes of an organisation. Better integration of vendors and after sales policies
will be required. For example, most automakers have no contact with their product
after the warranty services finish, so one strategy adopted by Toyota has been to
extend the warranty time. The results were that the customers felt more confident
about their vehicles and Toyota sold more after sales services.
Like other Green Operations practices, Reverse Logistics is also strongly
influenced by the product design. The more product and process development
include valuable components in their composition, the more Reverse Logistics
can become a less cost-sensitive activity, i.e., the final disposal having a high
value; reuse, remanufacture and recycle would become a viable alternative as
they could pay off the costs of collecting, separating, and treating scrap
instead of buying new raw materials.

Generic Framework for Green Operations

This section presents a generic framework for Green Operations,
providing the idea that there are green practices that could be included in
every phase of the operations function.
Figure 1 shows the activities of the operations functions organised into six
main blocks: production capacity (planning), process and product
development, supplier relationship (and selection), production, in-bound and
out-bound logistics, and after sales.
The activities of operations appear in the centre of the framework, where
the Green Operations practices also reside. They are represented by “existing
environmental practices for manufacturing.” The box labelled “innovation”
shows that Green Operations may require the development of new practices,
technologies, and production systems.
There are two basic strategies: incremental innovation through
successive improvements of the current production system or more extensive
changes to the production system. In each case, there is a need to analyse
the impact of the proposed production system on the company’s
environmental performance.
As well as analysing the impact of the proposed changes in the production
systems, it is fundamental for successful development of the framework and
the implementation of the Green Operations Practices (GOPs) to find out the
effectiveness of this framework and the impact of the 5 GOPs on the
company’s environmental performance, which does not have any clear criteria
yet.
 The framework seeks a dual benefit by using a strategy technique (SWOT)
and integrating environmental issues in the corporative strategic agenda.
Using an environmental SWOT may enable the company to have better
results from the investments of its environmental policy. On the other hand,
understanding the green opportunities and practices related to the broad
processes of operations may motivate the top administration to build up a
more sustainable corporate strategy.
Step (i): is to run an environmental SWOT analysis. In this phase the company
should run sessions to identify its strengths and weaknesses regarding
environmental issues as well as threats and opportunities. Taking into consideration
the life-cycle approach is important to visualize external factors that might affect the
company. By using the environmental SWOT companies can contextualize the
framework and green their operations based upon local and global scenarios and
align the environmental business practices to the corporate and operations strategy.
Step (ii): is to link the challenges, threat, or opportunities to the operations function.
Managers need to associate the most important and urgent challenges, threats, and
opportunities to the value chain of their organisations. According to their processes
and internal analysis (strengths and weaknesses), they can set up environmental
objectives and goals, methods for implementation and measurement.
Step (iii): involves the selection of one, or a group, of practices and the investigation
of customer- value, feasibility and/or cost-benefit relationships: At this time, it
must be assured that the environmental objectives and goals have enough
support from top administration, the employees or suppliers are competent to
implement and monitor and, finally, the forecast addresses for a positive
 cost/benefit relationship. The value of these actions for customers is
measured; however, even if there is no customer support, some of the
practices should be implemented for avoiding future problems with regulation.
Step (iv): is to establish, implement and monitor practices related to daily
procedures and instructions of those green operations practices. Having an
environmental management system is recommended as well as running
periodic PDCA (plan; do; check; act) cycles. These may enhance the chances
of continuous improvement, which is particularly important after radical
innovations.
Step (v): is the critical analysis of objectives, environmental and financial
performance. The definition of indicators and benchmarking methods to
analyse the objectives, environmental and financial performance is essential
to organisational learning in environmental management. The benefits
sometimes can come from a different area where the practice was
implemented (e.g., design for eco-efficiency: implementation is in design;
however, the results are in the product use). Therefore, detailed, and systemic
analysis should be combined to a better assessment of the organisation’s
progress towards the development of a sustainable competitive advantage.
Step (vi): is to promote the development of a sustainable competitive advantage,
which consists of achieving a privileged position in the long-term, ahead of
competitors, without damaging the ethical image of the company.

Dell's Green Operations Management

Mr. Dell announced his company's goal of becoming the greenest technology company
in the world in London in conjunction with World Environment Day. He identified a new
generation--the "Re-Generation" that includes people of all ages who share a common
interest in renewable resources, recycling, and other ways of sustaining the earth's
natural environment. Re-Generation also refers to reinventing his namesake company
after a brief sabbatical from his CEO post. With this strategy, Mr. Dell has chosen
environmental stewardship as one of the key platforms for that effort.

Dell's green programs represent the integration of three key themes for the operation of
the company: more environmentally friendly materials, energy efficiency, and a
commitment to recycling and end-of-life disposition of products. These three areas are
integrated into every aspect of the company's value chain, including product design,
logistics, and procurement. Dell's environmental policy consists of the following major
points:

 Design products with the environment in mind.

 Prevent waste and pollution.
 Continually improve the company's performance.
 Demonstrate responsibility to stakeholders.
 Comply with the law.

Sustainability Initiatives Require Executive Sponsorship

Becoming the greenest technology company on the planet requires an extraordinarily

strong commitment from company leadership. Dell's board of directors plays an active
role in guiding the conduct of Dell's business, including sustainability. As such, the
company established a sustainability council comprising Mr. Dell, as well as senior
executives from legal, compliance, procurement, engineering, sales, and other functions
within the company. The sustainability council meets quarterly to review sustainability-
related risks, opportunities, and associated actions.

A benefit of being a young company in the dynamic and fast-paced technology industry
is that the organizational bureaucracy does not seem to have calcified. This leads to
fewer structural barriers or functional silos that can make new initiatives like this difficult
to implement.

In many organizations, sustainability initiatives reside within a small organization that

has direct support from and regular interaction with the senior management of the
company. While reporting structures vary by industry and company, this group strives to
embed sustainability throughout the organization. At Dell, a lean team led by Tod
Arbogast, director of sustainable business, takes responsibility for driving these
initiatives across the company. To achieve this, the team utilizes an inclusive strategy,
which consists of the following key elements:
Engage stakeholders: Beyond traditional business interests, this includes soliciting input
from a wide audience of shareholders, financial institutions, nongovernment (NGO)
agencies, suppliers, employees, and customers.

 Prioritize lessons learned: This requires a highly structured approach to

reviewing stakeholder feedback and understanding the effects of decisions on
the company's wide variety of stakeholders.
 Assign ownership: Establishing ownership embeds practices within the
functional area of responsibility.
 Align resources: Internal alignment efficiently cross-fertilizes efforts across
various departments and functions within the company.
 Focus on governance and communication: In addition to the sustainability
council, Mr. Arbogast's team meets quarterly with Mr. Dell and some of his
key direct reports. The board of directors is also regularly updated.

The definition of stakeholder engagement is not limited to communication with

employees and business partners of the company. The firm educates and informs its
clients and others through its activities, providing direct

Inside the Dell Green Lifecycle Framework

The Dell environmental lifecycle framework provides a means by which Dell can approach
its products and operations from an environmental and social responsibility perspective.
Companies taking this approach focus their sustainability efforts on accordance with the
major areas of their activities and where they can have the most effect. The following are
the largest areas of direct impact for Dell:

 Product concept and design

 Manufacturing and operations
 Asset recovery and recycling

Product Concept and Design

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Dell says it was 1992 when he first asked
his engineers to design and build a PC made completely out of recyclable materials.
"They kind of looked at me funny, like 'What do you mean?'" Mr. Dell said he has been
interested in ways to make his company more environmentally friendly ever since.

Dell's product development efforts represent one of the major areas where the firm affects
not only its own operations, but also its customers' operations and how the products are
used. Some major areas where this is seen both for Dell and its customers are energy
efficiency and performance, Design for Environment (DfE), and packaging.

Darrell Ward, director of marketing for desktop products, said Dell's environmental
strategy "is a competitive advantage and we will wisely invest across product lines. For
some customers, it is extremely important that a certain percentage of our portfolio is
EPEAT Gold, which, among other requirements, means we provide an 80 percent
efficient power supply. While it is required for some bids, it is still a minority, often limited
to government bids and exceptionally large companies that want to be greener. However,
in Europe, Nordic countries are requiring every PC to have an 80 percent-efficient power
supply."

Energy Efficiency and Performance

According to the EPA Report to Congress on Server and Data Centre Energy Efficiency
(August 2007), data centres consumed about sixty billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2006,
1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. The energy consumption of servers and
data centres doubled in the past five years. It is expected to double again in the next five
years to more than 100 billion kWh, costing about $7.4B annually.

During product development, criteria such as energy efficiency is established for Dell's
design team and drives the features and performance of the products to be manufactured.
For example, the company recently shifted its strategy from focusing more on computing
performance to one that considers metrics such as performance per watt.
The results of its enhanced design strategy are more power-efficient computers without
degraded performance. In addition to building systems that are now earning the Energy
Star 4.0 rating, Jon Weis blatt, one of Dell's energy-efficiency product evangelists, pointed
out that Dell has been shipping PCs, laptops, and servers that can take advantage of the
company's Energy Smart power management settings. Managing hardware power
settings can provide greater efficiency with minimal effect on the hardware's performance,
but configuring the settings is a task rarely undertaken by consumers and IT departments.
By preconfiguring these systems for energy efficiency, Dell is making corporate users
more efficient.

Design for Environment

DfE is a design philosophy that promotes reducing risks to people and the environment
by preventing pollution when designing, manufacturing, and disposing products. DfE
strategies evaluate human health and environmental considerations, performance, and
the cost of traditional and alternative technologies, materials, and processes.

For Dell and other computer manufacturers, adopting a DfE strategy has been a
requirement as they address European legislation, such as Reduction of Hazardous
Substances (RoHS). RoHS mandates that companies must not manufacture products
with more than a maximum concentration of hazardous substances, such as lead and
mercury.

In response to increasing legislation on DfE issues, Dell has adopted the Precautionary
Principle as the strategic approach to selecting materials used in its products. This
principle suggests that if risks of a chemical appear great, action should be taken to
eliminate its use, even if the risks lack full scientific certainty. For example, Dell is the first
U.S. electronics manufacturer to accelerate plans to phase out brominated flame
retardants (BFRs) in new product designs, changing the target date from 2015 to 2009.

Packaging

One of the areas of product design often overlooked is packaging, even though packaging
waste makes up 30 percent of the solid waste in the United States. Redesigning the
packaging at Dell is another example of how an environmental perspective can change a
company's approach and improve the customer experience. Reducing packaging starts
by making the product more robust so that less packaging material is required to protect
it.

For corporate customers, Dell has created multipacks that consolidate shipments into
smaller packaging units. As a result of the new packaging design, the customer saves on
shipping costs and on-site packaging waste and recycling costs are reduced. In 2007, the
efforts Dell made in dematerialization reduced the amount of corrugated plastic foam and
wood materials by 5,258 tons (against a corporate goal of 5,000 tons).

Manufacturing and Operations

Dell has long been held in high regard for its supply chain operations, with an emphasis
on lean inventory management and a mass customization approach to order fulfilment.
One of the most important benefits of Dell's direct supply chain model regarding the
environmental effect of its products is product configuration just prior to shipment. This
allows Dell to offer a greater number of environmental options and configurations without
necessarily influencing inventory if businesses are slow to adopt greener products.

Mass customization certainly provides one environmental advantage in Dell's business

model, but the overall operations strategy provides the company with numerous
opportunities to reduce its environmental impact and work with direct supply chain
partners to reduce their impact as well. Some of the most meaningful results come from
Dell's approach to suppliers, transportation, and facilities.

Suppliers

Dell first introduced Supplier Principles in March 2004. Going forward, however, the
company will use the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), which was developed
by Dell and other electronics industry leaders to create a harmonized approach to
implementing a standardized industry code of conduct. Rather than an effort that seeks
to penalize noncompliance, the spirit of the EICC is to improve citizenship along with
operational efficiencies at supplier facilities around the world.

In addition to implementing the EICC, Dell is rolling out its business process improvement
(BPI) methodology to help suppliers improve their operations. Like a Six Sigma program,
the BPI methodology utilizes a team approach, with members from Dell and the supplier
working to address manufacturing issues such as quality, throughput, delivery, and cost.
The company is currently creating best-practice and lessons-learned documents from the
BPI pilot projects to share with its Tier 1 suppliers. The EICC and BPI initiatives are critical
from an environmental perspective because they focus on programs to make suppliers
more aware of their environmental impact and more educated about how to better
manage operations.

Recently, Dell has requested that its primary suppliers begin reporting greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions data. Suppliers risk having their overall scores reduced during quarterly
business reviews for not identifying and publicly reporting GHG emissions. A supplier's
volume of business can be affected by the scores earned on reviews. As with the BPI
strategy, Dell will work with suppliers on emissions reduction strategies once data is
collected.

In a letter to suppliers detailing the program, Martin Garvin, chief procurement officer and
senior vice president of worldwide procurement, noted how important this effort is from
Dell's perspective: "As you know, the [quarterly business review] score will influence your
ability to compete for Dell's business. Thus, we are driving our suppliers to become more
energy efficient, and we believe this action will lower your operating expenses while
reducing environmental impacts. This makes sense for our industry and the environment."

To support suppliers, Dell has joined the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain
Leadership Collaboration (SCLC), providing them with access to standard methodologies
for reporting carbon emissions. Creation of a standardized system offers suppliers an
efficient tool for reporting and helps avoid multiple reporting requirements. In a press
announcement, Mr. Garvin stated, "Our global supply chain is integral to Dell's long-term
commitment to become the greenest technology company on earth. This means
partnering with suppliers, customers, and stakeholders to drive meaningful and positive
change."
Transportation

Transportation operations is an important business function where Dell is driving

meaningful change. To reduce transportation costs, it focuses on geographic
manufacturing to build products closer to customers. The company's newest plant in
North Carolina helped save $20M in logistics costs, which ultimately reduced GHG
emissions related to transportation. While this initiative is not specifically dedicated to
reducing the company's environmental impact, its joint management by the operations
and logistics teams focuses on reductions in emissions related to fuel savings during site
selection for manufacturing and configuration centres elsewhere in the world.

While Dell's direct model does help reduce transportation requirements, the company
strives to reduce its environmental footprint in terms of transportation-related GHG
emissions in other ways as well. Here are some of the strategies:

 Encourage carriers to adopt the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)

SmartWay initiative: In this program, shippers and transportation companies
work together to implement best practices and advanced technologies for fuel
conservation and emissions reductions.
 Increase first-time deliveries to customers: A new customer delivery
notification (CDN) program lets customers select a delivery time that will best fit
their schedules. Since implementing the CDN program, Dell has increased first-
time deliveries to over 80 percent, resulting in reductions in fuel use and related
emissions.
 Use LTL Direct: The LTL Direct program was designed to reduce total miles
travelled and convert more product shipments from air to ground. To ensure direct
shipments arrive damage free, shipping trailers were reconfigured with metal
beams called logistics bars to double stack pallets inside a trailer, and airbags were
used to cushion the loads. By reducing loss from damage, consolidating
shipments, and reducing dependence on air freight, fuel use and related emissions
are reduced.

Facilities

The largest aspect of Dell's footprint is electricity consumption. The company is trying to
optimize existing facilities while constructing new buildings to even higher standards.
Dell's U.S. electricity usage in 2007 accounted for about 97.8 percent of the carbon
emissions from its facilities, while natural gas use and other miscellaneous fuel uses
account for less than 3 percent of total emissions.

Dell aims to have all new facilities certified through the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. The company also plans to
apply the same standards for all existing buildings as they are remodelled or refreshed.
In recent years, it has launched a number of operational initiatives to increase energy
efficiency and reduce electricity demands:

 A company-wide power management program that automatically powers off

machines at night and during periods of inactivity has resulted in savings of about
13 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to avoidance of 8,500 tons of carbon
dioxide and savings of $1.8M annually.
 Replacing office lighting in its central Texas facilities resulted in a 9 percent
reduction in electricity demand at the campuses.
 Recycling and reuse in facilities has grown quickly over the past two years, from
just over 85 percent of non-hazardous waste to almost 95 percent. Dell's future
five-year goal is to increase this to 99 percent.

Asset Recovery and Recycling

During the early days of Dell's recycling program, the company's strategy was to support
voluntary efforts, reasoning that a market-based approach would be the most efficient
mechanism to drive Dell and other companies to recycle equipment. However, as various
legislative initiatives unfolded, Dell has taken a more assertive stance. Recycling is so
integral to the company's environmental footprint, it decided to take a strong advocacy
position in favour of the producer responsibility approach, which requires all producers to
take responsibility for proper end-of-life management of their electronic products.

Dell's position is to require companies to take back their own branded product for free
from individual consumers, but to allow flexibility in how companies do it as a means to
drive innovation. Its individual producer responsibility framework is based on the belief
that the competitive marketplace will drive more efficient collecting, recycling, and
redesigning of products.

This type of approach encourages companies to drive cost out of their systems. Dell's
asset recovery services provide three major ways in which equipment can be recycled:

 Free consumer recycling: Dell offers to recycle any Dell machine ever built for
free anywhere in the world. The company also offers no-charge recycling for any
brand of computer or printer when a customer purchases a new Dell computer or
printer.
 Partnerships to drive reuse and donation: Dell partners with organizations like
Goodwill Industries and the National Cristina Foundation to match consumer
donations to local not-for-profit organizations.
 Value-added services for corporate customers: Dell help institutional
customers responsibly and securely manage the retirement of used and unwanted
IT equipment through an extensive offering of product recovery services. This
 includes guaranteeing all data will be erased from the system and disposition of
the components can be traced and verified.

Dell reported the recovery of more than seventy-eight million pounds (nearly 40,000 tons)
of unwanted IT equipment from customers in 2006, a 93 percent increase over 2005, and
12.4 percent of the equipment it sold seven years earlier. As an important part of its
recovery and recycling efforts, Dell commissions third-party audits of all its recycling
partners. Another aspect of its trendsetting approach is a no-export policy. Dell will only
process recovered equipment in countries where facilities and processes have been
audited and that do not export waste to third-world nations. Earlier this year, the National
Recycling Coalition chose Dell as the first technology company to receive its annual
Recycling Works award for efforts to promote individual producer responsibility.
Talkin' 'bout Re-Generation

Michael Dell recently announced the company's plans to go carbon neutral by noting,
"Never before in the history of business have, we seen such a critical need to build a
worldwide community dedicated to improving the environment." He went on to stress that
"leadership starts at home, which is why we are going carbon neutral, but this should only
be the beginning of building long-term partnerships with customers, stakeholders, and
suppliers of all sizes to team up and make a difference for the Earth we all share."

Setting Standards with Supplier Outreach

Mark Newton, Dell's environmental policy manager, notes that one of the more immediate
effects computer manufacturers can have is through their policies and practices with
direct partners. According to Mr. Newton, "If you can energize your supply chain on
environmental issues, it will cascade through the entire business. This is integral to our
approach of being supply chain drivers."

The company's progressive climate policy focuses on minimizing both direct and indirect
emission effects by including supplier operations and customer product use. The
company has helped set standards not only with suppliers through initiatives such as the
EICC and emissions requirements, but also in areas such as forestry, recycling, and
green computing, all of which require a significant investment for external engagement.

Educating Customers One Purchase at a Time

One of the areas where Dell leads when compared with companies in almost all sectors
is the multiple channels it has developed to communicate with customers and other
stakeholders. These programs are founded on the company's strategy to use its direct
relationships with customers to educate them about energy efficiency as well as the
broader issues associated with climate change and the environment. The education
process starts at the online point of purchase.
Dell's customers configure their computers, and, with calculators, the company's website
helps them make wise decisions during the process. According to Mr. Weis blatt, if a
customer is interested in an environmental configuration, Dell "can provide a better
suggestion out of the box with power management already enabled on PCs. For servers,
Energy Smart configurations pay for themselves in energy cost savings in six months."
Customers can also compare different models of systems to understand their energy
impact.

The company has seen increased web traffic for its Environmental Data Sheets and
online energy calculators. The data sheets help Dell reinforce its environmental message
by highlighting the model's EPEAT rating, energy consumption, and other disclosures
regarding materials. At the end of each sheet, the company encourages users to consider
upgrading to extend the life of their systems. The data sheets also provide information
about recycling and Dell's environmental program.

Buyers can also evaluate their configurations with an energy calculator to see how power
management settings and various monitor choices will result in environmental impact,
communicated in terms of carbon dioxide equivalence, as well as energy savings. Mr.
Ward notes that "most customers interested in energy and environmental configurations
are in the small and midsize business segment. They are the people who are going to the
online energy calculator on our website because the same guy who pays the electric bill
buys the PCs. For corporate clients, they often have a tough time defining what a green
PC really is." Energy Smart configurations are available for servers, desktops, and
notebooks. As an example of the benefits of the Energy Smart configurations, the
company notes that Energy Smart servers’ cost about $100 more than similarly
configured servers, but that customers can save up to $200 annually in energy costs per
server.

Planting Trees for Me

Dell has also established a program where customers can offset their carbon dioxide
emissions by donating money toward reforestation projects. Under the heading "Plant a
Tree for Me," the program, a joint effort between Dell, The Conservation Fund, and
Carbonfund.org, makes it easy for people to offset their carbon emissions associated with
the use of Dell's products by planting trees. The program lets consumers offset the
electricity their computers use over a three-year period. They pay $2 per notebook and
$6 per desktop, and 100 percent of those funds go toward planting trees in reforestation
projects. For $99, they can even offset themselves.

In a discussion with Mr. Arbogast, he stressed that "more important than the offsets are
the education. Over two million people visit dell.com every day. If we can encourage and
empower those people and exchange ideas with them, then that is the foundation for a
new era of environmental leadership."

As an extension of the program, the company recently announced Plant a Forest for Me,
a corporate partnership program that will facilitate the planting of millions of trees in
sustainably managed reforestation projects. Companies such as ABN AMRO,
salesforce.com, Staples, and Wellpoint have committed to offsetting part of their carbon
outputs by purchasing trees for Plant a Forest for Me. Ask.com was the first corporate
customer to participate in the Plant a Forest for Me program, which was part of a
partnership initiative for using more energy-efficient servers in its data centres.

Creating Community

Outside of interacting with customers and stakeholders during the purchasing process,
Dell is also focused on broadening the conversation by promoting interaction on its
website. The site is populated with environmental newsfeeds, blogs, and a unique
collaborative tool called Idea Storm.
Gap Analysis and goals taken forward for initiation of green operations in the
company.
We are articulating our long-term goals and plan for corporate social responsibility at Dell.
We are setting the bar high. By 2020, we expect to reduce the energy intensity of our
product portfolio by 80 percent, use only packaging that is 100 percent compostable or
recyclable, and rally our global workforce to give five million volunteer hours to the
communities we call home just to name a few.
Doing business in a socially and environmentally responsible way is important, but more
is needed.
In our first Environmental Progress Report published 15 years ago in 1998, we began
articulating Dell’s corporate responsibility efforts and commitments. Since then, the body
of scientific evidence increasingly shows that global, meaningful action is necessary and
urgent. We all must better manage the natural resources and ecosystems that are vital
not only for humans, but also for economies and businesses to thrive.
Global policy and multilateral systems have achieved progress on some issues but not
others. Many now agree that business must take a stronger role, collaborating with
governments and others to drive more sustainable practices everywhere. Doing business
in a socially and environmentally responsible way is important, but more is needed.
At the same time, it has become increasingly clear that there are more opportunities and
benefits to succeeding as a sustainability-focused business than we ever first imagined:
developing innovative solutions for low-carbon economies, expanding the use of more
sustainable materials, driving exponential efficiencies into global value chains, and finding
ways to recycle and up-cycle materials in the face of resource scarcity. And we keep
seeing more.
In 2012 we launched our Powering the Possible commitment as a first step toward a new
sustainability strategy for Dell. Our 2020 Legacy of Good Plan brings the rest of that
strategy into focus and represents the culmination of 18 months of self-reflection,
customer dialogue, industry and stakeholder engagement, and a deep examination of our
entire value chain.
After 2012 this is their plan of visioning 2013 which is shown in figure but by 2020 this
looks as a small part many operations to be taken to develop and evolve in the society
for the maintain its greenery as a project of vision.
Identifying what is possible

These three areas (environment, communities, and people) form a high-level organizing
principle for all our corporate responsibility work. And, the notion of adding value in these
areas flows directly from Dell’s purpose to enable people everywhere to grow and thrive
and reach their full potential.

From this realization, Powering the Possible was born as a commitment to put our
technology and our expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the
planet.

Environment Goal

 A Legacy of Good Communities People Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from

our facilities and logistics operations by 50%
 Reduce our water use in water-stressed regions by 20%
 Ensure 90% of waste generated in Dell-operated buildings is diverted from
landfills
 Develop and maintain sustainability initiatives in 100% of Dell-operated buildings
 Demonstrate 100% transparency of key issues within our supply chain, working
with suppliers to mitigate risks in those areas
 Ensure 100% of product packaging is sourced from sustainable materials by
2020, the good that will come from our technology will be ten times what it takes
to create and use it
  Reduce the energy intensity of our product portfolio by 80% Use 50 million
pounds of recycled-content plastic and other sustainable materials in our
products
 Ensure 100% of Dell packaging is either recyclable or compostable Phase out
environmentally sensitive materials as viable alternatives exist
 Recover two billion pounds of used electronics Identify and quantify the
environmental benefits of Dell-developed solutions
Communities

 Engage 75% of team members in community service by 2020 and provide five
million cumulative hours of service to the communities in which we live and work
 Apply our expertise and technology in underserved communities to help three
million youth directly and support ten million people indirectly to grow and thrive

People

 Increase engagement and drive inspirational leadership on Dell’s strategies,

priorities, and goals through Dell’s end-to-end Leadership Development
Programs
 Engage 40% of our global Dell team in employee resource groups by 2020
 Encourage eligible team members to enrol in Dell flexible work programs,
increasing global participation to 50%
 Increase university hiring to a rate of 25% of all external hiring
 Be recognized as a best-in class Employer of Choice
 Achieve 75% favourable responses (or higher) in team member satisfaction
globally as measured through the annual employee satisfaction survey

Environment
Environmental responsibility is about more thancreating an eco-friendly product or
initiative. It is about incorporating sustainability into every aspectof what we do, using our
technology and expertise to innovate on behalf of our customers, our communities,and
the planet.
According to the International Energy Agency, buildings represent 32 percent of total
final energy consumption, which represents a significant amount of GHG emissions.
Within our own operations, more than 96 percent of Dell’s FY13 net Scope 1 GHG
(direct) emissions and Scope 2 GHG (indirect) emissions were associated with our
office, manufacturing and data centre buildings and leased spaces; the rest were from
company vehicles.
95 percent of the emissions from our buildings came from energy use: purchased
electricity, heating fuels and on-site electricity generation
Changing how we source our purchased energy is another way for Dell to reduce overall
emissions. We already have a strong commitment to using renewably generated
electricity, going back to 2003. We currently source
22.6 percent of our global facilities’ electricity needs from renewable sources (as of
February 2013), and have been a nationally recognized U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Green Power Partner since 2008. And in several locations, we have added
systems to generate electricity or hot water from the sun. We are committed to further
increasing the amount of “green” energy we use.

Rates in manufacturing operations

Over the past few years, we have consistently recycled more than 95 percent, and
landfilled less than 4 percent, of the waste in Dell manufacturing and fulfilment facilities.
To maintain an elevated level of reuse and recycling, we will continue to practice waste
minimization and reduction efforts. Additionally, we will look for new opportunities to
move further away from landfilling.
 Gartner estimates that the IT
sector’s footprint accounts for
about 2 percent of global
carbon dioxide emissions.
This footprint is significant but
also greatly outweighed by
the potential for IT to help us
address Professor Smalley’s
top ten issues, such as water,
disease, and education.
With our supply chain and
within our industry to continue
that match the historic trends.
In some cases, we expect to
see continued improvements
in efficiency for
the near future: in other
areas, we may be
approaching the limits of
achievable efficiencies.
While this goal is already
aspirational, it serves
another purpose: Dell
customers who want to
project future energy
requirements and support
needs for their IT.
Use fifty million pounds of
recycled-content plastic and
other sustainable materials in
our products
In 2012 this diverted more
than 7.8 million pounds of
plastic from landfills.
Between now and 2020, we
can increase this amount
while further closing the
recycling loop by building our products using content from recycled electronics. There are
also many emerging alternatives like bio-based plastics.
The challenge is that, because electronics are more difficult to recycle than consumer
goods, there is a smaller supply of recycled-content plastic from electronics compared
to post-consumer sources like bottles. Also, in general the demand for post-consumer
recycled plastics has increased, so it can be challenging to achieve a consistent supply.
And with any recycled-content or alternative materials, our greatest challenge will
continue to be maintaining our high mechanical and electrical performance standards
for each product.

Between now and 2020, we will leverage this approach to:

 Find alternatives to the elements of our current packaging materials

mix that are not recyclable or compostable, such as expanded
polyethylene (EPE) cushions and plastic bags
 Expand the use of some current materials, such as pulp.
 Using these standards, we will measure the percentage by volume of all Dell
packaging that could be considered recyclable or compostable. In previous
years, we have reported only on our desktop and laptop packaging; last year,
75 percent of desktop and laptop packaging met this definition.
Using these standards, we will measure the percentage by volume of all Dell packaging
that could be considered recyclable or compostable. In previous years, we have reported
only on our desktop and laptop packaging; last year, 75 percent of desktop and laptop
packaging met this definition.
Suggestions
• On a global scale, there is still an enormous potential to scale up circular resource
streams in the IT sector and beyond. Only 10% of the plastics produced today are
recovered – and more than 50% end up in landfills.
• Dell has increased the use of recycled materials (both closed loop and traditional
postconsumer recycled plastics) in new products and Dell have plans to continue to scale
the programme.
• As Dell continues to scale the current programme, they must expand into reclaiming and
reusing other materials. They have already had success with using reclaimed carbon fibre
for products.
• Dell will also have to look at how ocean plastics or other solutions can be used with
products.
• Dell will continue to measure using the same methodology, updating models for
collection totals to follow form-factor trends. And it will report progress annually, building
on this total toward a cumulative two billion pounds by 2025
• Dell continues to lead conversations with governments and industry partners about
recycling and circular loops on a global scale. Dell is open to innovative collaborations
with even more customers, partners, and governments in the coming years. Dell sees
opportunities in creating partnerships in developing countries to strengthen this
ecosystem. As we look to the future, creating closed-loop recycling programs in
developing countries represents a new frontier. Recycling products in the countries where
they are recovered brings skilled jobs, creates industry, and strengthens the local
economy. Using our proven abilities to leverage partnerships and government
relationships to create the infrastructure needed for innovative programs, we can continue
driving a culture of recycling in communities around the world.
References
 https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/18800
 http://www.study.com/ academy/lesson/green-management-cost-effective-
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 https://www.scribd.com/presentation/262237106/Green-Operation-Management
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environment
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 http://psychologyandeducation.net/pae/index.php/pae/article/view/2841