Stratasys issued their third ESG report, continuing their work in sustainable 3D printing.
ESG is a reporting discipline focusing on environmental, social, and governance aspects of a company. The theory is that by publicly reporting ESG measures, a company will enhance its operations in each of these aspects. Even better, their competitors will be encouraged to do the same.
This is the third release of an ESG report from Stratasys, which has staff dedicated to the reporting. Stratasys calls the initiative “Mindful Manufacturing”, and includes ESG best practices, optimizing operations, quantifying emissions, promoting sustainable value chains, and collaborating for progress. Stratasys’ board chair Dov Ofer explains:
“Stratasys is deeply committed to advancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, operating in line with sustainability best practices. Our Mindful Manufacturing strategy is not just a cornerstone of our Stratasys purpose but a vital component in promoting ESG stewardship across our entire value chain.”
The full report, which I have in front of me courtesy of Stratasys, is an enormous 120 pages in length. It covers the year 2023; 2024 is still in progress. Let’s look at some of the highlights as I see them.
An interesting analysis was performed to compare injection molding versus PolyJet 3D printing of a footwear component. Surprisingly, they discovered that PolyJet has significantly lower emissions and electrical consumption than injection molding. This is quite notable, as it may tip some manufacturers towards 3D print solutions for manufacturing when environmental concerns are sufficiently raised in the future.
An interesting development is that Stratasys founder and inventor of the FDM process, Scott Crump, has been appointed as the company’s ESG & Climate Champion, where he will focus on sustainability efforts.
Stratasys tripled their solar power installation in Israel, which now provides 18.1% of the power used in that country by Stratasys. They’ve also eliminated coal and oil energy entirely from Israel-based operations. For these sites, they’ve reduced their CO2 emission intensity by almost a quarter.
It’s important to note that Stratasys reports these metrics as “intensity”, which is a rate rather than a total. While their carbon footprint is actually a bit higher, they are doing much more business in a more efficient manner.
They’ve instituted a “comprehensive three-phase waste management project” at Israeli sites to significantly reduce landfill contributions. This includes removing single-use plastics, launching separation systems, and more. Incredibly, they reached 286,903 kg of reused materials and 303,883 kg of recycled materials, for a total of 590,786 kg of materials recovered.
A new equipment trade-in program for older equipment will either refurbish the devices or recycle the components with an external recycling partner. They continue to operate a recycling program for filament canisters and resin cartridges.
Over the past two years, they’ve halved their water intensity per unit area. Part of this was driven by a new AI water management system.
Amazingly, the company now averages 16.5 hours of training per employee per year. Most of that turned out to be professional training, as well.
They’ve reduced their safety incident rate by 37%, which is impressive.
On the governance side, they write:
- Zero confirmed incidents of corruption
- Zero substantiated data leaks
- Zero incidents of product health and safety noncompliance
All very impressive, and far, far beyond what any other 3D printer manufacturer has done in ESG reporting. In fact, most 3D printer manufacturers don’t publish such reports or even have any staff devoted to these issues.
Via Stratasys
