Elimination of Major Waste Groups - Coursework Example

?Waste Elimination XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX Waste products are environmental hazards that affect the environment in many diverse and characteristic manners. Used products fill the streets and the environment through various means and though at times waste may not be physical; it has a final negative effect. Waste is described through very many means and the mode in which the responsible causative agent handles it matters a lot to the environment as a whole. It is for this reason that there was the analysis and classification of waste into 7 major groups (Ohno, 2008, 124). In the several groups identified by economist, Taiichi Ohno, there is the imperative need of identifying some of them and breaking them down in an effort to acquire greater understanding of their effects and subsequent characteristics. These waste groups include, damage caused by the waste to the environment, the waste in production and the waste brought about in motion. Baltimore Green Construction is a company based in Maryland that has made tremendous efforts in resolving the various waste issues experienced today. Focusing on the first category identified, there are very many effects caused by waste products to the environment and the affected are not only people, but also other organisms in the environment. One of the major problems that waste products have on the environment is pollution. Pollution is a problem that has affected many countries in the 21st century and the amount of waste products that bring about this is in a very large amount. Characterization of pollution is into three groups, one of the vast types is air pollution, the other type of pollution identified is water pollution, and then there is the less but still epidemic soil pollution. Focusing on air pollution, the major factor to identify with this is global warming. Many companies in the contemporary world manufacture and produce goods using industries and factories that do not have proper waste disposal systems. However, one of the ways through which Baltimore Green Construction has achieved the curbing of the pollution is by having employed two major faculties in the assessment of the facility. One of them is the employee awareness department that has educated workers a lot on the dangers paused by unregulated waste disposal. The department has had various internal conferences where they have been warned against release of their waste products through unregulated chimneys that take the waste fumes out into the open air. When the fumes get into the atmosphere, they head straight into the Ozone layer perforating it significantly. The perforation of the Ozone layer means that more light from the sun has the ability to reach the earth and this is a condition leading to drying of many water bodies. With dried up water bodies, an increase of environmental implications has been noticed such as the dying of many water plants and water animals. The dying of the animals has subsequently led to the increased suffering of inhabitants near these areas who depend on the animals as food for survival. This situation has raised a lot of concern to the administration of Baltimore Green Construction and thus the Chief Executive authorized a major project that could see the fumes collected and stored in a chamber that removes the toxic substances that may cause global warming. After this, the air gets released to the atmosphere from a specific outlet that has an internal lining that curbs all previously unidentified toxics (Shimokawa & Fujimoto, 2010, 77). Baltimore Green Construction has also engaged in the development of a program that after completion will see to much safer drinking water for the environment. Potapsco River is one of the major rivers in the city of Baltimore and serves a lot of the population in the locality. However, in the recent past, complains have been made about wastes from industries being dumped there. Baltimore Green Construction has taken the incentive to recycle its water through a major refinery established at the major center for the company. This has brought a lot of appraisal from the communities around, as the water is much safer from dumped construction waste raw materials. Soil pollution is another major product of wastes. Whenever the company workers move from the company and factory headquarters into the fields for a construction project, they always carry with them various products such as small buckets and large trucks to salvage most of their excess products. These products are such as dropped nails and large chunks of timber (Kubba, 2010, 48). The nails are put into small bottles and buckets with a recycling incentive and the timber curried in the trucks instead of leaving them lying around in the soil that brings about soil pollution. Moreover, the company has introduced Silver- Level Leed Building as the core purpose in their building. This is from the fact that it identifies the fact that building without Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, people may result to using less environmental friendly construction products that may even have an effect on their health. It is for this reason that Baltimore Green Construction has received much acclamation around Baltimore and the entire Maryland for being a leading construction industry with an environmental purpose. Another category mentioned is the waste of motion (Ohno, 2008, 71). This kind of waste is very important to understand as it takes most of time in an industry or as in this case, the Baltimore Green Construction. The company has made major changes to its employee employment requirements and training period and this is for increased performance and greater output that would lead to expansion. The company has engaged in ensuring that waste of motion is the least of its problems through various ways. One of the manners through which the company has done this is by ensuring professional trainers employed in the company head out to the fieldwork with trainees. These professionals are friendly but still strict to ensure that the output got from the trainees is enough to offer employment. One of the manners through which motion is wasted is through occasional simple activities such as fetching. Many are times when the employees will get to the construction site having forgotten their work tools in their work trucks (Kubba, 2010, 241). This leads to wastage of motion going to fetch the equipment and getting back to the construction site. This time could have been put into much greater use and subsequently greater production. The trainers ensure that the employees follow the strict procedures such as always carrying their equipments and cross checking before leaving the headquarters or trucks. Another waste resolution process observed at the factories of the company involves the lifting of goods. The factory has a strict procedure of always setting the heavy commodities at a level that is near the ground floor of the factory. This leads to efficient movement as not a lot of time is wasted moving the commodities. Another advantage of this is that it does not fatigue the employees a lot and thus they are fit to carry out even more jobs at the facility. After the training, the skill is embedded into the trainees and thus understands their job description better to get applied even after training. This is one reason that has led Baltimore Green Construction to acquire a leading role in the building industry around Baltimore (Kubba, 2010, 135). The competitive nature of the employees builds the amount of confidence that people in the area have in the company and thus there is an increased amount of construction requests for the company. The enhancement of this is further done by the assurance of fast construction. Another form of waste identified by Baltimore Green Construction is overproduction. This method of waste has faced many companies in the contemporary years and the effort to curb it has been unsuccessful. However, Baltimore Green Construction is one of the few companies that have found success in eliminating this issue. The major way through which the company has done this is by the increased usage of the asset management position together with financial management. The company has employed this major merger to assist in the identification of the amount of money that the company spends in an annual rate purchasing products while comparing it with the number of assets left in the company over a certain period. This comparison has been very important in that the raw materials get analyzed and the leftovers calculated in terms of market cost. Prior to the identification of this is a method of calculating the amount of loss or profit in the company, there was a lot of waste observed coming from overproduction and the excess assets became useless or if in large amounts, got expired. This incentive has been very influential in the running of the company and has assisted in waste reduction. Baltimore Green Company has made great growth strides from the employment of certified and competent staff that have worked very hard to ensure that the scourge of waste is eliminated. Waste accounts for a great percentage of a company reputation, credibility and efficiency. It is thus very important that every company despite the market region or industry it involves, makes waste a past problem. Baltimore has also had a great help from involving the community around by social responsibility such as the creation of funds that have assisted in generation of several projects around Baltimore. This has led to greater cooperation between the company upper management and the community where the community has had a great role in offering ideas on how to improve their environment from waste reduction. References Adams, B. 2009. Waste of Motion: Lean Manufacturing Junction. Retrieved on 30th April 2012 from http://www.lean-manufacturing-junction.com/waste-of-motion.html Ohno, T. 2008. Workplace Management. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Shimokawa, K., & Fujimoto, T. 2010. The Birth of Lean: Conversations with Taiichi Ohno. London: Oxford University Press. Kubba, Sam. 2010. Baltimore Green Construction Management and Cost Oversight. New York: Cengage Learning. Kristin, F. 2011. Baltimore Green Construction. Retrieved on 30th April 2012 from http://www.baltimoregreenconstruction.com/services.html Read More