Frost & Sullivan hosts 5th edition of ‘’Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards and Summit’’

‘Believers Award’ winners at ‘The 5th edition of Frost & Sullivan’s Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2014’

Frost & Sullivan recently concluded its 5th edition of the ‘Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards and Summit (GMEA&S)’ in Mumbai. The event comprised Green Manufacturing Excellence Summit where organisations that have worked on their sustainability gathered under one roof. Best practices from companies across industries that participated in the award platform were shared by notable industry stalwarts who play an integral role in the field of sustainability in India. The focus was on aligning sustainability initiatives with the business model and creating sustainable ‘smart’ business models. The common message brought to the fore by these companies was that in order to create success stories it is imperative for financial inclusion to be one of the cornerstones of the language of sustainability.

Three pharma companies featured in the Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards’ roll of honour this year. In the Believers category, Sentiss Pharma’s Nalagarh facility and USV’s Unit II at Jharmajri received awards in the Medium Business segment while Piramal Enterprises’ Digwal facility received a Certificate of Merit. USV’s Unit II at Jharmajri also received a Certificate of Merit in Safety Excellence.

This year, eight per cent of the companies that were short-listed for final assessment were from the pharma sector. GMEA, through this mission, lays emphasis on identifying long-term sustainability risks, and an organisational approach to address these issues. Various metrics ranging from sustainable strategy to safety systems, from environmental management to social accountability, are tracked through this platform.

Surya Bansal, Programme Manager- Sustainability Initiative, Frost & Sullivan said, “Sustainability as an integrated strategic tool is a very new to the country and is at a nascent stage in pharma companies. Globally, the big players in the pharma sector have been talking of the responsibilities and environmental stewardship for quite a few years now. There are challenges that they face, be it with pharma in the environment (PIE) or responsibility towards the use of the medicines and have faced intense pressure from stakeholders to look at sustainable practices. Companies like AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pfizer, etc. for example, are looking to see how to use innovation, technology and community involvement to bring in sustainable manufacturing practices, be it looking at concentrations of APIs in the environment (both short and long term), use of natural enzymes or harnessing green energy.”

Nitin Kalothia, Director, Manufacturing and Process Consulting, Frost & Sullivan said, “Based on our assessments, we have seen companies like Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Abbott Healthcare, Sentiss Pharma, Piramal Healthcare and USV, who have been leading the sustainability journey in the pharma sector.”

Kalothia highlighted, “During the assessments for GMEA the key finding has been that sustainability for most companies have been initiative driven. The focus areas for these companies have been energy management, material, and products which directly impact the bottom line of the company. There needs to be a shift in this concept as the low hanging fruits that come with an initiative based approach would soon dry out. The shift has to be toward considering sustainable ‘smart’ business models that integrate each of the requirements be it resources, waste, energy, supply chain, into the long-term planning and vision of the organisation.”

GMEA&S, this year, also saw the introduction of the Safety Excellence Model that took companies through a detailed safety assessment built on five broad parameters (Safety Management Systems, Process Safety, Equipment Safety, Employee Safety, and Occupational Health). These five parameters were further divided into sub-parameters that evaluate and map their journey from a reactive to a proactive safety approach. A detailed feedback on the maturity of a company’s safety system was shared in addition to the GMEA report. The highest scoring companies were recognised for ‘Excellence in Safety’ during the 2014 Green Manufacturing Excellence Awards banquet.

EP News Bureau – Mumbai