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Dr. Edward March has outgrown his office. Aside from the papers stacked neatly on his desk he has two tables that are also consumed by newspapers and miscellaneous documents. Despite his lack of room he offers two very comfortable chairs for students, faculty, or visitors. His welcoming demeanor humbly masks years of accomplishments that advanced not only how a company achieves sustainability but also attitudes towards it.
"Growing up in Michigan and being exposed to heavy industry gave me a chance to see what [industrial] processes are and the tremendous waste that can result. It also gave me a chance to see a cross section of the work force and reinforced my view that there is a tremendous amount to be gained from improving environmental quality and reducing costs," March recalled. From an early age March considered the entire picture when he took on a project. However, he noted that this is not always an easy task to accomplish. March noted that creating a dialogue between production associates, managers, engineers, and company executives could be very difficult because each group essentially speaks a different language within the corporation. Production associates consider how to solve problems, engineers think of the technical aspects, whereas executives are more concerned with the bottom line. In fact the accomplishment of which March is most proud strongly dealt with bridging this communication gap and improving dialogues within AT&T. In the early 1990's while working at AT&T's facility in North Andover March worked on a team whose task was to 'reinvent' the entire factory. "The satisfaction comes from seeing a cross functional group of people create the factory to excel... It was a major effort to the tune of $100 million dollars invested but the production people worked together on the transformation. It required capital investment in machines... relaying the factory wire and extensive training programs to teach the employees how to use the new equipment and develop new techniques. It involved people working in teams on problem solving rather than always going to the engineer... We found that employee satisfaction was at an all time high." March's hard work paid off and was recognized. In 1992 his team applied for and won the Malcolm Baldridge Award the only award given to engineers by the President of the United States. Dr. March uses a similar approach of integration when teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. When he teaches future engineers how to select projects for a company to take on he not only requires them to look at how productive a project will be but also how it will impact the environment, the community, and whether or not it will move the company towards sustainability. By combining conventional criteria for project selection with more modern approaches March's students will be assets to their future employers as well as the welfare of the worldwide community. Before teaching March worked for Bell labs, where he developed seven patents, and Lucent Technologies among others. He earned his PhD from the University of Missouri- Columbia and his Bachelors of Science and Masters degrees from the University of Detroit. When asked what advice he would give to consumers who are concerned about sustainability he advised that they should compile information about a company from places aside from the business section in the newspaper before making their decision. He also jovially remarked, "If you watch the Daily Show there was a comment made about a particular company and the comment was. 'But a three dollar refrigerator!' Don't buy the three dollar refrigerator." |