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Final award event

On September 20, 2005 a closing ceremony of the project took place in Tianjin.

The CP certificates were handed over to the consultants and the companies.

The project management and the local partners organised a big event, the press and public media and numerous important guest from the EC, the Austrian Embassy and Chinese Officials of several institutions attended.
The event was very well arranged and the speeches summarized again the success of the project, the ideas of the Europe Asia Invest Project and the importance of Cleaner Production. Two companies had the opportunity to present their results. Finally the companies and the consultants were awarded.
The representatives of MOST and TSTC announced the start for new national CP initiatives.
The European Union was represented by Ms. Marisa Wyganowski, the Programme manager of the Asian European Aid, Asia Invest Projects. The Austrian Government was represented by the deputy trade commissionaire Mr. Haidenthaler.

Speech by project manager Dr. Gerhard Weihs, General Manager of CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL, Center of Environmental Training and International Consulting

High representatives of Tianjin, high representatives of the Austrian Embassy, High representatives of the European Commission, high representatives of MOST, dear companies, CP project managers, CP team members and CP consultants, dear project partners from Tianjin Foundry and Forging Industrial Association and Intertech Corporation, Ladies and Gentlemen!

We are here together to celebrate the end of an almost two years lasting project. We want to express our appreciation to a number of Chinese foundries, which are located her in Tianjin and which have done hard work to improve their operations. We want to express our appreciation also to a number of Chinese consultants, who have increased their skills and who are appointed now as CP trainers for China.

The honored companies – eight in number from a starting sample of about 20 companies – have proofed that they now understand well the clever concept of CP and that they are willing to make this journey of continuous improvements also in the future.

What justifies pointing out these companies from hundreds, thousands of foundries in China? It is nothing minor than that they have practically shown, how the policy of sustainable development can materialize.

What we usually hear is that economy and environment are antagonists that they are jeopardizing each other that the one goes on costs of the other and vice versa. In fact we can watch worldwide that many industries are damaging the environment and exploiting our natural resources. But industrialization is also the foundation for increasing welfare. We can also watch that repairing environmental defects caused by industrial production if they have appeared once costs a lot of money, which of course reduces the profit of companies and is a big load for the community, too.

If you are an entrepreneur, you want to make profit of course. Economists tell us, that profit is the balance of expenditures and income. To get profit in industry, you have either to reduce your production costs or to increase your sales. We are convinced that to do both is the much better way. And CP is a clever concept how to do so.

By applying the tools of CP, the companies, which get a certificate today, have proofed to be real entrepreneurs.

They have realized that increasing sales is a matter of quality and reliability of their products, even more if they want achieve international competitiveness, which goes in hand with meeting international standards, and environmental sound production is a more and more important criteria in the procurement policy of foundries’ clients.
They have learned that repairing environmental impacts of their production by applying so called end-of-pipe technologies to treat waste and emissions is much more expensive than to prevent the production of such outputs. They have learned that waste and emissions are so called non-products, which cannot be sold at the same price as the raw materials cost, from which they have been generated. To this end the companies have learned to investigate their whole procedures to identify the causes of waste and emissions and to take measures at the source instead of at the end.
They have learned to calculate their processes in terms of materials, means tons, liters, kWh, etc. but also to calculate the equivalents in terms of money.
They have realized that clean and healthy working conditions and well skilled and aware workers are an important capital for the company and that teamwork is necessary to use the huge potentials of daily improvements, very often through good housekeeping only.
They have already implemented a number of measures during the project life time with reasonable cost savings on one hand and reducing environmental impacts through material and energy savings on the other hand. Further, they have set up an environmental policy and a plan for continuous future improvements.

I am very glad to learn that in short 2 years while these companies implement CP and adopt a series of CP technologies and tools in their enterprises, they all have achieved remarkable economic benefits as well as environmental and social benefits. According to primary estimates by reducing consumption of material and energy and improving quality they saved in total at least 10 million Yuan RMB! The importance of implementing CP is so obvious and urgent. We know that Chinese government has enacted “The Law of Promotion of Cleaner Production” in 2003. Our project has set an excellent model of implementing CP in China, not only in the foundry industry but also for every industry.

This is why we have this conference and why we are here to express our appreciation to the companies, which are really entrepreneurs interested in making profit and not in wasting resources and in harming the environment.

The project saw a rich number of activities, starting from a kick-off meeting and instruction training for our Chinese consultants, followed by a series of workshop and training courses and a number of site visits and coaching in the companies. A business mission to Europe enabled the companies to get a first hand insight on European experiences. All findings are reported in individual CP assessment reports of the companies which are valuable management tools for the companies far beyond the project end.

The project has generated also a number of by-products as scheduled from the beginning:

All training materials – seven textbooks, a number of worksheets and forms – have been edited in English and Chinese and are available in the internet for further users.
The experiences of the project and further feedback which is actually gathered will be compiled to a guideline for replication of similar projects in China. MOST and Tianjin STC have expressed their intention to use the guideline to promote further CP projects in China not only for foundries but also other industries.
A list of equipments and technologies required by Chinese foundries and available in Europe was compiled and it will further be promoted by CAI and the Tianjin Foundry Association beyond the project end. First business is already on the way. In this context it may be noticed that other Foundry Associations like in Shanghai and Beijing have also invited to cooperation already. Further a foundry cluster will be set up, hopefully with the support of another grant contract under the Asia Invest Programme.

At this point and coming to the end I want also express our gratefulness to those who made the project possible:

In first instance I have to mention the European Union, who gave the project a grant under the Asia Invest Programme. We are sure that the project is an outstanding example of future oriented cooperation between China and Europe. It has contributed to common responsibilities for the environment. It has brought closer European and Chinese standards and understanding. It has inaugurated realistic business between European and Chinese companies. It has contributed to capacity building in China as well as in Europe. And it has opened a door for new cooperation and even friendships. Thank you very much Marisa for your kind supporting us and attending this event.
I want to express my thanks to the Austrian government, who gave the project also a grant under the Austrian Development Programme. Engagement for the environment and sustainable development are priority goals of the Austrian development policy and this project is an important contribution to improve the environmental and economical situation in the industry of the People’s Republic of China. I thank Mr. Haidenthaler as Austrian representative attending this meeting.
Special thanks earns my old friend LI Baoshan, who made a financial support from MOST for our Chinese partners possible and who has promised helping to promote the project results and further CP projects through his China-wide channels. Thank you for coming here to Tianjin this time again.
It was a pleasure to work in this project with our Chinese member Intertech Corporation, who made also close contact to the Tianjin STC. It was hard work for ITC to manage all activities in Tianjin. Thank you Mr. Wang, Ms. Jenny Jiang, Mr. GU and all your colleagues very much.
We are convinced to cooperate also in future with our Chinese project partner, the Tianjin Foundry and Forging Industrial Association. Thank you for your cooperation and let’s take another round together.
I have to say thank you to my CAI colleagues Wolfgang Weissel as our technical project manager for his abundant technical contributions and Johannes Wesemann as our economist for bringing the business options of this project ahead.
Of course we have to thank our engaged companies and Chinese consultants for their hard work, but we are sure it were not only efforts but also rewards.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your interest and attending this event. I invite you to come on board of the CP ship and let’s continue our journey to a sustainable world together.

Gerhard Weihs

Tianjin, September 20, 2005