Page 337 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

312 Cha pte r Se v e ntee n

Holcim: Creating Lasting Value
A Sustainability Mindset
Cement is one of the earliest building materials, based on technology
discovered by the ancient Egyptians and further developed by the
Greeks and Romans. The process for making “Portland cement” was
developed in England in the early nineteenth century and is still the
predominant manufacturing method used today. Although the cement
industry does not leap to mind as an example of sustainable develop-
ment, it is actually one of the most progressive industries in the world.
Driven by concerns about the resource-intensive nature of cement
production and the associated emissions, including greenhouse gases,
leading global cement companies began working on environmental
responsibility initiatives in the early 1990s.
Holcim Ltd., based in Switzerland, is one of the largest cement
companies in the world, with operations in more than 70 countries
and approximately 90,000 employees. Its U.S. subsidiary, Holcim
(US) Inc., is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of
cement and mineral components, with 16 manufacturing facilities
and more than 76 distribution terminals. Holcim took the innovative
step of establishing a Department of Corporate Industrial Ecology in
1991, which continues to oversee its worldwide practices in the man-
agement of environmental health, safety, and sustainability. In 2008,
for the fourth year in succession, Holcim was named by the Dow
Jones Sustainability Indexes as the company with the best sustain-
ability performance in the building materials industry [4].
As illustrated in Figure 17.3, sustainability is tightly woven into
Holcim’s corporate strategy. Creating value is the company’s para-
mount objective, based on three strategic pillars of product focus, geo-
graphic diversification, and local management with global standards.
The five mindsets underlying this strategy include environmental
performance, social responsibility, cost management, innovation, and
human resource excellence. Finally, the foundation on which every-
thing rests is a workforce that gives its best on a daily basis.

Process Improvement Initiatives
The cement production process consists of three major steps: quarry-
ing and raw materials preparation, clinker production in a high-
temperature kiln, and cement grinding and distribution. Holcim
is conscious of the entire life cycle of cement production, and has
deployed a broad range of process improvement programs to reduce
its ecological footprint. These include

• Quarry management. Other than fuel, the essential raw
mate rials for cement production are limestone, marl, and
clay, which are obtained by quarrying. In order to minimize