Being A Conscious Partner with CSR

Ryder Industries

Being A Conscious Partner with Corporate Social Responsibility

By MJ Choong, Vice President Quality and Operation Excellence

How we generate and use energy is now an urgent global conversation. Many of our Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) customers want to design their products for maximum efficiency at the lowest possible output, with long battery life.  Requests for Design for Conservation and Design for Cost are now received regularly by our design and development departments.

OEM customers now assess us on not just on what we deliver, but how we deliver it; do we champion environmental and social governance?  OEMs are now making fundamental partnership decisions based on CSR policies, backed up by evidence of action. At Ryder, we welcome this.

Ryder Industries Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk

Climate change and energy security concerns have risen sharply to the top of the agenda relatively recently for many businesses.  At Ryder Industries, we started our sustainable journey a decade ago. From the start, our sustainability drive was designed to also dramatically reduce the costs associated with energy consumption and waste across our two facilities in China, and our Headquarters in Hong Kong. We understood early on that 'good for the planet' did not have to mean 'bad for business', quite the opposite.

We invested heavily in robotics, automation, Vertical Integration and LEAN methodology to eliminate repetitive processes.  Utilizing intelligent automation streamlines our workflows and boosts our efficiency, enabling our customers to benefit from manufacturing efficiencies from seed to scale. Competitive advantage comes from continuous improvement to streamline production efficiencies,which is why we will always invest in ways to automate our production throughout the entire product lifecycle and beyond, removing complexities from the supply chain, whilst being energy and cost conscious.

We are pleased with the progress we have made so far; latest highlights include:

• We included underground reservoirs in the design of our Inland plant. Rainwater is harvested and collected within these reservoirs for processing and use. Over a year, this water would fill a small seagoing tanker.

• We operate a ground source climate control system, cooling in the summer and carrying the heat underground, in the winter we extract it to provide heating.

• We have installed a complete solar electric farm on the roof of one of our buildings.

• In both plants a solar thermal system captures the heating rays of the sun (even in midwinter) and generates hot water for all.

• Energy is recovered from the heavy-duty industrial pneumatic compressors to heat water.

• All facilities use LED lighting to save energy and eliminate contamination from their bulbs. LEDs are 2 ½ times more efficient than fluorescent lamps.

• Solar power installation on the roof of the company's 180 space car parking area. It keeps vehicles shaded from the sun and reduces the need for them to use air conditioning when they leave the plant, improving their mileage while reducing their emissions. Together, each year, these solar panels generate over 750,000 kWh of electric energy and cost savings, plus saving over 650 tons of power station carbon dioxide emissions. We will make direct savings of US$ 1.6 million over their 20-year life and we plan to add another 1,200 kW of solar power capacity in the coming years.

Sustainability is embedded in our business strategy.  We were the first company in our county to build such an extensive environmental protection system and energy conservation process.

Our aim is to always push forward, to lead by example within the regions we operate. We develop energy efficient facilities which are healthy places for our people to work in, and which have minimal impact on the surrounding land.

Our green initiatives are highly appreciated, not only by our Ryder team members, but by the Chinese Government. They rank us as the "best" and we are held up as an example for "others to aspire to."

Our actions have earned us the trust of our OEM partners.  They can see that our commitments are not just words on a page; our efforts to be energy conscious are clear, and often visible on their bottom line: lower energy use translates to lower costs. While others must limit output as costs rise, the principles Ryder has put in place protect our customers, the environment in which we operate, and our precious planet.