A US Commerce Official Visits Rochester to Promote Sustainable Manufacturing HENRIETTA, NY (WXXI) - A US Commerce official was in Rochester Tuesday to help advance the concept of sustainable manufacturing.

William Sutton is the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services. He gave a brief talk in the morning at RIT about reducing the use of natural resources and energy consumption while improving profitability.

Sutton says government's role is to facilitate best practices in the industrial world, especially with the small and medium-sized companies that don't have the resources to thoroughly research the concept by themselves.

Sutton later visited three local companies that are successfully practicing sustainable manufacturing: Eastman Kodak, Xerox, and Harbec Plastics. Kodak has reduced energy usage by 36 percent; Xerox recovers and recycles 96 percent of its office equipment; and Harbec has cut energy costs 50 percent. © Copyright 2009, WXXI