Earth Day is an annual, worldwide celebration that began on April 22, 1970 to show support for environmental protection and bring awareness to environmental issues. There are more than 193 events around the globe every year, and many places have expanded the celebration to include Earth Week and Earth Month activities as well. We’re celebrating Earth Day and Earth Week at SIMULIA with many fun activities including talks, gardening tips and supplies, bike tips and tune-ups, and more! This post is part of our “Being Green” series, which debuted on the blog with, Being Green – As Easy as Rolling Down the Highway.
For many people the idea of “Growing a Global Business” and “Being Environmentally Friendly” don’t seem to mix. We’ve all heard the horror stories of big companies being big polluters. While there is still much to do to align business and product development goals with more earth friendly behavior, many companies are striving to reduce their carbon footprint as a way to grow their businesses while being more lean, profitable, and sustainable.
Don’t believe me? Check out the sustainability initiatives of 155 leading companies in the 2017 Sustainability Report from the Business Roundtable Organization. This report features one page narratives from the CEO of each company that describe their initiatives to “reduce and eliminate” waste, water usage, energy usage, and carbon emissions. All of the CEOs share a common perspective that “being green” makes good sense, not only for business growth and profitability, but also for their employees, communities, and the future of our planet.
When I look at that report, I am proud that I recognize dozens of companies that use the realistic simulation and design optimization applications from the SIMULIA brand of Dassault Systèmes. Many of these companies have published conference papers and case studies describing how they use our simulation software to improve the efficiency of their processes and products. So I decided to delve further and do some internet searches and I found the links to a variety of speeches, papers, and case studies. So rather than bore you with my clever wit for writing, I will share some links that illustrate how these companies from a wide range of industries use realistic simulation to help their companies be green and achieve sustainable innovation. I hope you enjoy listening to and reading these stories as much as I do.
- Keynote speech from 3M at the 2012 SIMULIA Community Conference
- Case study from Caterpillar
- Conference Paper from Dupont
- Cover story on the SIMULIA Community News magazine from ExxonMobil
Ok – I’ll stop at the E’s, because I am running out of time to get this blog post done! But there are many more case studies and papers that you can find online from several of the other companies featured in the report. If the above stories aren’t enough proof and goodness to demonstrate that simulation is really helping companies achieve their sustainability and business goals, here is the list of companies presenting their experience in using SIMULIA applications at the Science in the Age of Experience Conference, May 15-18, 2017 in Chicago, IL. If you are able to go to this event, I am certain that it will be worth your time and registration fee!
As mentioned in my previous blog post, I am writing a series on green, sustainable innovation, and there are many more topics to cover, from Consumer Packaged Goods to Aerospace and beyond! In case you did not catch my first post, Being Green – As Easy as Rolling Down the Highway, on improving fuel economy with better performing tire designs, please check it out and let me know how you’re being “green” in your life or at your job.
If you have experience in using simulation to “be green” and want to be considered for a case study in a future issue of our magazine, I’d love to hear from you.
