Measure. Improve. Prove. Lessons From a Global Packaging Leader
By Diana Lynn, Founder and President, Management Systems International (MSI)
Direct Answer
The most useful sustainable operations lessons from one of the world’s largest packaging manufacturers come from three things it does well: setting targets that have a baseline and a deadline, measuring the result of every project, and running Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) at the plant level. These practices lower costs and give its customers lower-carbon, lower-risk supply chains. Any organization with an ISO 14001 environmental management system can apply the same approach.
Key Takeaways
- Set environmental targets with a baseline year, a number, and a deadline.
- Measure and report the result of every improvement project.
- Look for upgrades that improve energy, water, waste, and cost at the same time.
- Use PDCA on real operational problems: one plant cut effluent by 378 m³ a day and saved $121,000 a year.
- Sustainable operations help customers lower their own Scope 3 emissions and regulatory risk.
Sustainability statements are easy to write. Sustainable operations are harder, because they have to work on the plant floor, every shift, in every region. When a large manufacturer publishes measured results year after year, it’s worth asking what they are doing differently.
We recently reviewed the operations results in the published sustainability reporting of a global packaging manufacturer with paper mills, converting plants, and recycling facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia. Several of its legal entities and manufacturing sites hold ISO certifications, and that shows in how it runs its operations. What stands out isn’t any single project. It’s the discipline behind all of them. That discipline maps closely to the environmental management system requirements in ISO 14001.
1. How Should You Set Environmental Targets?
The company committed to cutting its direct and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 25% by 2030, and its value-chain emissions (Scope 3) by 13.5%, each against a defined base year. An independent body that reviews climate targets against current science validated those targets.
The lesson: a goal like “reduce our footprint” can’t be managed. A goal with a number, a starting point, and a date can. This is exactly what ISO 14001 asks for in its environmental objectives clause (6.2): objectives that are measurable, monitored, and backed by a plan that says what will be done, by whom, and by when.
2. Why Should You Measure Every Improvement Project?
In one year, 17 energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects across the company cut roughly 15,000 metric tons of CO₂e. Each project is reported with its own numbers. High-efficiency blowers at two paper plants are expected to save 3.3 million kWh of electricity and about 2,300 metric tons of CO₂e a year. Solar installations in the U.S. and Europe can generate 9.2 million kWh a year. A compressed-air upgrade at one campus saves about 1.27 million kWh a year.
The lesson: results that are measured are results you can manage. Many organizations launch improvement projects and never close the loop on what they delivered. ISO 14001’s monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation clause (9.1) exists for this reason. If a project’s result isn’t measured, you don’t know whether it worked.
3. One Upgrade, Several Benefits
The same high-efficiency blowers that cut electricity use also reduce the plants’ freshwater demand by nearly 80,000 cubic meters a year. Wastewater treatment upgrades let the mills recirculate water in place of fresh water.
The lesson: environmental aspects are connected. Energy, water, emissions, and cost often move together. When you evaluate an improvement, look at every aspect it touches, not just the one that started the project. A good aspects-and-impacts review makes those connections visible.
4. How Does PDCA Reduce Both Costs and Environmental Impact?
This example is the clearest of all. At one of the company’s paper mills, a team applied the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology to wastewater. The result was a reduction of 378 cubic meters of effluent per day and $121,000 in annual cost savings.
PDCA is the backbone of ISO 14001, ISO 9001, and ISO 45001. Too often it lives in a training slide instead of on the floor. Here it produced a measurable environmental result and a measurable financial result at the same time.
Plan. Do. Check. Act. When teams use the cycle to solve a real problem, it pays for itself.
5. Improving Even When You’re Already Ahead
The company’s mills already use about 12.8 cubic meters of water per ton of product, well below an industry average of roughly 20. They still committed to further cuts: 3% by 2030 and 5% by 2040.
The lesson: continual improvement doesn’t stop once you lead your industry. Strong performers keep setting the next target. That mindset separates a management system that delivers results from one that simply exists.
6. Circular by Design, and Ready for Changing Rules
The company operates more than 40 recycling facilities that collect about 3 million tons of paper, plastic, metal, and other materials each year. It is investing to expand the types of packaging it can process and to raise the recycled content of its own products. It also recognizes that recycling rules and infrastructure differ by region, and it adjusts to new requirements such as the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
The lesson: compliance obligations change, and they vary by location. ISO 14001 asks organizations to identify and keep up with their compliance obligations. The organizations that do this well treat new rules as planning inputs, not surprises.
How Do Sustainable Operations Serve Customers Better?
Sustainable operations aren’t only an internal benefit. For a supplier, they become part of what the customer buys.
- Lower-carbon supply chains: a supplier’s emissions count toward its customers’ value-chain (Scope 3) emissions. When the supplier cuts its footprint, its customers move closer to their own climate goals.
- Lower regulatory risk: higher recycled content and readiness for packaging regulations help customers stay compliant in the markets they sell into.
- A more reliable supply: operations that use less water and energy are less exposed to shortages and price swings.
- Data customers can use: measured, verified results are easy for customers to cite in their own sustainability reports and supplier questionnaires.
- Competitive pricing: efficiency savings, like the $121,000 a year from one PDCA project, help keep costs down.
Customers increasingly ask their suppliers for environmental data. A supplier with a working, certified management system can answer with numbers instead of promises, and the certification tells customers an independent body has reviewed how those numbers are managed.
Sustainable Operations Lessons Your Organization Can Apply Now
- Rewrite one environmental objective so it has a baseline year, a target number, and a deadline.
- Close the loop on your last three improvement projects. What did each one measurably deliver?
- Review your next project for connected aspects. Does an energy project also affect water, waste, or cost?
- Run one real PDCA cycle on a specific operational problem, and track both the environmental and the financial result.
- Check your compliance obligations for upcoming regulatory changes in the regions where you or your customers operate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are sustainable operations in manufacturing?
Sustainable operations are the day-to-day practices that reduce a plant’s use of energy, water, and raw materials, and the emissions and waste it produces. They depend on measurable targets, tracked results, and a continual improvement cycle such as PDCA.
How does ISO 14001 support sustainable operations?
ISO 14001 gives organizations a framework to set measurable environmental objectives, control their operations, monitor and measure results, keep up with compliance obligations, and continually improve. It turns sustainability goals into a managed system rather than one-off projects.
What is a PDCA example in environmental management?
At one paper mill, a team used Plan-Do-Check-Act to tackle wastewater. They planned changes, put them in place, checked the results, and standardized what worked. The mill reduced effluent by 378 cubic meters a day and saved $121,000 a year.
Why do customers care about a supplier’s emissions?
A supplier’s emissions are part of its customers’ value-chain (Scope 3) emissions. When suppliers reduce their footprint and report it with reliable data, customers move closer to their own climate goals and can answer reporting requirements with confidence.
Do small and mid-sized organizations need science-based targets?
Not necessarily. The key principle applies at any size: set objectives with a baseline, a number, and a deadline, and measure progress against them. ISO 14001 requires measurable objectives, and organizations can scale them to their own operations.
Build a System That Delivers Results
Management Systems International (MSI) has helped organizations build ISO 14001 environmental management systems that work in practice since 1998. MSI is a veteran-owned, female-owned firm with experts who have attended 200+ audits, helped 80+ organizations achieve certification, and trained 600+ professionals across manufacturing, technology, aerospace, medical device, government, and other regulated industries.
Measure. Improve. Prove. If you want your environmental management system to deliver results like these, call MSI at 760-434-9141, learn more about our ISO 14001 consulting, or book a free planning session.
About the Author: Diana Lynn is the founder and President of Management Systems International (MSI), a veteran-owned, female-owned ISO consulting and training firm founded in 1998. She and the MSI team help organizations implement ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 management systems that work in practice. Connect with Diana on LinkedIn.
