Understanding green production: A pilot study to explore the production centred factors impacting the development of green producers

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As demand continues to rise for green products substantial opportunities are now emerging for the creation and development of new businesses. This new wave of producers represents both an important environmental and economic opportunity for UK Plc. However, it may be that our existing knowledge of production operations is inadequate to support the rapid growth of green producers, and that the UK will be slow to reap the benefits of these new business opportunities. In contrast to many traditional manufacturers, here, factors such as the sources of materials, proximity to markets, control over production, and ethics of employment, are key to brand identity and product differentiation. Moreover, this change in values also challenges conventional thinking on production operations design and management. For example it may be an anathema to seek cost reductions by outsourcing production to China. This has led us to question 'what are the production centred issues that can impact the growth of UK based green manufacturers?' This is a relatively unexplored topic within the mainstream operations research community and, as we are unsure of what we may encounter, we propose this pilot study to better understand these issues and form a foundation for future work.