In 2013, Lavery Pennell expects leading companies to be unlocking five new areas of value to increase profits: 1. Resource productivity. Labour productivity has been a focus of most companies for decades – resulting in decreasing headcount. However, since the mid-2000’s, input materials and energy have been rapidly increasing in price, overshadowing labour cost savings. In 2013, we see leading

A new examination of the barriers to Distributed Generation has been released.  Lavery Pennell’s CEO Greg Lavery was a member of the Steering Committee. Entitled ‘Distributed Generation: From Cinderella to Centre Stage’ the report provides an overview of distributed generation in the UK and the barriers that it faces. Authored by the Carbon Connect division of Policy Connect, the study

The Next Manufacturing Revolution is calling for waste and sustainability experts to review an important new draft paper that examines the profit and environmental potential of Process Waste Reduction for the UK manufacturing sector. What is this all about? This paper represents the first step in a program of activities to accelerate the next manufacturing revolution and the benefits that

The Next Manufacturing Revolution is calling for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability experts to review an important new draft paper that examines the untapped profit and environmental potential of Energy Efficiency for the UK manufacturing sector. The Next Manufacturing Revolution study encompasses a broad range of topics including process waste, packaging, transport efficiency, recycling, supply chain collaboration and growth – all

Our work with business and thought leaders has identified a profound change in the way that businesses are run in the after-financial-crisis (afic) world. On the input side, capital is scarce, resource prices are increasing and becoming more volatile, externalities (such as carbon dioxide) are beginning to be priced into the economy, new technologies are emerging with increasing rapidity and

Lavery Pennell recently participated in the Next Manufacturing Revolution Roundtable – exploring the opportunities available to manufacturing companies from resource efficiency, supply chain collaboration and new technologies & business models. You can see the video of the event below, which includes examples of the new value being unlocked by Coca Cola Enterprises and GSK, as well as perspectives from the

Your chance to improve profits and stay ahead of your manufacturing competitors. We are on the cusp of a manufacturing revolution. Structural changes in the global economy including resource constraints, changing customer needs and emerging technologies and business models are creating profitable new opportunities for manufacturers that are able to turn these challenges to their advantage. Lavery Pennell, 2degrees and

Innovation is often poorly understood and rarely harnessed to unlock the full value potential available within companies. In this discussion, Nick Pennell and Greg Lavery present the value of innovation and how to capture it, reflecting on their recent work in the field. Innovation is simply about harnessing good ideas and seeing them through their development and implementation across a

Green Purchasing Asia, in its April edition, has an article on the business case for corporate sustainability. It discusses share price uplift due to CSR reporting, dispels some of the common myths around sustainability tradeoffs, and provides a roadmap for sustainability transformation. Amongst the experts quoted is our own Nick Pennell. The article can be read at this link on

System value recognises that the historical narrowing of roles has meant that many companies are optimising only piece parts of their operations and are ill-equipped to deal with today’s complex business challenges. Opportunities therefore exist to unlock new profits, reduce risks and create competitive advantage through system optimisation. A number of leading organisations have begun to demonstrate the magnitude of

The answer to why one should be sustainable in the infrastructure field is simple: to create new value. How to do this is more complex. This article by Lavery Pennell, published in the 5 March 2012 edition of Infrastructure Journal, describes the types of value created through a more sustainable approach. It goes on to discuss how to overcome the

This paper describes how to succeed in profitably transforming the sustainability of organisations. Or you could look at this as how to sustainably increase profitability. Included in the document are: A sustainability transformation roadmap describing the building blocks of a successful program of action The three major challenges along the sustainability journey and how to overcome them Guiding principles which

Nick Pennell has recently presented to an international audience his proven three step process to profitably improve supply chain sustainability. You can view the presentation here.

We have made 4 predictions for 2012: Sustainability as a profit driver; Focus on the ‘how’ of sustainability; Innovation, and; LED lighting. Before we dive into these, it is perhaps worth reflecting on 2011’s predictions to see how they fared (for the original predictions click here): 1. Energy efficiency is now being taken seriously and is widely recognized as the

This paper explores how to unlock value from today’s business challenges. Much of this value remains largely untapped, creating rich returns for organisations looking to improve their bottom lines in tough market conditions. These new value opportunities are different from traditional sources of value and require an unusual combination of capabilities and a multi-pronged approach. Click here to read the paper.

The carbon-constrained world is creating structural changes in the global economy. As a result, busi­nesses must respond and adapt to the new low-carbon reality if they wish to remain competitive and prosper in coming years. Although the exact path to the low-carbon future remains unclear, companies can embrace five imperatives to guide them forward. These are: understanding the effects of

A common misconception in process industries is that greenhouse gas emission reduction programs are inherently unprofitable. Recent experience in the oil and gas industry, however, proves otherwise. One company, for example, iden­tified a 43 percent reduction in emissions with a net present value of several billion U.S. dollars using a five-step process that makes finding reductions in emissions both practical

Faced with today’s business and environmental challenges, companies need a structured and rigorous approach to identifying new high-value growth opportunities. The Growth Lens approach is a proven methodology to access untapped revenue and profit potential. This approach was written up in Booz & Company paper co-authored by Greg Lavery called ‘Billion Dollar Ideas’ following a successful application of the approach for a

Working with the Booz & Company Low Carbon & Sustainability team, Nick Pennell co-authored an article published in Strategy + Business looking at how the world’s cities develop their infrastructure over the next 30 years will determine the future path of global warming. Click here to read the article.

The cash circulating through society is supported by an elaborate and costly infrastructure, involving money processing and distribution operations as well as an intricate cash delivery network. The total European cost of providing this cash system is estimated to be €84 billion per year. This paper, co-written by Greg Lavery while at Booz & Company, demonstrates how cash costs can be reduced.