Going green is one of the most common recent initiatives in business – one that is shared by a number of organizations, regardless of their respective industry. One of the major problems companies face as they try to improve their energy efficiency efforts is the cost. Many manufacturers, for example, have to make a myriad of changes in order to successfully reduce their carbon footprint. 

Traditional manufacturing evokes images of big factories with hazardous waste billowing out of smoke stacks. To turn manufacturing green, it takes a concentrated effort from everyone at the company and could possibly require investments into solutions such as ERP software. As an article in the online publication Technorati points out, many of these changes are necessary. 

Travis Wright, the author of the article, suggests that building operational efficiency will go a long way toward improving the way an organization uses its energy.

"As more subcontract manufacturers face increasing federal regulations, rising consumer demand for green products and the need to protect their margins, more organizations are looking to transform their operations and gain new efficiencies," Wright writes. "At their heart both lean and green hold a common objective: eliminating waste. In the case of lean, it's relentlessly driving all forms of waste from operations. In the case of green, it's reducing the amount of waste generated by the production and operation processes."

By implementing manufacturing software solutions or an ERP system, companies can build new layers of efficiency that reduce  the number of operations that would have traditionally required a tremendous amount of energy. Microsoft Dynamics NAV systems can streamline processes to a point where energy is reduced on the part of both the user and machine. By finding a solution built for the manufacturer's needs, organizations can ensure they are well equipped to improve their specific operational duties and reduce overall energy usage.