Lean Manufacturing and Pollution Prevention in the Food and Beverage Sector training course at MWCC

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The Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) and Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) are able to offer a Lean manufacturing course focused on the food and beverage sector due to funding through an EPA Region 1 Healthy Communities grant.  

Through the application of Lean manufacturing principles and tools, the course will help food processors and beverage manufacturers identify, adopt and measure the results of Pollution Prevention (P2) as a result of changes in processes, equipment and behavior. The short-term goal is to achieve environmental results in energy, water, waste and toxics use reduction (TUR), while the longer-term goal is to increase the capacity of companies to adopt Lean tools to find P2 opportunities continuously on your own.

Throughout the course, each participant will be expected to focus on a project at their facility related to P2 or TUR resulting in a report at the end.  TURI will be using data collected by at least two course participants to write more in depth case studies about your projects.

Examples of P2 or TUR projects for you to focus on over the duration of the course include:

  • Energy Use – complete a WasteWise or other energy use inventory and learn about areas of improvement
  • Toxics Use Reduction – evaluate cleaning products used, investigate of hazards and potential safer and effective alternatives
  • Water Use – meter water use throughout the facility to understand potential areas of improvement
  • Refrigeration leaks – survey existing equipment and identify areas of improvement and upgrades
  • Inventory management – understand existing system and evaluate alternatives to reduce food waste as well as resource use
  • Packaging – evaluate existing materials use and consider new design and materials to reduce use and waste

We look forward to working with you over the Spring of 2021 and beyond to make improvements to your facility and operations, saving you money, labor time, and resources while creating a safer and healthier work environment.