Ann Hetherington
As the environmental compliance manager for HP Visual Collaboration, Ann Hetherington spends much of her time helping to ensure that HP meets the legal requirements of the countries where it does business. But when Ann was asked by her colleagues in Puerto Rico to help change the way HP packages and ships its studio solution, Ann saw an opportunity to make a significant impact.
Ann served as coordinator for a team of HP experts whose task it was to develop a more environmentally sustainable method for packaging and transporting the studios. The team spent months researching, conducting hands-on experiments, and analyzing the results.
In the end, the team found a way for HP to ship the Visual Collaboration studios using corrugated fiber and rubberized doughnut-shaped cushions instead of wood crating and foam cushions, saving materials and reducing packaging weight. They also found that by shipping the studios to customers by ocean instead of by air, they could save fuel and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the changes have saved an average of $7000 USD and 880 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per shipment. See Product transport for more information.
"HP Visual Collaboration is a breakthrough product that helps customers be environmentally conscious and reduce their carbon footprint," Ann says. "This project helped us expand the environmental benefits of our own product by changing how we work."
