Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations
2.2 Electronic Technology
2.3.6 Other environmental hazards
Some of the other environmental hazards (Internet 13) resulting from manufacturing in the pulp and paper industry are referred to hereunder:
• Contaminated wastewater - from process equipment, storm water runoff and cooling water.
• Improper disposal of solid waste.
• Storage tanks - including old storage yards.
. Chemical contamination.
• Historical spills and environmental contamination.
Eliminating old processes.
• Soil and groundwater contamination.
A summary of the environmental and social impact of paper manufacturing is tabulated in table 2.6, entitled environmental and social impact of paper manufacturing.
Table 2.6: Environmental and social impact of paper manufacturing Paper Cycle Environmental Impact Social Impact Fibre supply • Contribution to the
carbon cycle.
Natural forests Loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, watershed destabilisation, clear cutting and 'forest mining'.
• Local access/benefits, displacement of communities and recreation/aesthetics.
Plantations Excessive water
consumption, low biodiversity and high external inputs.
Displacement of local people, conflicts over tenure and narrow access/uses and aesthetic uniformity.
Non-wood fibre • Pollution. • Local livelihoods.
Recovered fibre
Production
De-inking, fibre fatigue and sludge.
High energy and water consumption.
• Health and safety and employment.
Resource Use Air pollution (Sulphur dioxide), water pollution (BOD. COD. TSS. AOX.
dioxins) and bleaching
( R T vs. TCT'J.
Health effects.
Distribution • Energy consumption, air Health effects, noise.
Waste
Disposal
environmentally-friendly
paper. Product reformulation (e.g.
reduced brightness).
. Contribution to global warming.
• Composting
behaviour/lifesiv les.
Public acceptability.
Location.
.and iill Biodegradability. • Sponumeous fires.
leachato. methane emissions.
incineration
Source: (Internet 10) Adapted
• Air emissions (dioxins): .Location (Not in m\
ash. backvard).
2. 4 The Globalisation Challenge
The world is at present in the middle of a revolution that can be comparable to the Industrial Revolution in terms of its long span and consequences. This revolution is based on the globalization of tastes, production, labour markets and financial markets as a result of the advancements made in telecommunication and transportation.
Globalization is a predestined phenomenon because with tastes converging, consumers throughout the world are demanding similar goods and services. Firms procure requirements from wherever in the world they are manufactured at an enhanced level or where they are available at a lower cost. In order to remain internationally competitive, these firms must invest capital and technology wherever they are more competitive. Globalization is imperative because it is required by international competition. However, blame is also being assigned to globalization such as increased world income inequalities, child labour, environmental pollution, and others; giving rise to an anti-globalization movement (Salvatore, 2005).
This movement blames globalization for an enormous amount of human and environmental problems around the world and for sacrificing human and environmental interests to the corporate benefits of multinational companies (Salvatore, 2005).
The pulp and paper industry is entering a new era of business evolution driven largely by consolidation of industry, globalisation and competition. These market drivers are compelling the pulp and paper industry to place greater focus on cost efficiency. This focus is creating a new challenge for the organisation by way of information technology.
Most pulp and paper industries are facing serious challenges in order to increase return on investment and improve capital utilisation. Firms are attempting to improve the efficiency of supply chains and hence, reduce working capital, increase transaction turnaround and improve inventory turnover. The pulp and paper industry has invested vast amounts of capital in information technology systems.
However, a large amount of these systems are old and complex and inflexible with regards to integration. This technology is also difficult to operate. Current business processes are difficult to streamline as this technology reflects procedures and policies of past organisations and business models.
Since the consolidation and globalisation of the pulp and paper industry, there has been mounting pressure to improve both the internal and external efficiencies thereof.
In the larger pulp and paper mills, production monitoring systems consist of numerous systems, with the likelihood of some being purchased from different suppliers.
Systems are often remote islands that are capable of managing information of its individual territory. These systems, however, lack the detailed information interrogation and sharing capability, which has resulted in an inflexible design of legacy systems. These legacy systems are costly to manage and complicated to enhance to meet business needs (Internet 9).
This situation has led to considerable investments in information technology and constant enhancements to the information technology environment; the objective being to meet efficiency challenges. Although many firms in the pulp and paper industry have invested in information technology, such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems, the return on investment is usually complicated to measure. System utilisation can be increased with the harmonisation of business processes. System integration also enhances efficiencies by supporting business requirements (Internet 9).
Hofstede (2001) states: "A more recent example of an industry where scale economies have encouraged internationalisation is the mobile phone market. The telecommunications industry is one in which companies need to make large infrastructure and network investments in order to function, but once the investment has been made the key to success is increasing customer volumes."
Most firms in the pulp and paper industry have thus come to the conclusion that a radical rebuild and renewal of the entire information technology environment is necessary.
The circumstances for this have improved, largely due to a growing range of commercially available application platforms designed for the pulp and paper industry and the development of advanced integration and migration methods.
Both the upgrading and harmonisation of the firm's information technology systems would pose a challenge as the business operations would have to continue as normal while simultaneously, core information technology systems and processes are enhanced (Internet 9).
The development of new technologies has colossally enhanced the globalization of media enterprises. The media industry is experiencing a phase of focusing on technical change. For firms in the media industry, the trends of integration of communication, Internet and the television represent both challenges and
content will become even more extreme (Internet 16).
The development of new technology has become a mechanism for media globalization; as a result of lower costs. As a new impetus, the Internet has changed and will continue to change the character of information commerce and people's lives in general. Regional barriers being broken down; and media contents reaching global readers, without establishing local platforms are but two of the consequences of the Internet (Internet 16).