Introduction

Attaining environmental excellence through operations is a well established element of many successful production systems. Organisations have learnt much from establishing a connection between improving processes and operational efficiency and the subsequent benefits in environmental performance. Greener operations management provides benefits to the firm such as waste reduction, improved processes, fewer quality issues, less packaging, removal of toxic materials and environmentally sound innovations to name a few.

Combining environmental performance goals with the goals of the operations function has been borne out as providing a legitimate competitive advantage for the modern corporation. Manufacturers that are able to reduce pollution or waste in-process, avoid the costly re-management of wastes or having to invest in pollution control technology. Thoughtful consideration of environmental goals at the operations level has also led to successful new product innovation examples such as the recyclable disposable camera (Kodak), a 100 per cent recyclability of the automobile (BMW), and the use of hybrid technology to reduce fuel consumption (the Toyota Prius).