EMS in Manufacturing
Most sizeable manufacturing facilities have an Environmental Management System (EMS) for normal daily use during production and when an environmental issue arises. However, Environmental Management System needs regular updates with process changes when they occur. The corporate Health & Safety manager is usually responsible for the Environmental Management System and its implementation. In most cases, the costs associated with developing and updating EMS can be significant. Generally, an EMS is defined as a structured framework for managing the significant environmental effects of an organization, especially a manufacturing facility. The system has some advantages and disadvantages, which influence decisions on whether manufacturing facilities should have them regardless of their sizes and capacity given the substantial costs involved.
Pros and Cons of EMS
An EMS is crucial for handling the substantial environmental impacts of organizations, particularly manufacturing facilities, regardless of the variance in these effects across organizations. As previously mentioned, this system is associated with some advantages and disadvantages relative to handling environmental effects arising from manufacturing processes. Some of the advantages of EMS include enhanced environmental performance, improved compliance with relevant laws, enhanced efficiency, decreased operational costs, prevention of pollution, conservation of resources, improved awareness of environmental issues,...
However, the disadvantages of this framework include high costs of development and implementation, its relative suitability for large organizations, and political or administrative obstacles in effective implementation.
Need for EMS in Every Manufacturing Facility
As previously indicated, one of the disadvantages of Environmental Management System is its suitability for large organizations. The system seems to be more effective in larger organizations that have already established a systematic approach to environmental management and not small and medium sized organizations that may lack such approaches. However, every manufacturing facility regardless of its size and capacity should have a functioning Environmental Management System. The need for such systems across all manufacturing facilities is because of the increase in negative impacts on the environment due to production processes carried out by these facilities. In the past few decades, manufacturing processes have acted as the main contributing factors to negative environmental effects as evidence by global warming. Production processes contribute to negative impacts on the environment by affecting the world ecosystems through emission of greenhouse gases. Since all manufacturing facilities regardless of their size and capacity generate environmental impacts through their processes, they should have an operating Environmental Management System.…
