DNP, a global supplier of printing such as bar codes and photos on print ribbon and photo paper, recently partnered with Milgro. The goal? Saving material costs as well as reducing and recycling waste. Every quarter supply chain manager Tieme van Ankorven tells about the cooperation.
In part 1: the introduction.
"A support system for when you want change"
"The other day we received material delivered from China. With a big box around it, full of plastic padding, wrapped in foil, with an extra layer of protection ... Then I thought, so much packaging, there's no need for all that," Tieme van Ankorven of DNP told me from practice. The supply chain manager is pleased that DNP has been working with Milgro since this summer. "It feels like support. To be able to have well-founded discussions with our suppliers. And also with customers and our own employees."
DNP makes print ribbon. At least, at the Haarlem location. Because DNP is a multinational, active in several fields, with its parent company in Japan. Printed ribbon, provided with a barcode, goes around suitcases at Schiphol Airport, for example. And it comes out of the printers in kiosks, to print photo books or passport photos. They are rolls of polyester with a layer of ink. They are extremely difficult to recycle, precisely because of the ink.
“It feels like support. To be able to to have well-founded discussion with our suppliers. And also with customers and our own employees."
Substantial amounts of residual waste
Van Ankorven has worked at DNP for 24 years. In recent years, he has begun to think more and more about his organization's waste streams. Not only does making print ribbon involve cutting waste. DNP also disposes of a lot of cardboard and plastic packaging material. "These are substantial quantities," warns the supply chain manager. "We dispose of about 350 tons of waste per year. A third of that is cutting waste from photographic paper. We would like to reuse that."
Getting started with waste reduction
"Laws and regulations are changing, our customers are becoming more critical about the sustainability of the products they buy from us, and we can save costs by throwing away less," Tieme van Ankorven lists the main reasons for getting started with waste reduction. "Previously, we had our waste disposed of by one waste processor. It had been that way for years. That ended up being a dead end. Milgro looks further, because it works with as many as 500 different partners. With Milgro we have an independent and expert party that helps us reduce, prevent, separate and reuse waste."
Scan, purpose, approach
Tieme van Ankorven is pleased with Milgro's cooperation and approach. "Very clear and systematic," he says of it. Milgro started with a scan of all DNP's waste streams, with the associated costs and environmental impact. Then a concrete goal was set: within one year, 10% savings on material costs. With clear reports, that goal should become transparent.
Avoiding a mess
Because the cooperation is still early days, Van Ankorven cannot yet report rock-solid results. Or it must be the much smoother notification and processing of waste. "That is important, otherwise it becomes a mess in our warehouses," says the supply chain manager. It happened regularly that the warehouses were full of containers of cardboard boxes.
Nonetheless, recycling cutting waste
What he can report, however, are hopeful developments. "I need Milgro as a knowledge institute. Milgro is researching how that difficult-to-recycle cutting waste can still be reused. It has also come up with a way to keep our machines running while the cutting waste is being processed. Previously, we had to shut down factories for that. I expect that with these measures we are already getting close to our goal. And that makes them happy at our parent company in Japan. And myself too, of course."
Next time, more on the collaboration between Milgro and DNP.
Learn more
Would you like to know more about our approach or discuss the possibilities for your organization? Make an appointment now with Paula van Hoorik, Senior Circular Economy Officer at Milgro.
