What Is Lean Production?
According to plainview.com, the term “Lean” in production or manufacturing refers to “the application of lean practices, principles to reduce waste, optimize processes, cut costs, and boost innovation.” It’s derived from Toyota’s 1930’s operating model called The Toyota Way. Founded on the idea of continuous improvement of people and processes, it has been adopted by businesses all over the world today. What if you applied the concept of lean to your own business’ waste handling and recycling operations? Could you remove waste in space or money from your process, reduce employee time needed for such tasks, and allocate it to more important jobs within your organization?
Going Lean With Your Waste & Recycling
The answer is, you can, and Harmony can help! You can continue to improve your waste and recycling efficiencies by implementing one or several of the solutions listed here:
Compact Waste At Its Source – Indoor Compactors
Harmony’s SmartPack at a popular NY mall.
If your company is collects waste from a variety of areas and transports it to one central location, compacting it at its source reduces the time and money needed for trash collection. Harmony’s indoor compactors, like our SmartPack Automatic Compactor, or our 450SS Stainless Steel Compactor allow users to deposit waste and have it reduced in size until the unit is full. The volume of waste can be reduced by as much as 10X of the original size before it needs to be hauled away. Once the compactors are full, the trash can be safely hauled with a lift cart, securing employee safety in the process. If your staff was emptying waste 3 times per day, for a total of 90 times per month, that could be reduced to as few as 1 time every 3-4 days, or 9 times per month!
Compacting waste at its source also creates a savings in bag usage. By using one bag in every SmartPack cube as compared to ten in a normal trash can, you can reduce waste in bag use, saving considerable money over time. You are also helping the environment but disposing of fewer bags in the landfill.
Compactor v. Open Top Dumpster – Outdoor Compactors
Harmony C100 Stationary Compactor in Mason City, IA.
It is well documented that a stationary or self-contained compactor can provide a minimum of a 4:1 compaction ratio when compared to an open top dumpster. That means you save an average of 75% on waste hauling bills per month! Not only that, but compactors provide additional benefits like security from pilferage, vermin, and odor. They also ensure that waste stays inside the unit, keeping unsightly trash away from the exterior of your business and improving the customer experience.
Asset Monitoring
Compactor monitoring is a great way to continually improve your waste handling. Compactors help to reduce the number of times trash needs to be hauled, whether its inside or outside of your location. Adding compactor monitoring technology, like Harmony’s Insite, allows you to empty your compactor on a “just in time” basis. The system will alert your staff or your hauler when the unit is nearly full, ensuing that it will be at capacity when its emptied, and reducing the overall number of pulls per month. Less pulls equals money saved and fewer carbon emissions released into the atmosphere by large waste trucks. The system also can create reports on usage, helping you schedule staff that much more efficiently.
Bale Recyclables, Don’t Throw Them Away!
The M60CB vertical cardboard baler at a retail location in Helena, MT.
Another way that you can significantly reduce waste and help your operations “go lean” is by recycling commodities that have value as renewable resources. Items like cardboard, aluminum, PET, plastics, paper, shrink wrap, electronics, textiles and non-ferrous metals are all recyclable. Recyclers pay for bales of these commodities.
If you generate any of these as waste in your operations and are not currently recycling them, chances are that you are sacrificing valuable work space storing them and are creating safety hazards by having them stored openly on-site. Worse yet, the people you are paying to remove them as waste products are most likely turning around and recycling them for profit themselves! Investing in a vertical or horizontal baler is one way to ensure that you are taking advantage of every cost saving measure available in this process.
Site Review/Needs Assessment – Proven Process From Wide Range of Solutions
Often times, business owners know they need to remove waste in their operations, but are not sure what type of equipment should be used. Having a site review or needs assessment done by an industry professional is the first step to optimizing your efficiencies. Our friendly and experienced sales team conducts free, no-obligation site reviews to asses your current process, understand your goals, timeline, and budget, and uses that information to propose the most efficient, long lasting, and affordable solution possible.
Harmony’s Proven Process ensures that you are offered the right solution specific to your business’ needs. Because Harmony Enterprises manufactures a wide range of waste and recycling solutions, you don’t have to worry that you will be forced into a one-size-fits-all approach.
Training
One aspect of efficiency that is often overlooked is employee training. Harmony provides safety and operational training for your staff at the time of installation. We also include operational, maintenance, troubleshooting, and cleaning guidance as part of our manuals and product videos. This helps to make sure that your staff is able to operate the equipment safely and quickly, to eliminate down time.
Service/Parts/Maintenance/Troubleshooting
Harmony’s equipment is built to last, but in the event that they need to be serviced, we offer 24 hour service throughout the United States for any make or model baler or compactor. Our parts department has an easy parts order form for quality replacement parts. We offer annual preventive maintenance plans to increase the life and efficiency of your machines and have an in-house service technicians available to help you troubleshoot should issues arise.
Having all of these resources available to you mean that you spend less time trying to find help, parts, or figure out what to do next!
Are You Ready To Remove Waste & Go Lean?
It’s time to trim the fat in your waste and recycling operations and go lean! Harmony Enterprises has been serving satisfied customers in over 80 countries worldwide for nearly 60 years! We are ready to help you remove waste and get on the path to continuous improvement and savings. Give us a call at (507) 886-6666 or Contact Us to increase your efficiencies today!
