Written by: CC 6/5/2012 8:23 AM
Through a continuous improvement process, sustained over many years, Dover has consistently met “stretch” goals for environmental performance improvement.
In 2011, Dover achieved a 57% reduction in its phenol waste stream through use of a Six-Sigma Team Oriented Problem Solving (TOPS) initiative established in 2007. Each year this team identifies an opportunity to reduce waste generated in production operations that are growing as the company becomes larger in the global market place. The 2011 57% reduction in phenol waste was achieved by an engineering project that added a new process step in which used phenol is recovered. Recovered phenol is now redistilled to high purity condition and reused in production. In addition to achieving the environmental benefits of waste reduction, the project provided an economic return due to the elimination of waste disposal costs and a reduction in the cost of purchased raw materials.