Jürgen Rautert — The View from ‘Hei’ Above

PI: What lean (and green) manufacturing and productivity improvements has your company made to its own operations? How does Heidelberg involve its customers in these efforts?

Rautert: In the Heidelberg Group we reduced the total energy consumption per metric ton of output from 7,8 MWh/a in the year 2004 to 4,7 MWh/a in the year 2007. This was achieved by implementing several measures designed to optimize the energy efficiency of the production sites, for example, by means of heat recovery, more efficient lighting systems and leaner manufacturing processes. Emissions and water consumption dropped and our waste recycling rate reached 93.8 percent in 2007.