Over the past few years, I have been honored to be a part of the growing and ever-changing Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards (SEMA) program. From its inception as part of PMMI focus groups and now hosted by ProFood World, the program is really starting to find its footing and stride amongst some big players in the food and beverage world. The program originated from PMMI’s OpX Leadership Network – Sustainability Solutions Group, which published the Journey to Sustainability Excellence in 2012. Since the group’s founding and partnership with the SEMA program, there are now more than 100 case study examples of sustainability excellence in the food and beverage space for review.
The program was developed as a way to share ideas and best practices across similar industries, where previously sustainability ideas were not often shared outside of social responsibility reports to shareholders. In the food and beverage industry, we may be competitors, but the industry is relatively small, and everyone seems to know everyone else. These connections can be invaluable. Sharing ideas that were implemented in a cookie plant, for example, could easily be adjusted to work in a potato chip plant.
