MEEM students visit the company Neopost to see implementation of Environmental Management practices (February 2011)

The MEEM programme offers site-visits and excursions to relevant organizations to illustrate how the concepts that are taught in class implemented in practice. On February 15 2011 the MEEM students visited the company Neopost in the town of Drachten in the north of the Netherlands to see implementation of Environmental Management practices.

Following the visit, the students reported that:

“Implementation of quality, environmental, safety and health management systems is now widely acknowledged as an integral component of business strategy to achieve competitiveness and sustainable growth. Through the excursion to Neopost we were able to bridge theory and practice especially in the case of Integrated Management Systems (IMS), thus enabling better understanding of theoretical concepts….The integrated approach to management systems illustrated by Neopost, shows how a firm can achieve product quality, customer satisfaction, resource efficiency while managing environmental aspects. Certification and accreditation of these systems to three international standards (ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001) is clear evidence of conformance to international standards of best practice. The visit to Neopost was a an eye-opening excursion”

“An interesting excursion, a real practice on how certifications are implemented as one form of company's awareness on sustainability and being one of key drivers in continuing the business” (Rifan Hardian , Indonesia)

“I really appreciated the visit as it was a very good example on how integrated management system are being implemented in practice” (Mohamed Sokona, Senegal)

“It was more than my expectation. Neopost in Netherlands almost put all the theory of environmental management in their system. I hope the theory is not only implemented in Neopost Netherlands, but in all Neopost companies” (Rina Febriani, Indonesia)

“Environmental management is not stuck to large manufacturing industries, it applies to all activities at every level in a company, along with all processes which may seem to have little impact but have significant contribution to improving the environment as a whole. I therefore appreciated the visit to Neopost as it demonstrated these significant efforts even at a small scale” (Chiedza Matimba, Zimbabwe)

“It was a demonstration that sustainable business models are hinged upon sensitivity to stakeholder demands. Neopost’s integrated systems addresses multi-pronged societal agendas of sustainability (environment, quality, safety and health)” (Tawanda Muzamwese, Zimbabwe)

“Visit to Neopost helped me in understanding practicalities of integrated management system for development of Sustainable Business model. I also learned about importance of tacit knowledge in management system and how that knowledge can be a valuable resource for continuous improvement of business.” (Pratikshya Pradhan, Nepal)

“I appreciated the excursion to see how an integrated management system could be implemented in practice. Moreover, visiting to Neopost also inspired some ideas relevant to my research project-Talent management in the business sector for sustainable development” (Jing-Wen Wang, Taiwan)

MEEM students at the Neopost excursion