Stop Greenwashing and Start Profiting From Real Sustainability

Azad isn’t advocating removing regulation, but he says if fear of repercussions is the only reason for taking action, you haven’t internalized what sustainability really means for your business

Manufacturers love efficiency. So, why does sustainability still feel like a burden?

The problem isn’t a lack of intention, according to Eddy Azad, CEO of Parsec Automation, it’s a lack of maturity. “If sustainability is approached only to satisfy regulations or for public perception, it will feel like a burden,” he says. “But when it’s integrated into the way a business operates, it becomes a lever for performance and a true competitive advantage.”

Azad calls this shift climbing the sustainability maturity curve, which he says is a journey from reactive compliance to proactive operational excellence. Most manufacturers today are somewhere in the early to mid-stages.

“Some companies may focus on doing enough to avoid fines or to look good for ESG reporting. But that’s not maturity—it’s risk avoidance.” Azad says. “Mature organizations view sustainability as a way to drive performance and improve outcomes.”

From Compliance to Commitment

The early stages of the curve are characterized by reactivity. Companies respond to government regulations, water restrictions, or emissions limits only after they become unavoidable. Azad isn’t advocating removing regulation, but he says if fear of repercussions is the only reason for taking action, you haven’t internalized what sustainability really means for your business.

“Let’s say you complete your manufacturing output in less time,” he says. “You use less energy, waste less raw material, run your machines less. That’s not just good for the planet—it’s better for your bottom line.” In other words, Azad says “sustainable sustainability” is about creating operational systems that are inherently more efficient, repeatable, and profitable.

The Danger of Checkboxes

When sustainability becomes a one-off initiative, such as an energy audit here or a packaging change there, it can lead to inconsistency and even regression over time. It doesn’t hold. So, when you get dinged with a hefty fine, or are negatively reported in an article, suddenly sustainability comes into focus again.

“If there’s no long-term vision and no metrics tied to performance, then there’s really no business commitment,” says Azad. “It becomes a temporary fix rather than a sustainable shift.”

What’s missing is data, specifically, contextualized data that lets leaders see the cause and effect of their operational decisions. That’s where Parsec’s flagship software, TrakSYS, plays a role.

“We help manufacturers shine light across the entire value stream,” says Azad. “Because often, you’re losing productivity upstream and only seeing the problem downstream. Without data, you’re just guessing.”

Shining Light in the Right Places

Say you drop a key along a dark walkway, but there’s only a single streetlamp illuminating the path, says Azad. You tend to only search the area around the streetlamp because that’s all you can see. “If the only place you look is where the light is, you’re not going to find it,” he says. “TrakSYS helps manufacturers put light in all the right places, by connecting to legacy systems, new sensors, and every other piece of the value stream.”

The platform aggregates thousands of data points across operations and turns them into meaningful insights. That’s especially critical in capital-intensive sectors like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage, or consumer packaged goods—industries that Parsec serves directly. “We’ve designed TrakSYS to eliminate data silos,” says Azad. “Not just to gather information, but to ensure all systems speak the same language across the operation.” In other words, it helps manufacturers see in the dark.

The Risk of Bad Data

But data, Azad warns, is only useful if it’s reliable.

“Bad data is worse than no data,” he says, because bad data leads to making bad decisions with confidence. “You think you’re being data-driven, but if the quality is poor or inconsistent, AI ends up amplifying the wrong patterns.”

That’s why integration matters. “If your systems don’t talk to each other, your AI’s confused. It’s trying to translate three different dialects at once and drawing the wrong conclusions,” he says. “The goal is to reduce complexity, not add to it.”

Parsec’s solution: a unified platform, not a patchwork of point solutions. “You don’t want your software adding to the complexity of the plant,” Azad says. “Manufacturing is already hard. Our aim is to make it as simple as possible—without trivializing the real challenges manufacturers face.”

Sustainable Sustainability Is the Goal

So, how can manufacturers climb the maturity curve?

Azad’s advice is direct: “Make sustainability part of your core vision, not a PR tactic or a cost center. Bake it into how you measure success.” That means integrating sustainability into KPIs—like energy usage per unit, waste-to-output ratios, and production efficiency. “Once manufacturers see that they’re saving millions per facility, the lightbulbs go on,” he says. “Then they can boast about their environmental wins, not because it’s trendy, but because they earned it.”

Azad says sustainable sustainability isn’t about hitting a goal once and moving on. It’s about building systems that consistently deliver efficiency and lower impact. “That’s how you move from compliance to conviction,” he says. “You use less energy. You burn less run time. You meet targets faster. That’s what modern manufacturing should look like.”

And that’s what the top of the sustainability maturity curve looks like, too.

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