New Tool to Measure (and Manage) the carbon footprint of your supply Chain

Reducing the amount of carbon imbedded in the raw materials we source can be a very good thing – especially if it helps us meet our Corporate Social Responsibility goals as supply-chain professionals (not to mention helping the planet).

Virescent and ProPurchaser have just developed a tool to measure and manage the carbon footprint of a supply chain. And, we are pleased to announce that our blog readers are invited to take out a free, 3-month trial.

The Multiplier Effect

If you want to really use your buying power to make a environmental difference, make sure that any “green” criteria for vendor selection are widely publicized so that your suppliers’ competitors hear about them too.
In this way, encouraging a change in one supplier can have a “multiplier effect” on many others.

via Negotiating Nugget | Propurchaser.

Are Green Supply-Chains More Expensive?

This is the second article discussing the results of our ongoing survey examining what Supply-Chain professionals in North America are thinking and (more importantly) doing about greening their supply-chains.

The first article, How important is a Green Supply-Chain in North America?, focused on the perceived importance of a green supply-chain, homing in on senior management’s expectations, as well as our own attitudes towards suppliers with green credentials.

The survey asked how strongly participants agreed or disagreed with the following statements:

I believe greening the supply chain could have the following effects on our business:

• Reduce Costs
• Improve brand image
• Generate new business opportunities
• Help recruitment and retention of staff
• Help manage risks
• Drive product innovation
• None that I can think of

In this article we are focusing on the respondants attitude to reducing costs.

Read the rest of Are Green Supply-Chains More Expensive? » » »

How important is a Green Supply-Chain in North America?

We certainly hear a lot about the importance of reducing the amount of carbon our species is releasing into the atmosphere. But we don’t hear much about what this really means to our profession: in other words, how important is a ‘green’ Supply-Chain in North America?

To answer this question we recently sent out a 14-question survey to hundreds of Supply-Chain professionals. The results are in and you may find them interesting.

Three Key Findings.

Read the rest of How important is a Green Supply-Chain in North America? » » »

The importance of managing water in your supply chain

No matter the place — California’s Central Valley, southern Nevada, the Colorado River, the Southern Plains — water is harder to find across much of the West. And, with energy demand and populations growing, once-unfathomable choices about water pricing and the future of agriculture are unavoidable.

(Peyton Fleming, Squeezing Blood From the Desert: The West Grapples With Less Water, writing for Think Progress.org)

Water has been on the sustainability agenda for many years, but this article  brings in to stark focus the reality of declining availability of fresh water in North America.

It raises the question, could water shortages prove a risk to your businesses, either in their operations or supply chain? Reducing water consumption is not just an environmental issue, it is a real and present business issue.

Read the rest of The importance of managing water in your supply chain » » »

Leaning towards Green

At the recent Sustainable Purchasing and Supply Summit in London last week, the point was made that Lean production is really the first step toward Green production.

If your business is manufacturing, or even if it’s not, I’ll wager that you have heard of the Lean production principles. The concept is simple: Increase the bottom line by reducing waste of all kinds across all areas of the business. Optimize your processes and work smarter so that resources are only expended to provide value to your customers. Lean is the current king of manufacturing philosophies and is likely to remain that way for a long time to come.

At the Sustainable Purchasing and Supply Summit, in London last week, the point was made that Lean production is really the first step toward Green production. Reducing raw materials use, reducing the size (and thus the energy expenditure) of inventories, and minimizing waste be it in energy/resource use or reworking of faulty goods.

These are Lean principles – these are Green principles – these are ‘good-for-the-bottom-line’ principles

One of the challenges for purchasers in a Lean and Green business environment is to maintain the principles throughout the Supply chain. Procuring recycled or refurbished goods where possible, working with suppliers to ensure energy use (and price) improvements and taking a longer term view on cost-benefit analysis can all help steer your business down a truly sustainable and profitable path.

To learn more about sustainable supply-chain best practices, you are welcome to contact Dr AA Wade, archie@virescentconsultants.co.uk

 

How companies think about climate change – McKinsey Quarterly – Energy, Resources, Materials – Environment

You might find this interesting:

Against a backdrop of rising global concern about the environment and climate change, a McKinsey Quarterly survey finds that executives view climate change issues as important for their companies, seeing both opportunity and risk. The survey,1 which included respondents from a range of industries (some 40 percent of whom are evenly split between finance and manufacturing, with another 8 percent in energy, transport, or mining), finds that fully 60 percent of global executives view climate change as important to consider within their companies’ overall strategy. Further, nearly 70 percent see it as an important consideration for managing corporate reputation and brands, and over half say it’s important to account for climate change in such varied areas as product development, investment planning, and purchasing and supply management. About one-third of respondents say their companies places more emphasis on climate change than on most other global trends.

via How companies think about climate change – McKinsey Quarterly – Energy, Resources, Materials – Environment.