Practicing green manufacturing operations in the garment industry in China

While green manufacturing operations have been implemented for many years; many manufacturers are still facing the challenge of balancing the environment cost, social cost and production cost. Though China has been considered as the manufacturing center of the world, due to many non-environmental factors such as the pricing issues driven by customers, uncertainties of the economy and the priorities of management, many manufacturing operations in China are still struggling to achieve the goals of green operations. Furthermore, legal regulations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the brands are pushing hard on the manufacturing plants to solve green issues. This paper investigates the green operation initiatives of three manufacturers to gain insights in how to maintain the intricate balance between profit, social cost and environment cost in the garment industry in China. The strategies and practices in achieving green manufacturing are identified and analyzed. It is envisioned that the strategies and practices identified can be adapted in other industries and can serve as a guideline for other manufacturing operations to benchmark their green practices.