By PRAKASH WAGH

IN THE last century, the manufacturing industry saw many path-breaking initiatives, from Henry Ford's famous assembly line innovation in early 1920 to the single-minute exchange of dies and just-in-time manufacturing. These technological breakthroughs and innovations in manufacturing were centred on the pursuit for quality and productivity.

More recently, a new paradigm has emerged, dubbed 'green manufacturing'. The notion rests on the use of technology and processes to minimise generations of waste and emissions that harm the environment. It also embraces measures such as the conservation of water and energy. It is centred around sustainability and accountability.

Singapore is often seen as a model green state. That reputation rests partly on its efforts to control urban congestion and pollution, as well as the retention of green landscapes. The Singapore Green Plan 2012 highlights commitment to ensuring Singapore's environmental sustainability - and this blueprint can be complemented with initiatives such as green manufacturing.

The managements of emissions and waste are the two key facets of the green manufacturing movement. The former involves proper strategy and planning for managing air, water and energy emissions resulting from the manufacturing operations. It also involves upgrading of existing manufacturing processes, control measures and IT application systems, which can help to measure and monitor emission.

The latter, waste management, involves a wide range of activities from product design to waste disposal. Again, it needs to be supported by proper systems and applications which will help measure, monitor and control waste generation and waste disposal.

A key hurdle for businesses is maintaining compliance to an ever increasing list of regulations in emission and waste management. Another challenge is measuring, monitoring and controlling emission and waste generation and disposal. A third challenge is cost.

Technology can provide many answers - especially when it requires cost reduction, increase in efficiency and compliance. Technology can help to map processes so that environmental initiatives can be aligned with cost savings.

In the automotive industry, for instance, a technology solution may be expected to reduce emissions, or find replacement materials that improve the conservation effort.

The adage 'you cannot improve what you cannot measure' is the name of the game. Green initiatives need the support of sensible IT applications to help companies to assess, measure, monitor and control the parameters relating to environment, emissions, wastes, safety and health.

And these applications must be integrated with the overall supply chain. Such offerings are available from many enterprise resource planning vendors.

The green manufacturing movement is beginning to find support from an increasing broad range of stakeholders. From corporations drumming up social responsibility to organisations like Green peace, the number of interested parties is growing. We are starting to see a shift in philosophy, acceptance and emphasis on this notion.

Many Singapore manufacturing companies have embarked on this trek too, by undertaking initiatives such as recycling, waste and emission management. However, these efforts are today more driven by compliance rather than passion or conviction.

The next 10 years could be the decade of green manufacturing, and organisations in Singapore and around the world would do well to be proactive and kickstart their own requisite measures and adopt a holistic green approach.

The payback can be immense: early adopters would not only meet compliance regulations, but also reap substantial business benefits like gain carbon credits which can be traded on carbon exchanges globally. They also stand to gain recognition from their government for exercising corporate social responsibility. And not least, companies that embark on green manufacturing approaches stand to enhance their corporate brand value.

The writer is a practice leader, SAP MFG, PLM and Environment, at Mahindra Satyam

This article was first published in The Business Times.