Benchmarking: An International JournalExtension of process mapping to identify “green waste”Gareth R.T. White Peter James

Article information:To cite this document:Gareth R.T. White Peter James , (2014),"Extension of process mapping to identify “green waste”",Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 21 Iss 5 pp. 835 - 850Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-07-2012-0047

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Extension of process mappingto identify “green waste”

Gareth R.T. WhiteUniversity of Glamorgan, Faculty of Business and Society, Glamorgan, UK, and

Peter JamesUniversity of the West of England, Strategy and Operations Management,

Bristol, UK

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to process mapping (Pmapping) thatincorporates the identification of environmental wastes.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed extension of the PMapping technique isindependently trialled by ten Industrial Engineers in manufacturing SMEs in South Wales. Interviewswere conducted with each Engineer after the mapping technique was trialled, in order to understandthe benefits and difficulties of using the approach.Findings – Integrating the identification of “green wastes” within the PMapping tool is found to bean effective way of focusing attention upon the environmental impact of activities within processes.Combining “green and lean” is also an approach that cements environmental issues into an organisation’scontinuous improvement efforts and can assist in it becoming part of its improvement philosophy.Research limitations/implications – The tool has been trialled within a limited number of small- tomedium-sized manufacturing organisations. Further examination of the tool should be conducted inorganisations in different business sectors utilising a range of process technologies.Practical implications – The proposed tool appears effective in aiding the identification ofenvironmental wastes in manufacturing processes. It also has value in integrating environmentalimprovement initiatives with other process improvement initiatives.Originality/value – PMapping techniques are well known in the literature, and in practice, but nonehave been identified that incorporate the identification of environmental wastes.Keywords Business performance, Continuous improvement, Small-to-medium-sized enterprises,Lean productionPaper type Research paper

Organisational improvementA significant volume of literature explores the way in which lean thinking, tools andapproaches can provide benefit and competitive advantage for modern businesses(Syddell, 2005; Verstraete, 2004; Alavi, 2003; McCurry and McIvor, 2001; Mason-Joneset al., 2000). Discussions of lean implementation have not always centred around itssuccesses and there has been much debate over the ability of western organisations toadopt Japanese management techniques (Sopow, 2007; Griffith et al., 2006; Ball, 2005;Magana-Campos and Aspinwall, 2003; Holden, 2003; Fink, 2003; Stamm, 2003; Fairrisand Tohyama, 2002).

Lean thinking, tools and approaches have stirred considerable rethinking ofestablished management and organisational practices. For example, where significantoperational improvements have not resulted in meaningful financial improvements,the methods for controlling costs and accounting have been challenged (Pohlen andColeman, 2005; Kroll, 2004; Hulme and Lowell, 2003; Lea and Min, 2003; Said et al.,2003). There have also been increasing concerns over the psychological andsociological pressures that lean initiatives may put upon workers and organisations,

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/1463-5771.htm

Received 9 July 2012Revised 17 December 2012

Accepted 18 December 2012

Benchmarking: An InternationalJournal

Vol. 21 No. 5, 2014pp. 835-850

r Emerald Group Publishing Limited1463-5771

DOI 10.1108/BIJ-07-2012-0047

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factors that have been shown to be important influences upon the processes ofknowledge acquisition (McManus, 2003; Gagnon and Michael, 2003; Needy et al., 2002;Ezzamel et al., 2001; Franchini et al., 2001).

The pursuit of lean to its ultimate state has even been criticised for tending to resultin a dramatic reduction in an organisation’s agility and ability to respond to thechanging needs of dynamic and uncertain market conditions (Coldwell, 2010). Someliterature recognises that the ultimate goal of a programme of lean implementation isnot necessarily the achievement of a “perfect organisation”, containing zero stock orwaste, for example. Instead, it perceives lean as an approach that enables anorganisation to achieve a reduction in waste to a point that is appropriate, or optimumfor the organisation and its customers (Hines et al., 2011).

What has received little attention to date is the applicability of lean tools to theimprovement of an organisation’s environmental practice and performance, althoughthe link between lean waste and environmental waste reduction is known (Ross andAssociates, 2007; Isaksson, 2006). This is significant since the issue of sustainabilityand the green agenda has become of greater interest to society in general andorganisations are facing increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact oftheir activities (DEFRA, 2011; Clark, 2004). Environmental issues and the sustainabilityagenda continue to be of key strategic and operational concern to organisations acrossall sectors of commerce including small, medium and large enterprises, and those thatare profit making and non-profit making (White et al., 2011; White and Lomax,2010). Environmental performance is therefore a key component of an organisation’scompetitive advantage.

This paper presents an extension of the technique of process mapping (PMapping)that aims to capture data about the environmentally harmful wastes that are presentwithin an organisation’s processes. By incorporating the capture and analysis of“green wastes” alongside other process data, this technique aims to integrate thecontinuous improvement of green initiatives alongside continuous improvementinitiatives. Green initiatives then cease to be “something else” that needs to be done inthe organisation, or are tasks that are done by “someone else”, but become embeddedin the everyday management of the organisation and become part of the organisationalimprovement philosophy and practice.

The next section of this paper reviews the PMapping literature and identifies it asan under-researched area. Following this, it discusses the technique of PMappingbefore presenting an extension to the technique that incorporates the identification ofenvironmental wastes. After outlining the research approach, it discusses the logicof identifying “green wastes” and the practical issues that were encountered.

PMapping: overview and literatureAmong the variety of lean techniques that may be employed to facilitate organisationalimprovement, value stream mapping (VSM) and PMapping are widely regarded asbeing useful techniques (Parry et al., 2010; Lasa et al., 2008; Naslund, 2008; Siha andSaad, 2008; Paradiso and Cruickshank, 2007; Vollmer and Phillips, 2000; Hines andRich, 1997). VSM and PMaps are outwardly similar techniques, for simplicity, a VSMcan be considered to be an organisation-wide map constructed from multiple interconnectedPMaps (BeyondLean, 2011), PMaps being “essential to understand the value stream” ( Julienand Tjahjono, 2009, p. 324).

PMapping is used extensively throughout manufacturing industries but has alsobeen used in laboratories (Frederick et al., 2000), construction (Winch and Carr, 2001)

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and in service environments (Linton, 2007). Though there are numerous variants of thisapproach they all attempt to provide a mechanism for gaining detailed understandingof the current-state of how organisations work (Nash and Poling, 2009; Innovations,2005; Hines and Rich, 1997). Despite the usefulness of PMapping, as can be seen inTable I, it is a relatively under-researched technique with more focus being placed inthe literature on the topic of VSM.

PMapping is a technique that captures knowledge contained within an organisation(Parry et al., 2010). Vollmer and Phillips (2000, p. 130) note that PMaps enable theorganisation to “understand where knowledge resides today in an organization [y]where knowledge is used, how it is dispersed and who uses it” and, since knowledgerequires context or framing to be of use, conclude that “when properly mapped,processes provide the context”. Kesner (2001) even ventures that PMapping forms thefirst steps in the process of developing a knowledge management system.

PMapping is an analytical technique that graphically depicts how areas of anorganisation work and is a useful technique for documenting the current-state(Paradiso and Cruickshank, 2007). Furthermore, this is not merely an approach forrecording a snapshot of current-state but is also used to develop plans for desired“future-states” (HFMA, 2006). Tuggle and Goldfinger (2004) proffer that PMappingis a way of acquiring the tacit knowledge that is contained within processes. Paradisoand Cruickshank (2007) further highlight the value of PMapping in protectingorganisations from losing knowledge capital by encapsulating knowledge aboutprocesses that could otherwise be lost if individuals leave the company.

The PMapping techniquePMaps can vary widely in their format and level of detail that they attempt to captureand portray (Roseman, 2006a). Some mapping techniques describe the symbols that are

Research area, Subject or Tool Number of articles

Supply Chain Management 882Six Sigma 623Total Quality Management 611Balanced Scorecard 365Continuous Improvement 313Value Stream Mapping 189Business Process Reengineering 109Kanban 65Lean Organisation Case Studies 62Constraint Theory 435S 31Process Mapping 29Statistical Process Control 27Zero Defects 26Control Theories 25Workplace Organisation 22Just In Time 20Kaizen 12Overall Equipment Effectiveness 5Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) 4Waste Elimination 2Single Piece Flow 1

Table I.Lean tools and approaches

literature: compiled inMay 2012 utilising the

business source premierresearch repository

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used in the generation of process flowcharts (Slack et al., 2010) while other approachesprovide detailed system modelling methodologies (IDEF, 2011; Jeong et al., 2008).

Figure 1 shows a pictographic PMap that was generated to depict the stages ofgenerating an invoice (White et al., 2009). The PMap not only captured the “as is”condition but also served as a discussion document around which ideas for improvingthe process were developed.

Keller and Jacka (1999) used PMaps to “heighten management’s understanding”(p. 62) of business processes, interviewing the individuals that “own” the processes togather the necessary data to compile the maps. They recognised the difficultiesin generating such maps and resort to using two personnel, one to interview theprocess owners and one to generate the map. This approach is vital to enable the“live” generation of maps that they deem is important in producing accurate maps.The process owner’s involvement in the activity of developing and completing thePMaps are seen as vital for gaining their future buy-in. Keller and Jacka (1999) pointout the value of the PMaps to process and department managers as discussiondocuments and as training tools.

PMaps are also constructed in order to identify the type and location of waste inan organisation. These wastes may be classified according to Ohno’s “7 Wastes”of overproduction, waiting, transporting, over processing, stock, wasted motion anddefects (Hines and Rich, 1997). There are no strict rules governing the data that iscaptured for each task in the process. The objective of using the technique is to focusan observer’s attention on the process at hand, gathering data that is pertinent to thepurpose to which the map will be put, e.g. process improvement, waste identificationand elimination, etc. These maps therefore are often found to contain a variety of datatypes including, for example, time taken for an activity to be performed, the frequencyof its performance, distance travelled by people or products, and the volume of materialconsumed and produced.

Figure 2 shows a tabular form of PMapping that captures detailed informationregarding the separate activities within a process, and this example shows dataabout the waste captured in the form of measures of time and distance. Described indetail by Hines and Rich (1997) this form of map aims to quantify the productive

Source: White et al. (2009)

Invoice Requesting

And each department has its owninterpretation of the process to

produce Invoice RequestsHence the InvoiceRequests from the

different departmentsare differentEach department has its

own method of keepingrecords of its sales

Sale

EvidenceSupporting

Sale

ProduceInvoice

Request

InvoiceRequest

Figure 1.Pictographic process map

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work and the waste within a process and highlight whether the individual activitiesare either value adding or non-value adding. The value-adding activities are thosethat serve to transform the primary resources and are effectively what the customeris expected, or prepared to pay for. These activities are classed as “Operations” (column Oin Figure 2). Non-value-adding activities are classed as transports (T), storage (S) anddelays (D).

There are some activities that are non-value adding but are nevertheless essentialparts of the process. These are usually some form of quality control and are genericallytermed inspections (I). Their necessity may be driven by the adoption of an inherentlyincapable activity, or may even be required by customers or legislation: for example,testing of automotive components (e.g. SAE, 2011) or regulations pertaining to themanufacture of foodstuffs (e.g. FSA, 2011).

Interestingly, the relative significance of the different types of activities identified inPMaps is not universally agreed: Hines and Rich (1997) use the sequence OTISD intheir discussion of PMapping, Ikbal and Jaiswal (2006) outline an approach that adoptsthe sequence IOTSD, while Nair (2002) proffers OTDIS.

The order of the types of activities shown in Figure 2, OITSD, reflects the notionthat the value-adding activities are recorded nearest to the left side of the form and thewastes are recorded to the right. Also, that as the PMap is read, the wastes to the rightare deemed to be more harmful, and arguably easier to eliminate, than those to the left.Analysis of the PMaps usually takes the form of identifying areas where the mostwaste occurs, namely those activities that are non-value adding. This usually takes theform of a Pareto analysis of the map data and serves to prioritise those activities toimprove or eliminate. Used in this manner the organisation is able to focus its resourceson reducing waste in the most efficient manner.

Extension to PMappingOrganisations often develop and implement environmental management systems(EMSs) in order to control their efforts towards complying with relevant legislation(Figure 3). In the UK, EMSs are typically developed in line with BS8555 and manycompanies seek to achieve certification to ISO14001 (BusinessLink, 2011a).

Activity O I T S D Notes

1 Load 10secs

2 Process 60secs

3 CheckThickness

20secs

4 Clean 5secs

1:5 requirecleaning withIsopropanol

5 Unload 10secs

6 Warehouse 100metres

Up to48hours

Wtgforklift,30mins

Forklift notavailable Figure 2.

Tabulated process map

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Other organisations, recognising the market value of being able to demonstratetheir commitment to being socially responsible corporations, pursue the higher goal ofbeing certified as having achieved the requirements of the eco-management and auditscheme (EMAS) (IEMA, 2011).

The construction of PMaps has been found to be useful in developing an EMS. Thecreation of these PMaps has also been shown to be more than merely a knowledge-capturing activity as suggested in the literature, but that as part of a programme ofwork to develop an EMS, it is also a valuable knowledge-generative activity for anorganisation (White and Lomax, 2010).

Setting improvement targets for environmental programmes is seen as an importantfactor in driving their success (Honkasalo, 1998). Klaver and Jonker (1998) arguethat approaches such as benchmarking and the use of performance indicators can bevaluable drivers of improvement even for schemes such as EMAS: significantly, thelatest EMAS regulations stipulate a range of environmental performance indicatorsthat organisations are obliged to report (EMAS, 2011). An organisation’s environmentalperformance may be measured in numerous ways, but typically, organisations aim toreduce factors such as their carbon-dioxide emissions (carbon footprint) (BusinessLink,2011b), energy use (BusinessLink, 2011c) and production of operational waste(BusinessLink, 2011d).

Some process waste may, however, be profitably utilised, such as the use of dissipatedheat energy to provide office heating, thereby reducing overall energy consumption.It is therefore important to recognise the holistic nature of environmental performanceand management, and this is where the approach of PMapping may offer benefitsover other improvement efforts that consider operations in isolation. Through theconstruction of PMaps, entire VSMs can be generated that provide an organisation-wideview of the size, type and location of “green wastes”.

Environmental, or “green” waste is described but infrequently defined in the literature.Ross and Associates (2007, p. 12) define environmental waste as “unnecessary use ofresources or a substance released to the air, water or land that could harm humanhealth or the environment”. In order to maintain a process-centric perspectiveand the importance of viewing the organisation as a whole, this paper defines “greenwaste” as any resource consumed or produced by a process that does not comprisean input to a product, service or other process: examples of green wastes mayinclude carbon-dioxide emissions, energy consumption, energy emissions and wastematerials. By extending the PMapping technique to incorporate measures of “greenwaste” the organisation is able to acquire knowledge about its environmentalperformance (Figure 4). Through Pareto analysis of recorded wastes the organisation

Visionary,Strategic,External

EMAS

ISO 14001

Detailed,Operational,Internal

BS8555

Figure 3.Relationship betweenEMS approaches

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can identify where the largest or most cost-effective environmental improvementsmay be made.

It will be argued that “green waste” should be recorded in the form of measuresof energy consumption, etc. within the existing tabulated mapping technique, eitherin the individual activity columns or in the notes (Figure 2). However, by identifyingand measuring “green waste” separately the technique serves to highlight theimportance that an organisation places upon its environmental management. Capturinginformation about “green waste” in this manner will be useful in the communicationof the organisation’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact, for example in theproduction of annual environmental statements that are required for EMAS certification(IEMA, 2011).

MethodologyThis study adopts an interpretive approach for the investigation of the applicabilityof the extended PMapping technique for the identification of “green” wastes (Burrelland Morgan, 1994). The extended PMapping technique was piloted in twelveorganisations to independently assess the logic of identifying “green wastes”separately from the wastes of inspection, transport, storage and delays, and toidentify any practical issues in using the technique. The trials were undertakenin SMEs engaged in the design and manufacture of automotive components.The organisations ranged in size from 50 to 100 employees, £1-5 million turnover perannum and were located in South Wales.

In each organisation, the extended PMapping technique was used by an IndustrialEngineer, known to the researcher, and who was familiar with the general principlesand practices of the traditional PMapping technique outlined in Figure 2: eachpractitioner had a minimum of ten year’s experience of constructing PMaps. Thiswas done to secure the views of experienced PMapping practitioners and to obviatethe need to engage in extensive training in the techniques.

Activity O I T S D G Notes

1 Load 10secs

2 Process 60secs

3 CheckThickness

20secs

4 Clean 5secs

Disposal ofdirtyisopropanol. (100 litresper week)

1 in 5requirecleaningwithIsopropanol

5 Unload 10secs

6 Warehouse 100metres

Up to48hours

Wtgforklift,30mins

Diesel fuel(100 litresper day)and forkliftemissions.

Forkliftbeingrefuelled.1,000 litresin storage

Figure 4.Extended tabulated

process map incorporatingmeasures of “green waste”

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The Industrial Engineers were asked to select a process with which they werefamiliar and then to compile a PMap using the extended PMapping technique.Following construction of the PMaps, each Engineer was interviewed to determine thebenefit of separating “green wastes” from other wastes and to comment upon thedifficulties encountered in generating the PMaps. Semi-structured interviews wereemployed, allowing the interviewer to modify questions and to follow emergent themesor issues raised by the interviewee (Bryman, 2008).

The data contained in Figure 4 is compiled from those maps and is indicative of theissues encountered. Figure 6 is a reproduction of one of the PMaps that were generated.The names of the organisations and Industrial Engineers have been anonymised.

The organisations where the studies were conducted are potential competitors andare therefore not identified within the text. The Industrial Engineers that constructedthe PMaps also remain anonymous and are herein identified as A-L.

Discussion of the logic of separating “green wastes”Identifying green wastes using the extended PMapping technique outlined in thispaper assisted all of the Engineers to identify “green” wastes. Figure 4 shows twoinstances, at activities 4 and 6, where the separation of “green wastes” from other wasteshad identified opportunities to make considerable improvements to the organisation’senvironmental impact that may otherwise have been overlooked.

Activity 6 of the process outlined in Figure 4 in particular, highlights an issue withthe availability of a forklift truck. Delays of 30 minutes were experienced andwere due to the forklift requiring refuelling. By using the standard PMappingtechnique shown in Figure 2 the emphasis would be placed upon reducing the delay:an improvement in the process would probably have been made by performingpreventive maintenance that would assure the forklift was always refuelled at thestart of every shift. However, by adopting the extended PMapping method shown inFigure 4, the organisation’s attention is drawn to the nature of the “green wastes” thatare encountered at this stage of the process. In this case the forklift is diesel poweredand therefore involves the storage and consumption of fossil fuel along with thecorresponding exhaust emissions.

The environmental impact of forklifts that use combustion engines is considerableand it is known that variants that are powered by batteries or fuel cells are considerablyless harmful to the environment (Argonne, 2011). Either through analysis of the“green wastes” attributable to forklifts in existing PMaps, or by mapping andanalysing all the activities that involve forklifts, the organisation may calculatethe overall cost and environmental impact of its forklift equipment. It now becomespossible to compile a business case for investing in alternatively powered forklifts,or to modify its practices so that the consumption of diesel, for example is reducedor minimised.

In addition to reducing its environmental impact, the organisation will have capturedquantitative evidence of its efforts to make improvements. These figures may include,for example, the reduction in fossil fuel consumption, a reduction in the emissionsproduced from having the diesel delivered, eliminating the risk of storing large quantitiesof diesel on-site, and the reduction of the ongoing forklift exhaust emissions. Theseimprovements can be reported to the wider community, either as part of the organisation’sannual disclosure under EMAS, or via other communications and press releases.

As mentioned previously, it will be argued that “green wastes” can be capturedwithin the existing PMapping technique shown in Figure 2. However, Engineer A

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vouched that while “green waste” could be captured in the traditional mappingtechnique, it relied upon the individual to “remember to think green”. Contrastingly, asEngineer C stated, the extended mapping technique afforded the opportunity to lookupon the process “through a green lens”.

One notable observation of the completed PMaps is that individual activities will beidentified as being only an operation, inspection, transport, storage or a delay, andnot a combination of more than one type. However, any one of these activities mayalso be identified as a contributor of a “green waste”. Therefore, in order to make thisdistinction, and to highlight the presence of column G and distinguish between thisand the standard mapping technique, in Figure 4 it is shown as being bounded bydouble lines.

Discussion of practical issues in identifying “green wastes”Constructing a PMap using the traditional mapping technique requires someconsiderable understanding of the details of the activities that comprise the process,particularly when being undertaken in a technical or manufacturing environment.It is, for instance, necessary to be able to clearly distinguish between an operationand an inspection activity. It is also desirable to be able to accurately measure thetime taken by each activity and this can be difficult when processes comprisemultiple simultaneous activities with short cycle times. Since this is already arequirement of the traditional mapping technique, the inclusion of the new form ofgreen waste would arguably only add to the time taken to construct the map.

Including “green waste” in the PMapping technique has, in fact, added somedegree of complexity to the task of compiling the maps. Not only must the compilerhave an understanding of the activities within each process, they must also havethe ability to identify such factors as the power rating of electric motors,or have the time to measure the volume of effluent produced (e.g. activity 4 inFigure 4 and activities 1 and 6 in Figure 6). Figure 6, similar to Figure 4, identifiesthe use of a forklift truck in the process. In this example the Industrial Engineerhas highlighted the difficulty in calculating the electrical consumption of thebattery-powered truck in activities 1 and 6. All ten Engineers highlighted thedifficulty in identifying the power consumption of many items of capital equipment.This information is often obscured, having been painted over, or is missing fromthe equipment:

Engineer E expostulated, “I know what I need and I know where to find it, but it’snot there!” Even when information regarding the motors is present it is difficult toascertain precisely the amount of power consumed by the equipment when performingthe work involved in an activity.

Figure 6 shows one of the extended PMaps that had been compiled as part of thisstudy. All of the Industrial Engineers completed their PMaps using paper and pen,and even though numerous computer-based PMapping systems exist (Roseman,2006b), experience suggests that manual production of PMaps appears to be the mostcommon approach used by most organisations. All ten Engineers commented uponthe flexibility that the paper and pen approach afforded: computer-based solutionswere viewed as either requiring the map data to be captured manually in thefirst instance and uploaded later to a desk-based computer, or required the purchaseof relatively expensive, hand-held computing devices. Contrastingly, the manualapproach to map construction was viewed as being more efficient and cost-effective.All Engineers, however, highlighted the limitations that paper-based PMaps presented,

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including the storage space required, their susceptibility to loss or damage and poorlegibility (see Figure 6).

Additionally, if PMaps are to be used to compile VSMs then significant manualinput is required to extract and recompile the data that they contain. A brief review ofcomputer-based PMapping solutions reveals that many incorporate sophisticateddrawing tools and analytical functions. However, the PMapping techniques discussedin this paper are simply tables for capturing data that require little more than Paretoanalysis. This suggests that a computer-based solution would be relatively simple andinexpensive to produce.

It is highly likely that software PMapping applications would be simple enoughto be installed on readily available handheld computing devices, such as PDAsand smartphones, that are ubiquitous and rapidly increasing in functionality whiledecreasing in price (Chaffey and White, 2010). Adopting this mobile technology wouldalleviate much of the perceived hardware costs of a computer-based solution. Such adevelopment would also allow for compact data storage, secure data storage andbackup, and more efficient compilation and dissemination of PMap data into VSMs,than paper-based systems.

Level of detail of mapsEngineers A, B, C, D, E, F, J and L alluded to the difficulty involved in mappinga process in an appropriate level of detail. They each expressed the notion thatmapping processes in greater levels of detail often revealed more instances of waste: Ccommenting, “the closer you look, the more you find”. Engineers E and F furthered thepoint, raising the issue of the increasing cost of creating process maps when a higherlevel of detail is employed.

Ungan (2006) highlights the difficulty involved in choosing an appropriate level ofdetail in which to conduct PMapping. Roseman (2006b) also comments upon thetensions that organisations face, between achieving a level of detail of analysis that isrevealing, while avoiding the “common trap” (Roseman, 2006b, p. 381) of mapping inever-increasing depth. Figure 5 depicts the relationship between the level of detailthat is adopted when mapping a process, the labour cost of creating the map and theresultant potential benefits.

IncreasingDetail

More Waste Found

Mappin

g Pro

cess

Increasing Time andCost of Analysis

Figure 5.Process mapping detail vswaste

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An organisation that is committed to deriving maximum operational improvements,through identifying and eliminating wastes, may be expected to attempt to map itsprocesses in as much detail as is possible. This, however, can be seen to incur highercosts. Organisations are therefore likely to seek to map processes at a level of detailthat is most cost-effective. This may mean that the organisation will not be strivingto be as efficient as it could be.

Determining the benefits of eliminating green wastes is not always readily quantifiablein terms of cost reductions. Environmental benefits may be expressed in terms of carbonfootprint reduction, for example. In attempting to identify every instance of green wastein a process, the organisation is therefore compelled to map at a high level of detail andthis will be a relatively expensive activity. Since not all environmental wastes can beexpressed in monetary terms it is therefore difficult for an organisation to determine alevel of detail that will be most cost-effective.

The cost-benefit analysis of PMapping is therefore a measure that may induceimprovements in operational efficiency, but is not one that leads to the best possibleenvironmental performance (Figure 6).

ConclusionsIdentifying green wastes using the extended PMapping technique outlined in thisstudy has been shown to be valuable in assisting in the management of anorganisation’s environmental efforts. Integrating the identification of “green wastes”within the PMapping technique is found to be an effective way of focusing attentionupon the environmental impact of activities within processes. Combining “green andlean” is also an approach that cements environmental issues into an organisation’scontinuous improvement efforts and can assist in it becoming part of its improvementphilosophy.

Capturing data about “green wastes” through the extended PMapping technique isuseful for an organisation to prioritise its efforts to improve its environmental impact.It is also a valuable source of information that may be used in demonstrating andreporting the organisation’s commitment to environmental concerns to its stakeholdersand the wider community.

Identifying the technical aspects of some activities, such as motor ratings andpower consumption, is often difficult. It is envisaged that many organisationswill undertake a programme of measuring the power consumption of items of capitalequipment as part of an overall approach to environmental and energy management(Director, 2011; Electrical Review, 2011). This data should be useful in completingthe collation of “green wastes” in processes. If this is not present then the processmaps may require the input of two people (Keller and Jacka, 1999), one with detailedprocess knowledge, and the other with knowledge of the technology employedwithin the process. Identifying “green wastes” using the method outlined in thispaper may therefore be a valuable knowledge-capturing activity for an organisation.

The traditional PMapping technique is used extensively throughout a wide varietyof organisation types and business sectors (Linton, 2007; Winch and Carr, 2001;Frederick et al., 2000). A limitation of this study is that the extended technique hasbeen trialled in 12 automotive manufacturing companies in South Wales. It has beenfound to add value to environmental management and improvement initiatives in thissector, but in order to assess the technique’s wider usefulness in driving environmentalimprovement, it should be trialled in other situations, particularly non-manufacturingenvironments and in other regions.

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Future research could explore the relationship between the level of detail that isadopted when producing process maps, and the amount of waste that is found.It should also investigate the efficacy of internal and external measures of environmentalperformance that balance the constraints of maintaining cost-effectiveness with thestrategic value of achieving maximised environmental performance.

Figure 6.Extended process map

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Corresponding authorGareth R.T. White can be contacted at: gwhite1@glam.ac.uk

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