Sara Lee

Sara Lee

Environmental management at Sara Lee Environmental compliance assurance has been an integral part of Sara Lee businesses throughout the history of the company. In the 1990’s we organized our compliance programs into GEMS, Sara Lee’s Global Environmental Management System. GEMS has been used as a platform for certification of our operations under ISO 14001 at 13 facilities in Europe and Asia. Soon after implementation of GEMS, we began to collect performance metrics annually in our Global Environmental Performance Measurements (GEPM) database. Since 2002, GEPM data has been used to drive performance improvements in our operations. Our GEPM data was compiled through the collective efforts of facility- based and corporate staff. Quarterly data are now entered into the central database, then reviewed and validated to confirm data accuracy.

Based on consumer preferences, we have introduced many new products in the past few years, such as our Senseo single-serve coffee products, that require more energy per ton of production. Yet despite such ongoing product innovations, we have maintained our current energy consumption and are continuously seeking opportunities for future reductions.

In addition, we are developing goals to strategically focus on reducing energy use by increasing the efficiency of our facilities. We continue to review our global energy consumption to identify energy reduction opportunities. Following are examples of energy reductions and efficiencies achieved through programs run by our employees around the world.

Daily activities where energy conservation is practiced include the use of energy-efficient lighting and equipment, reduction in compressor air leaks, and training to encourage employees to find ways to conserve energy.

We introduced an Operational Equipment Efficiency (OEE) metric in our North America retail plants in 2002. Used globally today, OEE determines the overall effectiveness of equipment by measuring its availability, quality and performance. Monitoring and problem-solving around this metric helps reduce waste from changeovers and equipment shutdowns. OEE improvements in the Bakery group have been 10 percent.

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