Education do not exceed a 500-mile radius from the site. “The value is about cost avoidance,” Kusnierz said. “If you can reduce capital costs, energy costs and waste reduction costs, you are contributing to the bottom line.” “The idea of process improvement is to challenge the status quo,” Mian said. “If we end up saying we are doing this because we’ve always done it this way, we need to change.” The Fremont Towers project was designed to exceed ASHRAE and LEED standards. “That was the challenge Gary (Kusnierz) posed to us,” Mian said.
Lean and green
Lean business practices are already well-establish in the manufacturing and health care sectors. Dunn said sustainability is merely an extension of the lean philosophy. Lean, he said, is about reducing the cost of providing products and services. Green is about the same thing – reducing the energy and waste costs needed to produce those products and services. Kusnierz, a lean-certified, Six Sigma black belt professional himself, agrees. “It’s just a better way to do business,” Kusnierz said. “You’re not adding people, you’re not adding construction costs, you’re not adding energy costs. People are empowered to make decisions that make the most sense. When we repurposed the St. Elizabeth emergency room, we reduced the footprint by 3,000 square feet. Applying lean principles drives safety and efficiency, and values a team approach.” The Affinity project achieved LEED Gold certification because of the addition of a vegetative roof, as well as storm water management and cooling potential. The focus on energy conservation at St. Elizabeth led to a new central mechanical plant and the investigation of solar panels to be used for both
UW MASTER OF SCIENCE IN SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT The master’s program is a collaborative effort of five University of Wisconsin campuses – UW Green Bay, UW Oshkosh, UW Parkside near Kenosha, UW Stout in Menomonie and UW Superior. The degree is completed entirely online. The curriculum was developed by faculty from the five campuses with input from industry leaders to ensure learning objectives are current and valuable to employers. Careers in green technology are expected to grow much faster than the job market as a whole, translating to a roughly 20 percent increase per year through 2018.
UW OSHKOSH SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT MINOR Designed to develop an understanding of the Triple Bottom Line concept in the context of organizational success. Open to students of all majors.
24 | August 2015 | NNB2B
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