The hitchiker’s guide to a sustainable
production

“Sustainability” has recently become the buzz word which pops up in many companies’ websites or candidates’ curricula. Thanks to Greta’s fights for entrusting the youngsters with a better future, we are witnessing a raise in the awareness for environmental problems. “Green” is no longer just a nice topic for high-brow talks. 
 
Sustainability has a wide scope in action. Striving to create a sustainable world for our next generation is a slow and continuous process which shakes the pillars of production in factories and affects our everyday lives at various levels. It isn’t just about getting your Starbucks chai latte in a fancy, 100% organic cardboard cup, without thinking about the tons of energy wasted to feed the machines who produce those cups. Or donating hundreds of euros to big charities, but not giving a damn about the local families who are starving under the covid crisis. Or, again, giving your pet 100% natural food, whereas the packages which contains it are made of plastic, in factories who aren’t particularly interested in renewable sources of energy. Not to say the goods produced in countries where the exploitation of children and women labour is not opposed, and done instead out in the open. 
 
It’s about caring for humankind first of all, which inhabits and take care of the Earth we want to protect so much. 
 
At Shinchoku, we know that sustainability covers a large range of meanings and doesn’t only revolve around the idea of living in a greener planet. It involves providing better living and working conditions for humankind, equal rights and well-being for all. And how do we achieve that? It’s a long road, made of small, consistent steps, which every company can take, with a little bit of long-term planning. 
 
If improving the quality of life for the people and for the environment becomes paramount in a factory, every headways made in production and logistics processes can be helpful. The company thus will produce less waste and have less residual materials, which are responsible of a negative impact on nature. To help achieve this goal, the EU launched the Green Deal programme, a series of pledges to improve the relationship with Mother Earth, and a series of funds to help companies applying for them work actively to improve life for us and our future, 
 
At Shinchoku, we adopted the underlying philosophy of the Green Deal and consider the principle of sustainability as a three-fold movement: first, improving the working processes of the companies who meet the requirements of the Green Deal, so that they can benefit the environment and themselves. Secondly, enhancing the efficiency of the productive processes can have some interesting side effects and indirectly contributes to put an end to exploiting cheap manpower (like in the case of children or women labour). How? More efficient working cycles use less energy and yield less waste, which means, for example, that it isn’t any longer necessary to mine for dangerous materials, eg. the cobalt mines in Congo.  It’s just that easy. Third, companies adhering to the Green Deal receive substantial funds to become greener and, at the same time, by changing their production methods, contribute to improve life on our planet for everybody. Another piece of cake. 
 
To sum it up, taking into account the three aspects mentioned above, Shinchoku’s mission in regards with sustainability is to help the customers become more aware of the environment, by making their production more efficient and green. These same company, in turns,  could qualify for meeting the Green Deal requirements, receive funds to carry out environmentally friendly projects, and change their working procedures. 
 
In the end, we help ourselves by helping others (and have our own business going).