In Plant & Transactional

Are you successfully balancing sustainability and profitability?

Printing operations face the dual challenge of maintaining profitability while embracing sustainability. Achieving balance is essential for future growth.

05.09.2024
6 minutes 6 minutes
Table of Contents
We live in a society of mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. The result, is a world that faces numerous challenges, including the depletion of natural resources. The focus on environmentally responsible sourcing, supply chain management and manufacturing has never been sharper. Consumers are choosing sustainable businesses with products that have a reduced carbon footprint. They are demanding greater long-term environmental responsibility from manufacturers.

As such printing companies are increasingly being asked to meet this demand for change – to do that they need to balance environmental management and profit generating business growth. They need to develop a strategy of commitment to long-term sustainability, well-being, and social responsibility, powered by cutting-edge, innovative business practices that support stakeholders. A digital transformation business model that balances profitability with sustainable initiatives while optimizing cost savings and delivering bottom-line transparency. 

Flexible production

Fortunately, digital print specialists are immediately able to employ the reduction in environmental impact the digital print process enables compared to analogue. Offset print involves mass production, mass delivery and mass disposal. In comparison digital prints on demand, directly from data. As it does not require a printing plate this leads to many advantages, such as the flexibility to respond to short delivery times and in small batches, so there is no need to print more than is required which eliminates waste. Digitalization significantly reduces the amount of paper needed to adjust and correct colours and set up impositions.  The lack of printing plates also eliminates the use of water or dampening during the print run so no polluted water is generated by the printing process. VOC chemicals are not emitted and there is no energy intensive drying process. 



Versatile digital print solutions streamline pre-print and post-print processing, with intelligent planning for maximised production and reduced waste, and nearline or inline operation for reduced touchpoints. Collectively, this can reduce CO2 emissions and transform the nature of many printing companies.

Navigating this complex landscape and balancing sustainability and profitability can be aided with these seven steps:

1. Invest in Energy-Efficient Equipment – Operations should prioritize acquiring energy-efficient printing devices. Innovative systems with low power consumption reduce operational costs and emissions. Regular maintenance and timely upgrades can also ensure equipment runs efficiently.

2. Adopt Sustainable Ink and Toner Technologies - Switching to sustainable inks and toners, such as those with lower environmental footprints, can significantly reduce hazardous waste. For instance, polymerized toners that fix at lower temperatures save energy during operation.



3. Implement Paper-Saving Features – Digital systems generate less waste during set-up, produce fewer misprints, and don’t require extra prints to be stored as reprints can be ordered when requited. Enhanced inspection systems also ensure optimum results to help to save paper. 

4. Embrace Lifecycle Management - From design to disposal, managing the entire lifecycle of printing products helps reduce waste. Using recycled materials in production and ensuring products are recyclable at the end of their life cycle are crucial steps.

5. Manufacturing with less environmental impact - Reducing the size and weight of products and packaging materials not only cuts down on raw material use but also lowers transportation emissions. Sustainable manufacturing practices can significantly decrease the environmental footprint.

6. Provide Sustainability Consulting Services – Printing operations can offer consulting services to clients, helping them adopt a more sustainable approach to print from the choice of paper, to the volume required and ways to effectively order print to minimise waste, over production and the need to store print produced. 

7. Leverage Market Intelligence - Using market intelligence to understand trends and customer preferences can guide operations in making informed decisions about sustainable practices. This can include analyzing products with reduced impact and adapting services accordingly.

Partnership power

These steps can be daunting and overwhelming, especially for smaller to medium sized print operations where much of the day to day focus is on running the business. This is why partnering with the right suppliers can be transformative. Not only does it help with enhanced reporting and life cycle analysis with regards to making investments, it can also result in valuable information sharing that shapes sustainably focused practices.


 
For example, Konica Minolta is committed to a number of goals and practices that will continue to define its operations and product development. They include:
  • 2050 Targets: By 2050 Konica Minolta is aiming for net zero emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3. In 2005 2,067 thousand tonnes CO2 emissions were recorded.  In 2022 the figure was 851 thousand tonnes CO2 - a reduction of 58%. It is targeting at least 90% usage of renewable resources such as recycled materials and biomaterials in its products. Significant progress has already been made in the latter at production sites. As part of the commitment to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy Konica Minolta became a member of RE100 in 2019 and is committed to use 100% renewable electricity by 2050.
  • Products with less environmental impact: Development can focus on reducing weight (one system is now 23% lighter compared with its predecessor) and increasing the use of recycled materials (toner bottles are made with up to 60% recycled plastics) to reduce the amount of primary raw materials required. The EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) confirms that Konica Minolta production printing devices consist of up to 36% of recycled plastic. Polymerised toners that can be fixed at lower temperatures, to save energy during operation compared to previous toners - one toner reduces the fixing temperature by about 15 degrees Celsius and requires approximately 25% less water to manufacture. Toners have also been specially designed to deliver a very high level of deinkability, as certified by German association INGEDE. This means that the printed paper can be easily recycled, saving energy, raw materials and reducing water pollution.
  • Sustainable Manufacturing: All Konica Minolta production printing devices are manufactured in factories with certified quality (ISO 9001), environmental management (ISO 14001) and an occupational health and safety management system (ISO 45001). The company holds Japan Federation of Printing Industries Green Printing certification, a voluntary environmental standard that assesses products objectively based on agreed standards, and it received a EcoVadis GOLD rating in a sustainability survey conducted by France’s EcoVadis in 2024. It evaluates operations across four key aspects - ‘Environment’, ‘Labour and Human Rights’, ‘Ethics’, and ‘Sustainable Material Procurement’. Konica Minolta is also employing innovative packaging solutions and reducing packaging weight and volume, while under its Clean Planet Program it collects and safely disposes of used toner cartridges and bottles, photoconductor drums, and other consumables and recycles them. As a result, up to 87.3% of waste is turned into secondary raw materials. 
 

Clear pathway

There are other considerations that can help operations set out a clearer pathway to responsible production and making sustainable part of the organizational fabric. They include integrating responsible strategies into daily operations such as reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and opting for digital processes where possible. 

Printing companies should set strong investment criteria by prioritizing spending on technologies and processes that enhance sustainability including establishing criteria that assess the environmental impact and return on investment for new equipment and materials.

They should consider undertaking their own accreditations as achieving certifications like ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 can enhance credibility and demonstrate a commitment to sustainability.

Essential to maximizing the effectiveness of all of these is involving employees. Providing training on eco-friendly practices and encouraging suggestions for improving the company's environmental performance will create a much-needed culture of sustainability within the organization.

With strategic choices, printing operations can successfully balance sustainability and profitability, meeting the demands of today's environmentally conscious market while ensuring long-term growth and success.

Brand needs

This then enables them to be able to better respond to the responsible sourcing needs of brands and consumers. In fact Mintel’s latest Global Outlook on Sustainability: A Consumer Study 2024-25 study, which tracks environmental and social priorities, purchasing, behaviours and engagement across the globe’s largest economies, is expected to report sustainability is the most critical issue concerning brands. It will highlight the emergence of a more resource-conscious consumer – one who is increasingly seeking sustainable solutions that deliver efficiency and economy.

Creating the most environmentally responsible approaches and processes can help better reach and engage these consumers while also reducing the operational impact and moving from mass production to responsive on demand ways of working.
To explore further insights into sustainability innovation in the professional printing business visit Sustainability | KONICA MINOLTA