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Paramount Printing Becomes ‘Lean and Green’

When Paramount Printing, Jacksonville, Fla., started on the path to lean manufacturing, a continual improvement process, CEO Jon Cummins had no idea it would lead to the greening of his business. The lean initiatives, which he has undertaken with a consortium of 50 Florida-based companies in various industries, paved the way for an easy certification process.

“FSC certification is really about paperwork,” he says, as Paramount Printing was already purchasing paper from FSC-certified paper mills for its jobs. The company had to prove to inspectors “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that jobs in FSC-marked flow were untainted by non FSC-material. In the process of streamlining and rearranging the shop floor, the FSC certification was a natural follow. The auditor completed the inspection in a morning, Cummings said, and allowed the company to fix two things while he remained at the shop and gave his final approval. Inspectors conduct yearly follow-ups and occasional surprise inspections.

“Almost all industries have a green initiative going on. We knew it was a matter of when, not if. Right now, we figure we’re only about a year ahead.” Although Cummins tried to get other local printers to get certified at the same time (in order to negotiate a lower certification rate), only one other shop was interested. “I had to stop and think, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’” Cummins said. It turned out to be the right move.

“Customers told us on three specific jobs that we lost the business because we weren’t FSC-certified,” Cummins says, and speculates it was the “tiebreaker” on other jobs.

The certification process raised employees’ awareness of eco-friendly alternatives, and Cummins says the company will continue to pursue that path. “Our lean certification made it easy for us to get the FSC certification, which in turn made it easy to get another hard-to-obtain permit, the authorization to produce in California. It all snowballed from one management thing.”

FSC Certification
These companies have also recently received FSC Chain-of-Custody certification. A complete list can be found at www.fsc-info.org.

*Some of the companies in the list have obtained related eco-friendly certification. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program is based on nine principles addressing economic, environmental, cultural and legal issues in addition to forest management. The program was started by members of the American Forest and Paper Association, but it’s now an independent environmental nonprofit. Third-party auditors certify companies.

+The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is the world’s largest certification group of this nature, and it occasionally competes with the FSC for certification clients. The group, based in Luxembourg, was founded by forest industry leaders and is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization to promote sustainably managed forests through third party auditors.

Suppliers:
Unisource Worldwide Inc., Norcross, Ga., is certified for all Unisource distribution centers and PaperPlus locations. The company also earned SFI and PEFC certifications, all of which expire in March 2012.

New Leaf Paper, San Francisco, earned FSC accreditation for its Primavera high-end gloss coated paper, and increased the post-consumer recycled waste content to 60 percent. The company will also use electricity that is offset with Green-e certified renewable energy certificates.

Neenah Paper, Neenah, Wis., earned the FSC Pure label for its STARWHITE brand, meaning the paper is made only with virgin fiber from a forest certified by the FSC. The line is also 100 percent Green-e certified and carbon neutral. Neenah is introducing a “soft touch” finish to the brand, available in Sirius and Natural colors on a 110-lb. basis weight cover sheet.

Domtar, Montreal, Quebec, earned FSC certification for its Cougar uncoated paper. The paper also has 10 percent post-consumer fiber content, and previously earned SFI certification. Cougar is elemental chlorine free (ECF) and lignin free.

*Also SFI-certified
+Also PEFC-Certified