Value the change process

27 April 2011



Jay Scripter is O-I’s Vice President of Sustainability, based at the company’s worldwide headquarters in Perrysburg, Ohio, USA. Joanne Hunter caught up with him while in Brussels on his European travels.


Jay Scripter is responsible for shaping O-I’s sustainability priorities and developing strategies and processes aimed at improving O-I’s position as a sustainable company delivering what is considered to be one of the most sustainable packaging materials - glass.

You get from Jay a powerful sense of ‘can-do’ optimism and belief in people: “People want to do good things and it’s my job to leverage that drive,” he says. This he does in a seemingly subtle way, by, as he puts it, ‘allowing the team to recognise a good idea’.

“Change can be empowering. And once you have empowered people to generate ideas, they can feed an idea - or kill it.” His part in the change process is ‘to create space in an overlap zone’, where ideas can be discussed with relevant other teams.

“There is no change without knock-on effects. For change to proceed smoothly, representatives of teams with oversight of issues concerning energy, glass recycling, carbon impact and workplace safety will need to get their heads together.” Jay’s role is to identify the right time and the agenda to ensure successful ‘cross-pollination’, as he puts it.

He spots promising pathways for ideas from his excellent vantage point. Any process change has to be carefully orchestrated to achieve harmony between inter-related teams and operational systems. “Working through change is like seeing the little pieces of the jigsaw start to form a picture,” says Jay, who appears to relish the process of slow evolution.

What does it take to keep himself and his teams focused on the distant prize? “Tenacity is my strength. ‘Gee, he never gives up,’ people say. I don’t necessarily have the answers, but I provide some good questions!” And the answers will bring about better systems: he is convinced of that.

Systems appraisal is his expertise. A Sigma Master Black Belt, he has achieved expert status in Kaizen, lean manufacturing, JIT, continuous improvement and design for manufacturing. The theory goes that by taking a data-driven process through the different stage-gates, financial losses will be limited and, he says, “Fundamentally, we believe sustainability will save money and create opportunities for us.”

Rewinding to the 1960s, he observes that at that time worker safety was the focus of investment, ‘and it proved very good and healthy for profitability’.

Scrolling forward to the 1980s, thought leaders turned the spotlight on quality issues. Processes were introduced to minimise defects: “Production became cheaper and more sustainable. Continuous improvement paid dividends.

“Now, we are embedding sustainability into our processes, thinking about optimising energy.”

It is a mistake to think we must put up with austerity: “We don’t have to give up anything. Spirit brands still can have their gorgeous bottles without burdening the environment. We can make them appear to be heavy. It’s the can-do approach that makes a difference.”

How does he view the competition? “There are plenty of new players coming in to give brands the choice of different renewable raw materials. But glass will stay focused on its strengths. We have the opportunity to completely change processes and re-invent glass packaging.”

A real breakthrough by the industry has been to ‘move glass into the 21st century and achieve recognition of the value of glass’ - and there is more to come. Process improvements are in the making following multi-million dollar investment: “So watch this space,” says Jay.

Another big step for glass was O-I’s life cycle assessment model: “It makes it possible to rigorously assess two of anything.”

Jay continues: “At company level, the LCA approach is understood and being used. Yet still there are no regulations and laws to prevent LCA results being misused. No code writing bodies are aggressively pursuing these issues.” He urges those with power to ‘get on board and standardise this type of work’.

For its part, O-I has made LCA transparent and easy to understand, he says, and the company has high hopes that its methodology will be adopted because of its analytical approach.

Career highlights

• Joined O-I in 2008

• Five years with HB Fuller, an adhesives, sealants and coatings business

• Positions in engineering and management in building products firms

• Mechanical engineering degree (South Dakota State University); MBA (Drake University)

Advice on leading change:

• Fail fast: learn from it and move on

• Embrace calculated risk, the Six Sigma way


Jay Scripter. Jay Scripter

Jay Scripter Jay Scripter


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