Improve My Business

We are all about trying to help you improve your business, whether that means improving your personal efficiency at work so you get more done, or helping you find ways to attract new customers. Today I want to talk about one of the easiest ways to improve your business, cost cutting. Cost cutting isn’t always easy, actually it is often very difficult to find areas to trim the budget because everything seems important. However, there are some often over looked steps we can take to help control costs without affecting anything we do in our business. One major one is power usage.

Did you know that many electronic devices continue to use power as long as they are plugged into the wall, whether the device if on or not? By simply plugging these chargers into a power board that has an on/off switch you can make it easy to insure that all of your devices are truly off when you want them to be, simply flip the switch on the power board. It is also important to remember that chargers for things like laptops and cellphones will continue to draw power as long as they are plugged into the wall, even if the chargers aren’t charging anything. Making sure you turn off/unplug all devices and chargers in the evenings and one weekends is an easy way to reduce the money you spend on utility bills and the best part is, during the day it can still be business as usual. I told you cost cutting could be easy!

Here is a brief list of things to look at for cutting out phantom power drains: Things with remote controls, anything that has a blocky looking plug or inline block converter (think laptop charger), things that have quick on features, anything that displays a clock. For further cost reductions you can also look for energy star approved electronics when making your purchases, this will ensure that you are getting the most energy efficient products you can and just by being a little more aware you can improve your business. The best part is you are also improving the environment at the same time. Not only will reducing phantom consumption cut down on the amount of coal and natural gas burned to create electricity, lowering our over all demand for power will help make transitioning to renewable resources a more feasible option.

Technorati Tags: Business, enviornment, improvement

Today I want to point out two great posts made by Professor David Dornfeld on his Green Manufacturing Blog (http://green-manufacturing.blogspot.com/). The posts are about low hanging fruit for manufactures to improve their environmental impact without expending a ton of resources. The posts draw on research that Professor Dornfeld and his students will be presenting later this year at a green manufacturing conference and have some great advice for smaller manufactures who want to decrease their environmental impact but can’t spare the resources to role out a huge environmental campaign. The first post can be found at http://bit.ly/8AXCLf and the follow up can be found at  http://bit.ly/5legqq. I hope you enjoy the posts as much as I did.

Technorati Tags: Business, enviornment, improvement

There is a lot of positive press lately for green initiatives – you know, doing something that not only makes sense from a business standpoint, but is also environmentally friendly? Everything from hybrid cars, to turbine power, to solar cells, is getting some press.

Consider that process improvement is also a tool in the green toolbox – after all, if you are working to become more efficient, that promotes using the minimum… and if you are efficient, you will be more competitive, so you have a better chance of being, and staying, productive in your industry.

The next time that management is considering which green tool to champion, remind them that process improvement is the best green tool since it takes product quality, minimization of resources, employee innovation, and customer satisfaction into account.

Technorati Tags: enviornment, green business, green initiative, process improvement

What classifies a business as green? Could you be certified as a green business? There are a million questions surrounding being green, but it’s not really all that complicated.

We all know the obvious things: recycle, reduce paper use, turn off lights, etc. But you can take it a step further by implementing an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for your business. The EPA Small Business Division has produced a workbook to help small businesses develop their very own EMP. The 80 page workbook is free and can be downloaded from the Business.gov website. It is a great resource whether you want something simple to help educate your employees and customers on your efforts, or if you’re looking to implement a full Environmental Management System (EMS). (If you’re after the latter, may I remind you that McDCG is available to assist you). Either way it’s a great place to start and you may find that you’re greener than you thought!

For more ideas visit the Green Guide for New Businesses on the Business.gov website.

Technorati Tags: EMS, enviornment, green business, green living, improvement

Ah, the air is cooling, the leaves are turning - can the avalanche of holiday catalogs be far behind?

As an environmentalist, I prefer not to get catalogs for things I will never purchase.  I prefer to do a web search if there’s something specific I’m looking for.  I prefer not to have to recycle these catalogs - I’d like not to receive them in the first place — and this is where the good folks at Catalog Choice comes in.  If you go to www.catalogchoice.org and sign up, you can eliminate catalogs from being delivered to you.  [I found this particularly helpful when moving also.]

So do the right thing, eliminate the excess catalogs, and your mailperson’s aching back will thank you for it!

Technorati Tags: enviornment, green living, save a tree