Page 302 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

278 Cha pte r F o u r tee n

addition, Lilly is leveraging new technologies to make medicines
more efficiently and with less waste. For example, in the case of one
potential product, a treatment for sleep disorder, the team has been
able to reduce raw material use by a factor of 100 using continuous
reactors instead of conventional batch reactors.

Lean Six Sigma for Environmental Performance
Lean Six Sigma has become a core business tool at Lilly for improv-
ing productivity and eliminating process wastes, which has posi-
tively influenced environmental performance. Other projects have
reduced the amount of laboratory wastes generated, improved the
use of continuous emission monitoring systems, established com-
mon energy-tracking systems to drive reduction in energy use, and
established a container recycling process. The following are exam-
ples of HSE benefits:
• Waste Elimination. In Indiana, a Lean Six Sigma project
re sulted in the elimination of a liquid hazardous-waste incin-
erator, which reduced GHG emissions by 21,750 Metric tons
of CO equivalents per year. This project also reduced the
2
amount of waste solvents requiring incineration by 6 million
liters per year.
• Packaging Reduction. Pharmaceutical packaging is highly reg-
ulated and must fulfill many functions—providing informa-
tion, resisting counterfeiting, and protecting against tampering
or access by children. From 2007 to 2008, Lilly’s innovative
packaging approaches saved more than $14 million by reduc-
ing packaging mass and improving productivity.
• Green Procurement. Lilly has developed environmental
purchasing criteria for specific categories of materials and
services, such as energy efficiency and material content. In
selected areas, follow-up reviews of a supplier’s HSE per-
formance provide validation that the desired capabilities are
being realized. This process has encouraged collaboration
with suppliers in developing solutions that achieve Lilly’s
HSE objectives.

Sustainable Packaging for Medical Devices
Lilly markets medical devices that support patient care in the use of
its pharmaceuticals. One example is an insulin delivery device com-
monly known as an “insulin pen.” The company’s medical device
development process emphasizes the use of renewable resources,
energy efficiency, and compliance with the evolving product environ-
mental requirements, such as WEEE (see Chapter 3), battery return,
and packaging.