Supply Chain Sustainability—Drivers, Inhibitors, Solutions - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 57

Bennett 2010 ). The main profit should be the reduction in maintenance costs,
resulted from lower amount of waste, reduced costs of utilization and lower bur-
den of taxation imposed on the polluters. It may be also the result of energy and
water savings. The other objective of green manufacturing is to convert raw mate-
rials into usable products in the way which will be most friendly to environment.
Theories and studies on the management of sustainability in manufacturing com-
panies, varying from high-level general management strategies to more detailed
methods for addressing specific problems (Alblas et al. 2014 ). Generally green
manufacturing means a better economic environmental, social and economic per-
formance through reduction of waste. It is also connected with higher efficiency.
Eco-efficiency combines the environmental and economic dimensions of sus-
tainability (Helminen 2000 ). Schmidheiny and Zorraquin ( 1996 ) defined eco-effi-
ciency as: a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction
of investments, the orientation of technological development, and corporate
change maximize the value added while minimizing resource consumption, waste
and pollution. Eco-efficiency is also defined as the reduction of resource intensity
consumption and minimization of environmental impacts of production and prod-
ucts or services (Dias-Sardinha and Reijnders 2001 ).
Green operations based on the use of environmental practices help to avoid
usage methods which are harmful for environment. Gupta and Sharma ( 1996 )
defined environmental operations management as the integration of environmental
management principles with the decision-making process. Green operations prac-
tices can be considered as those practices that contribute to the enhancement of
environmental performance in companies' operations.
Green logistics can give a strategic role in improving the competitiveness and
eco-efficient performances of a company. Moreover, environmental performances
are still needed in logistics practice (Jumadi and Zailani 2010 ). Still there is little
discussion covering performance and environmental issues related to the practi-
cal applications of eco-efficient initiatives in the logistics industry (Venus 2010 ).
Some logistics service providers have created a “green line” of environmentally
friendly services. Most companies operating in the logistics industry are willing to
invest in order to become eco-efficient, but customers are not willing to pay a pre-
mium price for more eco-efficient logistics services (Zailani et al. 2011 ). This is a
reason of very little attention which has been given to eco-efficiency in the context
of the logistics industry (Lieb and Lieb 2010 ).
Sarkis ( 2001 ) has proposed the concept of green supply chain through the use
of environmental tools such as design of processes, products and structure for
environment, total quality environmental management, in-bound, out-bound and
reverse logistics. It concerns practices for production planning, supply chain man-
agement, production, and finally after-sales operations. Consequently environ-
mental management is evolving from pollution control to pollution prevention and
finally to the subsequent implementation of systematic product and process man-
agement tools. Instead of having to spend money clearing up its waste, money is
saved because the materials that go into the production are used more efficiently
and they are required in less amount. If a firm wants to produce a green product,