Baxter Spearheads Industry-Wide Participation in Green Suppliers Network

04/21/2005

It started as a pilot within the automotive industry. The U.S. Department of Commerce, with an interest in “lean” manufacturing, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with an interest in “clean” manufacturing, teamed up to help suppliers to the automotive industry combine the two disciplines in their operations.

This collaborative effort between government and private industry had nothing to do with healthcare. But it did represent an innovative approach to incorporating lean/clean principles into the operations of a group of suppliers common to a particular industry.

Dave Valentini speaks at the GSN's launch at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“When we learned about the Green Supplier Network (GSN), it didn’t take long for us to decide to participate,” says Dave Valentini, vice president of purchasing and supplier management for Baxter. “We already were bringing in suppliers for sustainable development workshops to make sure they understood Baxter’s commitment to the environment and the role they play as extensions of the company. The Green Supplier Network goes even further, putting technical professionals on suppliers’ manufacturing floors to train them in clean manufacturing processes.”

Baxter also had already begun to implement lean manufacturing into its operations. Lean manufacturing is a process of continuously identifying, reducing and eliminating non-value-added activities, materials and other resources in the manufacturing process to improve quality and efficiency.

“One thing we’ve discovered, however, is that lean doesn’t always mean clean,” says Jenni Cawein, manager of Environment, Health and Safety engineering at Baxter. “The Green Supplier Network will help our suppliers achieve this balance.”

The first Baxter facility to participate was the company’s manufacturing plant in Aibonito, Puerto Rico. Five suppliers to that plant signed up, with one having completed its GSN review in 2003.

“The review identified opportunities to reduce hazardous chemical use, energy and other resources,” Cawein says. “Ultimately, we expect this to result in better on-time delivery, reduced inventory for us to manage, reduced supplier impacts on the environment, and better quality raw material, resulting in fewer defects for us to throw away. We also expect suppliers to benefit from greater efficiencies and bottom-line cost improvements, which we hope will result in more competitive pricing.”

Baxter’s involvement led the GSN to add healthcare as a fifth industry sector to target, along with the automotive, aerospace, furniture and heavy equipment industries.

“They hadn’t thought of healthcare,” Cawein says. “We are now working with others in the healthcare sector – including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wyeth and Abbott – to identify common suppliers we can approach together. We hope this will bring a greater participation rate from suppliers as more of their customers urge them to be involved in this important program.”

“Baxter has always been a leader in forward-thinking approaches to environmental management,” says Kristin Pierre, program director for the Green Supplier Network. “So we were excited that they were interested in participating in GSN. The energy and commitment from the Baxter people has really driven the success of GSN in the healthcare sector.”