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Urban distribution starts with purchasing

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Walther Ploos van Amstel - 2014Amsterdam’s largest employers include its universities (VU University Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences), healthcare provider Cordaan, the city of Amsterdam and the police department. Their degree courses, departments and services are spread across hundreds of locations throughout the city. Every single day, the locations are supplied with paper for printers, food and beverages, maintenance products, cleaning supplies, paving stones for side walks and much, much more. And every single day, those locations produce considerable waste flows. All this results in a lot of small-scale transport in the city. Is this really sustainable?

Clean and sustainable cities are attractive places to live, to work and to enjoy life – and, not least, to invest in. Couldn’t the supplying of Amsterdam be smarter and cleaner by consolidating the flows of goods at the suppliers or at urban distribution centers, by having them delivered at night or by arranging deliveries over the canals? Shouldn’t the supplying of goods be an integral part of sustainable and socially responsible purchasing?   It seems so obvious, right?

Students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) did a research project for their City Logistics course. What seems to be so obvious turns out to be anything but that. The students discovered that the purchasing was divided among over 10,000 suppliers as a result of so many decentralized buyers.

With “spend management,” purchasers know exactly what they are buying, but not in what volumes, for which specific locations and where supply points can still be found in the internal chain. Practically all products are purchased “delivered duty paid” (DDP), which means there’s no insight into the transportation costs for those final yards into the city. The flows of goods of companies that provide services, such as catering and cleaning, remain entirely out of scope.

Urgent need

Urban distribution starts with smart purchasing. Know what you are buying, in volume, and understand the transportation costs of the purchasing flows. When purchasing, look expressly at the “cost to serve” of the purchasing categories. What costs and benefits go along with other supply concepts? Break open the “DDP” conditions. There is an urgent need for a new Incoterm: “supply to urban distribution center”. Take a good look, together with service providers, at their in and outflow of goods.

A smarter and cleaner urban distribution can’t be achieved in a snap. Purchasers will need to sit down with both the product users and the suppliers to find the perfect balance between purchase price, handling, transportation and inventory costs. That will never work with 10,000 suppliers, of course. But it will work with a select number of strategic partners. Less is more! If purchasing flows are not consolidated earlier in the chain, it will be a problem to arrange for an effective flow to the many locations at a later stage.

A smart and clean urban distribution starts with purchasing. If you don’t do it for the sake of your children’s future, then at least do it because in a couple of years you might not even be allowed into the city any more…

Walther Ploos van Amstel is Associate Professor of Logistics aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam


Customers demand more sustainable supply chains

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Duurzame supply chainSustainable supply chains climb the corporate agenda as a consequence of increased market demand.This is the key finding from an international survey conducted by DNV GL and the research institute GFK Eurisko on more than 2,160 professionals from businesses in different sectors in Europe, The Americas and Asia.

“With globalization and the increase in the number of intermediaries, a secure and defendable supply chain is important in order to avoid disruptions that can affect business performance. Sustainable sourcing is a fast developing requirement, driven by customers. Companies that don’t act will have a hard time competing,” says Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL – Business Assurance.

When choosing a supplier or making buying decisions, 96% of the companies consider sustainability aspects, with low environmental impact as the most important aspect (56%). Health and safety of workers (51%) and economic aspects (43%) follow. Ethics comes next (29%), with proportions higher than average among sustainability “leaders”, i.e. companies with a mature capability to handle the supply chain in a sustainable way (+9% vs average).

42% of firms already adopt formal supply chain strategies contemplating sustainability; this percentage rises to 57% for bigger corporations and 81% for leaders.

80% of companies experienced pressure from their customers to demonstrate the sustainability of their supply chains. Of all the stakeholder groups, customers are the most interested in sustainability. They are driving this more than the authorities (33%) and other external stakeholders, such as local communities (7%), NGOs (4%) and unions (2%).

Key initiatives

Even though most companies feel they are just getting started, they are making concrete efforts to make their supply chain more sustainable.

Luca Crisciotti

Luca Crisciotti: “Sustainable sourcing is a fast developing requirement, driven by customers.”

So far, supplier audits are the most common initiative. 41% of companies claim to have undertaken one in the last three years (rates reach 57% for leaders). The proactive adoption and communication of an ad hoc strategy proved to be quite widespread among leaders (60%) and bigger corporations (1 in 3). Among small companies only 15% companies did this and 36% didn’t undertake any activity at all. Among the sectors, with 47% of companies having conducted audits and 36% adopting and communicating specific sustainability policies, food and beverage stands out as one of the most active industries.

A lot remains to be done. Two-thirds of companies limit their activities to tier 1 suppliers, meaning those companies they buy from directly, without any real control of other activities upstream in the supply chain.

Harmonized frame

Companies are hindered from progressing on sustainable sourcing for two reasons: economic shortages and the lack of a clear and harmonized frame of reference. Conflicting demands from customers (22%), lack of consensus on what to do (21%) and resistance from companies in the supply chain (20%) are barriers.
Despite these difficulties, benefits outweigh costs for 40% of the companies. Ability to meet customer needs (54%) is the top reason. Leaders are those benefiting the most in terms of improving their market performance: increased market share (45%), competitive advantage (52%) and enhancing brand reputation (59%) are key explanations.

Future outlook

Companies expect supply chain sustainability to become more critical for market success, both when it comes to meeting customer needs (+2%) and most of all to gain a competitive edge (+ 19%), improve market share (+17%) and enhance their brand reputation (+7%). 66% of the companies surveyed expect to improve the sustainability of their supply chains in three years’ time.

“To face tomorrows’ business climate, three basic steps have to be taken. Firstly, companies need to understand their key stakeholders’ expectations with respect to the sustainability of their supply chain. Secondly, they need to clearly define their own expectations, inform their suppliers and require them to act coherently. Lastly, it is fundamental to develop a method to check and make sure that all the members in the supply chain understand and implement the requests,” says Crisciotti.

Dilşat Uyguroglu:“Supply chain plays a huge role in sustainability agenda”

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UL DilsatUyguroglu 151214Unilever’s corporate vision – “to double the size of the business, whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact” – is top of mind, bordering on evangelical, for the company’s supply chain in Turkey. Sustainability has been on the company’s agenda for nearly two decades and its Sustainable Living Plan strongly drives business today. A commitment to halving its environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gases, water use, waste packaging and increasing sustainable sourcing has a huge impact on the supply chain. Dilşat Uyguroglu is responsible for logistics and customer service operations of the company’s 30 brands in Turkey and Central Asia where there are eight factories, including one of the world’s largest ice-cream factories.

Q: What is your responsibility regarding the supply chain?

A: “I am responsible for running Customer Services and Logistic Operations for all categories we operate in Turkey. Logistics includes all the warehousing and transportation of all Unilever products from personal care and home care to food and refreshments, such as ice-cream.

Customer services brings me in touch with our customers and overseeing processes from order collection to dispatch. I am also responsible for Unilever’s supply chain in Central Asia, so getting company products into these countries from all around the world. In addition my team takes care of cross border sourcing – both import and export of products and materials.

I have been in this position for nearly one year but I’ve been with the company for 20 years during which I’ve covered almost every category and function within supply chain from project management and manufacturing to factory management in Morocco and Turkey and planning and technology director roles in Durban, South Africa. Since 2009 I’ve been in Turkey where I continue to run the Algida ice-cream factory.”

Q: What is the strategy of Unilever in Turkey: Operational Excellence, Product Leadership or Customer Intimacy?

A: “The strategy of Unilever Turkey does not differ from our global strategy which is to make sustainable living common place. It is a very powerful statement because it not only manifests how we run the business it also affects the behaviour of billions of people as we make the world a better place to live: We believe we can make a difference.

The supply chain plays a crucial role in this strategy providing excellent service to protect strong brands so that people look good, feel good and get more out of life, as we meet every day needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. The first priority is the consumer then customers, employees, suppliers and communities and if we fulfil our responsibilities we believe shareholders will be rewarded.

To achieve consumer intimacy we have to start with a very good product and we have some very strong brands. From my point of view our aim is to create a sustainable supply chain that is perfect in procurement, manufacturing and logistics as we deliver to stores and touch consumers, all which will give us a crucial competitive edge. This has been recognised by the latest Advantage Customer service survey ranking us number 2 among 23 top suppliers of the country.

Sustainability has long been part of the Unilever strategy. Our Sustainable Living Plan was launched in 2010 to reemphasise its importance; sustainability is part of the way we do business and it’s a significant target on our personal development plans.”

Q: What are the main business challenges that drive supply chain projects at the moment?

A: “The supply chain itself plays a huge role in driving the sustainability agenda. The way we procure, produce and distribute and work with our partners, in a sustainable way has a high priority. But we can always do better, provide a better service and stay cost competitive even in today’s VUCA world.

We are finding that consumers, customers and the channels are becoming more and more fragmented. Not so long ago we thought that the giant global supermarket chains would dominate retails chains and our customers would become bigger and bigger with larger shops. But now consumers are moving back to the smaller shops on the street corner. Small local chains are growing very strongly and we have to serve more and more distribution points and warehouses, for different types of customers with different priorities and different technological bases.

This has not happened overnight but has been gradual so we already have other supply chain solutions in place. We are well positioned and supply not only the global players but also the local chains. Striving to maintain our sustainability vision can be at the expense of competiveness and quality so this is a big challenge for us. We are continually working on this and quantifying it but it cannot be done in isolation. If we look at all our internal systems – the factories, distribution chains etc – the impact we could make here is now negligible compared to the total consumption chain footprint.

The next major step comes from collaborating with supplier customers and working with them to find common agendas and drive common improvement programmes. One way to collaborate is to work closely with them, meet them and try to understand each other’s agenda.

Another way is through technology and systematic work. We are setting up control towers around the world to increase systematic use of technology to improve visibility of operations. I believe this will make a huge difference in terms of standards and the challenges we face todays regarding logistics.

We are currently setting up one of the company’s largest factories for home and personal care products attached to a state-of-the-art distribution centre. With an engineering background and having a white board on which to draw-up a supply chain, design and run it, is very exciting. We’ll be transforming the whole landscape to give us a more competitive edge. “

Q: Which supply chain challenges keeps you awake at night?

A; “Establishing a sustainable, global, flexible and efficient supply chain day-in, day-out! And at the same time being able to provide the best working environment for our people; as a company we take many steps to lead the agenda.”

Q: What do you do about these challenges?

A: “It starts with the people and the sort of people you pull around you. You have to make sure that people understand the message and that they are excited about the global vision, that they connect with the team, have a clean, crisp agenda and are able to adapt to whatever challenges you are facing in the country.

The average age in the company is very young, for example the average age of my team is less than 30 and includes young talents from generation X and generation Y who believe strongly in the vision of changing the world to make it a better place. I am only a transmitter of the global message and with these young people it clicks easily. Providing them with the environment and tools to implement this vision and make sure they are part of the big game plan is a very forceful way of keeping them highly motivated. They all have a clear purpose.

Our approach is to work with individuals who are enthusiastic to improve their performance, and who want to make a difference for society and the environment. We try to understand their personalities, capability to work in teams and their all-round skills, not just their technical skills.

As a result, for example, we reached the Unilever’s commitment to “zero waste to landfill” at all our sites in Turkey last year. The global company target is to achieve this by 2020; in Turkey we achieved it five years ahead of schedule. It’s not just big talk but also big results.”

Q: Which book has inspired you the most and why?

A: “Two books: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt which I read during the early days of my career. It discusses systems management and focuses on eliminating constraints which was very useful when I worked in the factory. The second was Good to Great by Jim Collins that describes examples of how new generation leaders, rather than charismatic leaders with big egos, develop long term sustainable relationships by enthusing their team and keeping them on the front page.”

Q: What do you expect to be doing professionally in 5 years?

A: “I plan to remain with Unilever and in the supply chain world where I see my future growing and excelling as there are plenty of business opportunities.”

Sustainable Supply Chain Summit 2015, 10-11 November London

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hilton-london-tower-bridge-hotel - Sustainable SC Summit - London 2015Sustainable Supply Chain Summit 2015
Date: 10-11 November, 2015
Venue: Tower Brigde Hilton, London
Organisation: Ethical Corporation
URL: events.ethicalcorp.com/supplychain/index.php

 

 

Europe’s leading meeting place for corporate leaders delivering supply chain sustainability. Back now for its 10th year, it’s the go to event for professionals working in supply chain, procurement, sourcing, sustainability or CSR.

The 2015 event will address some of the key issues and opportunities, including: impact measurement, supplier development, responsible sourcing, R&D innovation, consumer engagement, scaling up, and resource efficiency. Confirmed speakers include:

  • AkzoNobel, Director Procurement, Dick Bartelse
  • Olam International, Head – Corporate & Sustainable Communications, Briony Mathieson
  • GSK, Head of Global Environmental Sustainability, Matt Wilson
  • Amcor, Vice President – Safety Environment & Sustainability, David Clark
  • Eastman, Chief Sustainability Officer, Godefroy Motte
  • BAM Construct UK, Director of Sustainability, Nitesh Magdani
  • ArcelorMittal, Corporate Responsibility – General Manager, Alan Knight
  • MolsonCoors, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Debbie Read
  • Interserve, Head of Sustainability, Colin Braidwood

If building sustainable and secure global value chains and learning more about top trends in the space in 2015 are of interest:

>> download your full Sustainable Supply Chain Summit brochure here

 

Loser of last quarter (Q4 2015): Unilever

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Unilever is keen to position itself as a champion of sustainability and making the world a better place, which makes the BBC’s recent revelations about malpractices on Indian plantations where the company sources tea even more embarrassing. According to an article in the Dutch financial newspaper FD on 12 September 2015, BBC reporters investigated estates in the northeast of India which are also used by Unilever.

The reporters discovered employees spraying toxic chemicals without the proper protection, children working to pick tea, and overflowing toilets. Unilever’s PG Tips brand of tea displays the logo of the Rainforest Alliance, an international NGO which ensures that tea production does not damage the environment or endanger the people working on the estates.

The working conditions exposed by the BBC do not comply with those criteria. Unilever has previously come under fire in connection with its shampoo, when consumers sued the company, claiming that Unilever’s ‘natural’ shampoos are actually full of synthetic ingredients.

ARC European Industry Forum 2016

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Mercure Hotel Amsterdam City - ARC Industry Forum - 2-3 March 2016ARC European Industry Forum
Industry in transition: smart, secure, safe and sustainable Manufacturing
Date: March 2-3, 2016
Venue: MERCURE hotel Amsterdam City, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Organiser: ARC Advisory Group
URL: www.arcweb.com/events/arc-industry-forum-europe

 

On March 2-3, 2016, ARC Advisory Group will host its European Industry Forum (EIF) at the MERCURE Hotel Amsterdam City in the Netherlands.  The European Industry Forum is part of ARC’s series of conferences also held in the USA, India, China, and Japan.

Participants are invited to attend a series of exclusive plenary and breakout sessions.  In these sessions, users will tell the inside story of successful operations and applications; automation experts will share best practices, and ARC analysts will evaluate trends in manufacturing automation and IT. Furthermore end users and solution providers will have opportunities to network with their peers, exchange ideas and share experiences during breaks and the evening event on March 2, 2016.

ARC’s European Industry Forum features dedicated workshops, offering open platforms to learn and discuss trends and developments. Workshops are planned on the following relevant topics:

  • Asset Lifecycle Management & Smart Machines
  • Cyber Security
  • Energy & Sustainability
  • MESA – IT/OT Convergence, Modularization & IIoT Implications
  • Smart & Advanced Manufacturing, Industrie 4.0 & IIoT

In addition to these workshop topics, plenary sessions and industry tracks address: Advanced Manufacturing & Modularization; Asset Lifecycle Management & Smart Machines; Cyber Security; Energy & Sustainability; Industrie 4.0 & IIoT; Organization & Workforce Development, Collaboration & Human Factors; Smart Manufacturing, Machine Learning & Analytics.  As part of the partnership with MESA International, the forum will also include a keynote and lectures by users on: Manufacturing Operations Management.

You are welcome to join ARC’s European Industry Forum on March 2-3, 2016.  For more information about attending, speaking or sponsoring, please visit our website or contact ablech@arcweb.com.

 

How socially responsible is your supply chain?

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Jane Barrett - Gartner_webAnalyst Pam Fitzpatrick just published a research note on cobalt supply chains – the issues and challenges are similar to conflict minerals. A report by Amnesty International describes unsafe working conditions, exposure to health risks and child labor at artisanal cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is hard to imagine what people living and working there must endure. For supply chain, this calls for action. Supply chain must improve materials traceability and human rights due diligence to improve conditions for all of the workers in our extended value chains.

It’s a call for Gartner to take action, too. I want to share some of our new research development that relates to supply chain’s role in corporate social responsibility.

First, we are excited to be adding a CSR metric to the 2016 Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 methodology. Given the CSR reporting already available, such trusted sources as the Dow Jones Sustainability index and the Carbon Disclosure Project, this CSR component score will use third-party data as a proxy for assessing the company’s commitment to and proficiency in running socially and environmentally responsible supply chains. Five independent data sources will be used giving a total possible score of 10. Pam together with Research Vice President Stan Aronow are the brains behind this new metric.

Working through this, it has been fascinating to see some companies scoring a perfect ten – impressive, and they should be highly respected for this. More fascinating, and somewhat concerning is the companies scoring very low. A very highly ranked company actually scored a perfect zero – any guesses who that is? More to come on this addition to our methodology.

Pam and I are also building out a 5-stage maturity model for CSR/Sustainability. Our goals are two-fold. First, to describe the five stages of maturity model and the attributes of a CSR-focused decision-making and regulating (governance) infrastructure.
Second, to help CSCOs & heads of SC strategy plan investments and build capabilities that enable integration of environmental/social/governance factors into supply chain’s strategic decisions and operations.

As we validate our model through interviews, it is interesting to see the traditional focus on compliance and cost saving compared to the more advanced visionaries who manage to combine risk and innovation for long term value creation. And this is one of the issues: the investments are long-term, rather than meeting the needs for quarterly results. Once published, this will provide deep insights into the critical issues and hopefully enable the journey to a socially and environmentally responsible business. We are drilling into these questions and more as we talk to CSR/Sustainability leaders: Who owns this in Supply Chain? What drivers triggered you to further invest? What metrics are used to measure progress? How is ROI measured? Who pays for investments?

We know that these topics are at the forefront of the minds of many of our clients, and we look forward to taking steps towards a better business future with you.

Jane Barrett is the Group Vice President for Gartner’s Supply Chain Research group

Translog Connect Congress 2016

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Corinthia-Hotel-Budapest-facade-2Translog Connect Congress
23-24 November 2016
Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal Budapest, Hungary
www.translogconnect.eu

 

TRANSLOG Connect is the market leading cross-industrial business summit for transportation, logistics and supply chain management professionals in the CEE region taking place annually in November, in Budapest, Hungary.

Directors from all important leading businesses from numerous industries – such as automotive, electronics, oil & gas, heavy industry & steel, retail, food & beverage, FMCG, energy and beyond – are attending each year’s summit to meet the key logistics, software, consultancy, transportation and warehousing service providers.

Most up-to-date market insights

In order to ensure the quality of the conference programme, we work closely together with leading local and regional associations, European and international media partners and our Programme Advisory Committee, whose members are well-known logistics experts of leading international companies. The conference programme offers the most up-to-date market insights into supply chain management, logistics, production, IT, transportation and warehouse management-related topics.

4th CEE Logistics and Supply Chain Management Excellence Award

The award has been established to honour, recognise and promote outstanding logistics and supply chain management solutions in the growing region of CEE. Companies are welcome to apply in two categories: manufacturers and retailers in the first and service providers with a customer related project in the second. All projects will be evaluated based on their level of innovation, transferability, sustainability, cost-effectiveness and customer value-contribution.

Applications should be submitted by the 3rd of October 2016 and will be assessed by our highly renowned independent jury.

Pre-scheduled one-to-one business meetings & additional networking activities

Over the two days, service providers will have the opportunity to meet with leading directors and industry experts through a series of pre-arranged one-to-one business meetings and several informal networking activities, maximising business efficiency, presenting a unique opportunity to develop meaningful and valuable business relationships.

The event also offers an exclusive opportunity to take part in specially organised plant visits to major logistics and distribution centres in the region, all arranged prior to the event via our Meeting Scheduler website.

Five star venue

The best business is always achieved in the most excellent environment. This is why the event is organised for the 6th time in the 5*Corinthia Hotel Budapest on the 23–24 of November 2016.

More information >>

 


Turkish Special Supply Chain Movement

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Contents Turkish Special Supply Chain Movement

7 | Election Supply Chain Professional Turkey 2014

The Most Influential Supply Chain Professionals of Turkey will be elected for the first time during a gala dinner at the Suada Club on 17th September 2014. The jury of very experienced academics and experts have determined several categories in which the nominated projects of the candidates fall. This election is a clear recognition of the value of supply chain management in Turkey.

11 | News & Background

– Supply chain software remains hugely popular

12 | IT Subway Map

14 | Profile Jeroen van Weesep, Lego

There are almost as many Lego Minifigures in the world as there are people – but that pales into insignificance compared with all the Lego bricks that have passed through children’s hands since 1957. At the start of this century the family-owned company came close to bankruptcy, but a successful transition from a productfocused to marketing-focused approach managed to turn the tide again within the space of a few years. As Vice President Supply and Inventory Planning Europe and Asia, Jeroen van Weesep is helping to safeguard and sustain that transition in the supply chain. In June of this year, he was voted Supply Chain Professional 2014.

20 | Management: sustainability pays off

The global demand for natural raw materials such as coffee, tea, cocoa and palm oil continues to grow robustly. However, all the signs indicate that the producers of such resources will be unable to meet long-term demand. Therefore, most buyers are attempting to safeguard raw material supplies by investing in sustainability, primarily through independent certification schemes. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether they actually receive the same volumes of sustainable materials as they purchase – especially when it comes to cocoa and palm oil.

27 | Self-assessment S&OP

Your objective is a supply chain which is optimally aligned with market demand. Hence, sales & operations planning (S&OP) is crucial. But what does S&OP really contribute to your company’s performance? Is S&OP delivering demonstrable results? To help you discover how well your S&OP process is actually functioning, Supply Chain Movement and Involvation have developed this practical self-assessment model.

28 | Interview Altan Aytaç, Tofaș

As Supply Chain Director at Tofaş, Altan Aytaç has a unique perspective. He is responsible for the end-to-end supply chain at a complex automotive plant that makes multiple vehicle models on a single production line. He also has responsibility for the ongoing development of the supply chain function and for building and maintaining relationships with the commercial and industrial pillars of the organisation.Furthermore, he plays a vital role in the relationship between the supply chain organisation in Bursa, Turkey and the wider Fiat Chrysler Group of which Tofaş is a part.

34 | Mindmap for strategic transport optimisation

Companies are increasingly realising that transport can have a major influence, not only on customer satisfaction but also on cost patterns, flexibility and sustainability. And transport optimisation offers unique opportunities for innovation in these areas. Together with Ortec, international provider of advanced planning software, Supply Chain Movement has created a mindmap  to outline the route, including road signs indicating potential hazards along the way.

36 | History: Alexander the Great’s talent for logistics

Alexander the Great is known for having lead the longest, uninterrupted military campaign of all time. It was a battle which lasted eleven years (334-323 BC), taking him eastwards from Macedonia through some of the most inhospitable and unexplored areas of the world. He got as far as India, and combined the territories he had conquered into a global empire. Along with this succession of impressive conquests, Alexander also had a talent for logistics, enabling him to supply provisions to tens of thousands of soldiers and their followers throughout the campaign.

40 | Interview Toygar Narbay, Narkonteks

Cutting your coat according to your cloth is giving the Turkish textiles industry a strong reputation in the global clothing market. Toygar Narbay tells the story of Narkonteks’ growthand the role being located in Turkey’s booming textile industry has played in the company’s success. Effective supply chain management has been vital in building a compelling offering –  both as a manufacturer for leading international brands and in developing its own brand.

Het bericht Turkish Special Supply Chain Movement verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Urban distribution starts with purchasing

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Amsterdam’s largest employers include its universities (VU University Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences), healthcare provider Cordaan, the city of Amsterdam and the police department. Their degree courses, departments and services are spread across hundreds of locations throughout the city. Every single day, the locations are supplied with paper for printers, food and beverages, maintenance products, cleaning supplies, paving stones for side walks and much, much more. And every single day, those locations produce considerable waste flows. All this results in a lot of small-scale transport in the city. Is this really sustainable?

Clean and sustainable cities are attractive places to live, to work and to enjoy life – and, not least, to invest in. Couldn’t the supplying of Amsterdam be smarter and cleaner by consolidating the flows of goods at the suppliers or at urban distribution centers, by having them delivered at night or by arranging deliveries over the canals? Shouldn’t the supplying of goods be an integral part of sustainable and socially responsible purchasing?   It seems so obvious, right?

Students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) did a research project for their City Logistics course. What seems to be so obvious turns out to be anything but that. The students discovered that the purchasing was divided among over 10,000 suppliers as a result of so many decentralized buyers.

With “spend management,” purchasers know exactly what they are buying, but not in what volumes, for which specific locations and where supply points can still be found in the internal chain. Practically all products are purchased “delivered duty paid” (DDP), which means there’s no insight into the transportation costs for those final yards into the city. The flows of goods of companies that provide services, such as catering and cleaning, remain entirely out of scope.

Urgent need

Urban distribution starts with smart purchasing. Know what you are buying, in volume, and understand the transportation costs of the purchasing flows. When purchasing, look expressly at the “cost to serve” of the purchasing categories. What costs and benefits go along with other supply concepts? Break open the “DDP” conditions. There is an urgent need for a new Incoterm: “supply to urban distribution center”. Take a good look, together with service providers, at their in and outflow of goods.

A smarter and cleaner urban distribution can’t be achieved in a snap. Purchasers will need to sit down with both the product users and the suppliers to find the perfect balance between purchase price, handling, transportation and inventory costs. That will never work with 10,000 suppliers, of course. But it will work with a select number of strategic partners. Less is more! If purchasing flows are not consolidated earlier in the chain, it will be a problem to arrange for an effective flow to the many locations at a later stage.

A smart and clean urban distribution starts with purchasing. If you don’t do it for the sake of your children’s future, then at least do it because in a couple of years you might not even be allowed into the city any more…

Walther Ploos van Amstel is Associate Professor of Logistics aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Het bericht Urban distribution starts with purchasing verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Customers demand more sustainable supply chains

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Sustainable supply chains climb the corporate agenda as a consequence of increased market demand.This is the key finding from an international survey conducted by DNV GL and the research institute GFK Eurisko on more than 2,160 professionals from businesses in different sectors in Europe, The Americas and Asia.

“With globalization and the increase in the number of intermediaries, a secure and defendable supply chain is important in order to avoid disruptions that can affect business performance. Sustainable sourcing is a fast developing requirement, driven by customers. Companies that don’t act will have a hard time competing,” says Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL – Business Assurance.

When choosing a supplier or making buying decisions, 96% of the companies consider sustainability aspects, with low environmental impact as the most important aspect (56%). Health and safety of workers (51%) and economic aspects (43%) follow. Ethics comes next (29%), with proportions higher than average among sustainability “leaders”, i.e. companies with a mature capability to handle the supply chain in a sustainable way (+9% vs average).

42% of firms already adopt formal supply chain strategies contemplating sustainability; this percentage rises to 57% for bigger corporations and 81% for leaders.

80% of companies experienced pressure from their customers to demonstrate the sustainability of their supply chains. Of all the stakeholder groups, customers are the most interested in sustainability. They are driving this more than the authorities (33%) and other external stakeholders, such as local communities (7%), NGOs (4%) and unions (2%).

Key initiatives

Even though most companies feel they are just getting started, they are making concrete efforts to make their supply chain more sustainable.

Luca Crisciotti

Luca Crisciotti: “Sustainable sourcing is a fast developing requirement, driven by customers.”

So far, supplier audits are the most common initiative. 41% of companies claim to have undertaken one in the last three years (rates reach 57% for leaders). The proactive adoption and communication of an ad hoc strategy proved to be quite widespread among leaders (60%) and bigger corporations (1 in 3). Among small companies only 15% companies did this and 36% didn’t undertake any activity at all. Among the sectors, with 47% of companies having conducted audits and 36% adopting and communicating specific sustainability policies, food and beverage stands out as one of the most active industries.

A lot remains to be done. Two-thirds of companies limit their activities to tier 1 suppliers, meaning those companies they buy from directly, without any real control of other activities upstream in the supply chain.

Harmonized frame

Companies are hindered from progressing on sustainable sourcing for two reasons: economic shortages and the lack of a clear and harmonized frame of reference. Conflicting demands from customers (22%), lack of consensus on what to do (21%) and resistance from companies in the supply chain (20%) are barriers.
Despite these difficulties, benefits outweigh costs for 40% of the companies. Ability to meet customer needs (54%) is the top reason. Leaders are those benefiting the most in terms of improving their market performance: increased market share (45%), competitive advantage (52%) and enhancing brand reputation (59%) are key explanations.

Future outlook

Companies expect supply chain sustainability to become more critical for market success, both when it comes to meeting customer needs (+2%) and most of all to gain a competitive edge (+ 19%), improve market share (+17%) and enhance their brand reputation (+7%). 66% of the companies surveyed expect to improve the sustainability of their supply chains in three years’ time.

“To face tomorrows’ business climate, three basic steps have to be taken. Firstly, companies need to understand their key stakeholders’ expectations with respect to the sustainability of their supply chain. Secondly, they need to clearly define their own expectations, inform their suppliers and require them to act coherently. Lastly, it is fundamental to develop a method to check and make sure that all the members in the supply chain understand and implement the requests,” says Crisciotti.

Het bericht Customers demand more sustainable supply chains verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Dilşat Uyguroglu:“Supply chain plays a huge role in sustainability agenda”

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Unilever’s corporate vision – “to double the size of the business, whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact” – is top of mind, bordering on evangelical, for the company’s supply chain in Turkey. Sustainability has been on the company’s agenda for nearly two decades and its Sustainable Living Plan strongly drives business today. A commitment to halving its environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gases, water use, waste packaging and increasing sustainable sourcing has a huge impact on the supply chain. Dilşat Uyguroglu is responsible for logistics and customer service operations of the company’s 30 brands in Turkey and Central Asia where there are eight factories, including one of the world’s largest ice-cream factories.

Q: What is your responsibility regarding the supply chain?

A: “I am responsible for running Customer Services and Logistic Operations for all categories we operate in Turkey. Logistics includes all the warehousing and transportation of all Unilever products from personal care and home care to food and refreshments, such as ice-cream.

Customer services brings me in touch with our customers and overseeing processes from order collection to dispatch. I am also responsible for Unilever’s supply chain in Central Asia, so getting company products into these countries from all around the world. In addition my team takes care of cross border sourcing – both import and export of products and materials.

I have been in this position for nearly one year but I’ve been with the company for 20 years during which I’ve covered almost every category and function within supply chain from project management and manufacturing to factory management in Morocco and Turkey and planning and technology director roles in Durban, South Africa. Since 2009 I’ve been in Turkey where I continue to run the Algida ice-cream factory.”

Q: What is the strategy of Unilever in Turkey: Operational Excellence, Product Leadership or Customer Intimacy?

A: “The strategy of Unilever Turkey does not differ from our global strategy which is to make sustainable living common place. It is a very powerful statement because it not only manifests how we run the business it also affects the behaviour of billions of people as we make the world a better place to live: We believe we can make a difference.

The supply chain plays a crucial role in this strategy providing excellent service to protect strong brands so that people look good, feel good and get more out of life, as we meet every day needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. The first priority is the consumer then customers, employees, suppliers and communities and if we fulfil our responsibilities we believe shareholders will be rewarded.

To achieve consumer intimacy we have to start with a very good product and we have some very strong brands. From my point of view our aim is to create a sustainable supply chain that is perfect in procurement, manufacturing and logistics as we deliver to stores and touch consumers, all which will give us a crucial competitive edge. This has been recognised by the latest Advantage Customer service survey ranking us number 2 among 23 top suppliers of the country.

Sustainability has long been part of the Unilever strategy. Our Sustainable Living Plan was launched in 2010 to reemphasise its importance; sustainability is part of the way we do business and it’s a significant target on our personal development plans.”

Q: What are the main business challenges that drive supply chain projects at the moment?

A: “The supply chain itself plays a huge role in driving the sustainability agenda. The way we procure, produce and distribute and work with our partners, in a sustainable way has a high priority. But we can always do better, provide a better service and stay cost competitive even in today’s VUCA world.

We are finding that consumers, customers and the channels are becoming more and more fragmented. Not so long ago we thought that the giant global supermarket chains would dominate retails chains and our customers would become bigger and bigger with larger shops. But now consumers are moving back to the smaller shops on the street corner. Small local chains are growing very strongly and we have to serve more and more distribution points and warehouses, for different types of customers with different priorities and different technological bases.

This has not happened overnight but has been gradual so we already have other supply chain solutions in place. We are well positioned and supply not only the global players but also the local chains. Striving to maintain our sustainability vision can be at the expense of competiveness and quality so this is a big challenge for us. We are continually working on this and quantifying it but it cannot be done in isolation. If we look at all our internal systems – the factories, distribution chains etc – the impact we could make here is now negligible compared to the total consumption chain footprint.

The next major step comes from collaborating with supplier customers and working with them to find common agendas and drive common improvement programmes. One way to collaborate is to work closely with them, meet them and try to understand each other’s agenda.

Another way is through technology and systematic work. We are setting up control towers around the world to increase systematic use of technology to improve visibility of operations. I believe this will make a huge difference in terms of standards and the challenges we face todays regarding logistics.

We are currently setting up one of the company’s largest factories for home and personal care products attached to a state-of-the-art distribution centre. With an engineering background and having a white board on which to draw-up a supply chain, design and run it, is very exciting. We’ll be transforming the whole landscape to give us a more competitive edge. “

Q: Which supply chain challenges keeps you awake at night?

A; “Establishing a sustainable, global, flexible and efficient supply chain day-in, day-out! And at the same time being able to provide the best working environment for our people; as a company we take many steps to lead the agenda.”

Q: What do you do about these challenges?

A: “It starts with the people and the sort of people you pull around you. You have to make sure that people understand the message and that they are excited about the global vision, that they connect with the team, have a clean, crisp agenda and are able to adapt to whatever challenges you are facing in the country.

The average age in the company is very young, for example the average age of my team is less than 30 and includes young talents from generation X and generation Y who believe strongly in the vision of changing the world to make it a better place. I am only a transmitter of the global message and with these young people it clicks easily. Providing them with the environment and tools to implement this vision and make sure they are part of the big game plan is a very forceful way of keeping them highly motivated. They all have a clear purpose.

Our approach is to work with individuals who are enthusiastic to improve their performance, and who want to make a difference for society and the environment. We try to understand their personalities, capability to work in teams and their all-round skills, not just their technical skills.

As a result, for example, we reached the Unilever’s commitment to “zero waste to landfill” at all our sites in Turkey last year. The global company target is to achieve this by 2020; in Turkey we achieved it five years ahead of schedule. It’s not just big talk but also big results.”

Q: Which book has inspired you the most and why?

A: “Two books: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt which I read during the early days of my career. It discusses systems management and focuses on eliminating constraints which was very useful when I worked in the factory. The second was Good to Great by Jim Collins that describes examples of how new generation leaders, rather than charismatic leaders with big egos, develop long term sustainable relationships by enthusing their team and keeping them on the front page.”

Q: What do you expect to be doing professionally in 5 years?

A: “I plan to remain with Unilever and in the supply chain world where I see my future growing and excelling as there are plenty of business opportunities.”

Het bericht Dilşat Uyguroglu:“Supply chain plays a huge role in sustainability agenda” verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Mind Map Strategic Transport Optimization

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Companies are increasingly realising that transport can have a major influence, not only on customer satisfaction but also on cost patterns, flexibility and sustainability. And transport optimisation offers unique opportunities for innovation in these areas. Together with Ortec, international provider of advanced planning software, Supply Chain Movement has created a mindmap to outline the route, including road signs indicating potential hazards along the way.

>>Please click on the red button and fill in the fiels to activate the green download button

Mind map manual

Not only do certain key market trends have a direct link to transport, such as fuel prices and increasing customer demands, but the greying population and tighter legislation are also having an impact. The first step on the mindmap determines the external triggers for transport optimisation and provides insight into the strategic importance of transport. The trends force companies to take action:

Plan.

The second step on the map indicates the impact of the market trends on a company’s transport characteristics. The company’s plan should take account of these trends. The sector, type of product and the characteristics of demand and of the supply chain all result in specific transport requirements, preferences and criteria from the company’s own perspective. Once these requirements have been ascertained, a company can move on to actually planning the transport:

Do.

In step 3, a company selects transport optimisation concepts based on the first two steps. Transport planning software can handle calculations for several concepts (such as cross-docking and direct store delivery) as well as several rounds of optimisation (such as planning of routes, labour, materials and loads) at once, including what-if analysis. This results in unique insights which often reveal new opportunities for considerable cost savings, unexpected yet effective combinations or chances to do things differently. These calculations can also be fine-tuned, which can reduce transport costs by more than 30 percent without affecting service levels. Once the concept has been decided, the company can move on to implementation:

Check.

Step 4 sees the actual implementation of the transport optimization activities based on all the decisions made in the previous steps. This can be optimisation at strategic, tactical, operational or even real-time level. The most common outcomes are higher profits, lower costs, better management decisions, higher customer and employee satisfaction and a more sustainable society. With the right planning tools, a company can serve the market better:

Act.

Het bericht Mind Map Strategic Transport Optimization verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Sustainable Supply Chain Summit 2015, 10-11 November London

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Sustainable Supply Chain Summit 2015
Date: 10-11 November, 2015
Venue: Tower Brigde Hilton, London
Organisation: Ethical Corporation
URL: events.ethicalcorp.com/supplychain/index.php

 

 

Europe’s leading meeting place for corporate leaders delivering supply chain sustainability. Back now for its 10th year, it’s the go to event for professionals working in supply chain, procurement, sourcing, sustainability or CSR.

The 2015 event will address some of the key issues and opportunities, including: impact measurement, supplier development, responsible sourcing, R&D innovation, consumer engagement, scaling up, and resource efficiency. Confirmed speakers include:

  • AkzoNobel, Director Procurement, Dick Bartelse
  • Olam International, Head – Corporate & Sustainable Communications, Briony Mathieson
  • GSK, Head of Global Environmental Sustainability, Matt Wilson
  • Amcor, Vice President – Safety Environment & Sustainability, David Clark
  • Eastman, Chief Sustainability Officer, Godefroy Motte
  • BAM Construct UK, Director of Sustainability, Nitesh Magdani
  • ArcelorMittal, Corporate Responsibility – General Manager, Alan Knight
  • MolsonCoors, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Debbie Read
  • Interserve, Head of Sustainability, Colin Braidwood

If building sustainable and secure global value chains and learning more about top trends in the space in 2015 are of interest:

>> download your full Sustainable Supply Chain Summit brochure here

 

Het bericht Sustainable Supply Chain Summit 2015, 10-11 November London verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Loser of last quarter (Q4 2015): Unilever

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Unilever is keen to position itself as a champion of sustainability and making the world a better place, which makes the BBC’s recent revelations about malpractices on Indian plantations where the company sources tea even more embarrassing. According to an article in the Dutch financial newspaper FD on 12 September 2015, BBC reporters investigated estates in the northeast of India which are also used by Unilever.

The reporters discovered employees spraying toxic chemicals without the proper protection, children working to pick tea, and overflowing toilets. Unilever’s PG Tips brand of tea displays the logo of the Rainforest Alliance, an international NGO which ensures that tea production does not damage the environment or endanger the people working on the estates.

The working conditions exposed by the BBC do not comply with those criteria. Unilever has previously come under fire in connection with its shampoo, when consumers sued the company, claiming that Unilever’s ‘natural’ shampoos are actually full of synthetic ingredients.

Het bericht Loser of last quarter (Q4 2015): Unilever verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.


How socially responsible is your supply chain?

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Analyst Pam Fitzpatrick just published a research note on cobalt supply chains – the issues and challenges are similar to conflict minerals. A report by Amnesty International describes unsafe working conditions, exposure to health risks and child labor at artisanal cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is hard to imagine what people living and working there must endure. For supply chain, this calls for action. Supply chain must improve materials traceability and human rights due diligence to improve conditions for all of the workers in our extended value chains.

It’s a call for Gartner to take action, too. I want to share some of our new research development that relates to supply chain’s role in corporate social responsibility.

First, we are excited to be adding a CSR metric to the 2016 Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 methodology. Given the CSR reporting already available, such trusted sources as the Dow Jones Sustainability index and the Carbon Disclosure Project, this CSR component score will use third-party data as a proxy for assessing the company’s commitment to and proficiency in running socially and environmentally responsible supply chains. Five independent data sources will be used giving a total possible score of 10. Pam together with Research Vice President Stan Aronow are the brains behind this new metric.

Working through this, it has been fascinating to see some companies scoring a perfect ten – impressive, and they should be highly respected for this. More fascinating, and somewhat concerning is the companies scoring very low. A very highly ranked company actually scored a perfect zero – any guesses who that is? More to come on this addition to our methodology.

Pam and I are also building out a 5-stage maturity model for CSR/Sustainability. Our goals are two-fold. First, to describe the five stages of maturity model and the attributes of a CSR-focused decision-making and regulating (governance) infrastructure.
Second, to help CSCOs & heads of SC strategy plan investments and build capabilities that enable integration of environmental/social/governance factors into supply chain’s strategic decisions and operations.

As we validate our model through interviews, it is interesting to see the traditional focus on compliance and cost saving compared to the more advanced visionaries who manage to combine risk and innovation for long term value creation. And this is one of the issues: the investments are long-term, rather than meeting the needs for quarterly results. Once published, this will provide deep insights into the critical issues and hopefully enable the journey to a socially and environmentally responsible business. We are drilling into these questions and more as we talk to CSR/Sustainability leaders: Who owns this in Supply Chain? What drivers triggered you to further invest? What metrics are used to measure progress? How is ROI measured? Who pays for investments?

We know that these topics are at the forefront of the minds of many of our clients, and we look forward to taking steps towards a better business future with you.

Jane Barrett is the Group Vice President for Gartner’s Supply Chain Research group

Het bericht How socially responsible is your supply chain? verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

ARC European Industry Forum 2016

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ARC European Industry Forum
Industry in transition: smart, secure, safe and sustainable Manufacturing
Date: March 2-3, 2016
Venue: MERCURE hotel Amsterdam City, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Organiser: ARC Advisory Group
URL: www.arcweb.com/events/arc-industry-forum-europe

 

On March 2-3, 2016, ARC Advisory Group will host its European Industry Forum (EIF) at the MERCURE Hotel Amsterdam City in the Netherlands.  The European Industry Forum is part of ARC’s series of conferences also held in the USA, India, China, and Japan.

Participants are invited to attend a series of exclusive plenary and breakout sessions.  In these sessions, users will tell the inside story of successful operations and applications; automation experts will share best practices, and ARC analysts will evaluate trends in manufacturing automation and IT. Furthermore end users and solution providers will have opportunities to network with their peers, exchange ideas and share experiences during breaks and the evening event on March 2, 2016.

ARC’s European Industry Forum features dedicated workshops, offering open platforms to learn and discuss trends and developments. Workshops are planned on the following relevant topics:

  • Asset Lifecycle Management & Smart Machines
  • Cyber Security
  • Energy & Sustainability
  • MESA – IT/OT Convergence, Modularization & IIoT Implications
  • Smart & Advanced Manufacturing, Industrie 4.0 & IIoT

In addition to these workshop topics, plenary sessions and industry tracks address: Advanced Manufacturing & Modularization; Asset Lifecycle Management & Smart Machines; Cyber Security; Energy & Sustainability; Industrie 4.0 & IIoT; Organization & Workforce Development, Collaboration & Human Factors; Smart Manufacturing, Machine Learning & Analytics.  As part of the partnership with MESA International, the forum will also include a keynote and lectures by users on: Manufacturing Operations Management.

You are welcome to join ARC’s European Industry Forum on March 2-3, 2016.  For more information about attending, speaking or sponsoring, please visit our website or contact ablech@arcweb.com.

 

Het bericht ARC European Industry Forum 2016 verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Translog Connect Congress 2016

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Translog Connect Congress
23-24 November 2016
Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal Budapest, Hungary
www.translogconnect.eu

TRANSLOG Connect is the market leading cross-industrial business summit for transportation, logistics and supply chain management professionals in the CEE region taking place annually in November, in Budapest, Hungary.

Directors from all important leading businesses from numerous industries – such as automotive, electronics, oil & gas, heavy industry & steel, retail, food & beverage, FMCG, energy and beyond – are attending each year’s summit to meet the key logistics, software, consultancy, transportation and warehousing service providers.

Most up-to-date market insights

In order to ensure the quality of the conference programme, we work closely together with leading local and regional associations, European and international media partners and our Programme Advisory Committee, whose members are well-known logistics experts of leading international companies. The conference programme offers the most up-to-date market insights into supply chain management, logistics, production, IT, transportation and warehouse management-related topics.

4th CEE Logistics and Supply Chain Management Excellence Award

The award has been established to honour, recognise and promote outstanding logistics and supply chain management solutions in the growing region of CEE. Companies are welcome to apply in two categories: manufacturers and retailers in the first and service providers with a customer related project in the second. All projects will be evaluated based on their level of innovation, transferability, sustainability, cost-effectiveness and customer value-contribution.

Applications should be submitted by the 3rd of October 2016 and will be assessed by our highly renowned independent jury.

Pre-scheduled one-to-one business meetings & additional networking activities

Over the two days, service providers will have the opportunity to meet with leading directors and industry experts through a series of pre-arranged one-to-one business meetings and several informal networking activities, maximising business efficiency, presenting a unique opportunity to develop meaningful and valuable business relationships.

The event also offers an exclusive opportunity to take part in specially organised plant visits to major logistics and distribution centres in the region, all arranged prior to the event via our Meeting Scheduler website.

Five star venue

The best business is always achieved in the most excellent environment. This is why the event is organised for the 6th time in the 5*Corinthia Hotel Budapest on the 23–24 of November 2016.

More information >>

Het bericht Translog Connect Congress 2016 verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Unilever trials blockchain to improve supply chain sustainability

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In one of the industry’s first practical applications of blockchain, Unilever has embarked on a year-long pilot project involving the use of the high-profile technology to manage transactions within its tea supply chain. By enabling the project partners to reliably track products throughout the supply chain, the blockchain-based shared data system is expected to make it easier to validate the sustainability of the tea farmers’ agricultural practices and to reward them appropriately.

The blockchain project involves consumer products manufacturer Unilever as well as British grocery retailer Sainsbury’s and packaging company Sappi in conjunction with three banking firms – BNP Paribas, Barclays and Standard Chartered – plus several technology startups. The consortium is developing a system for tracking and verifying contracts for up to 10,000 farmers in Malawi that supply tea to Unilever and Sainsbury’s. Much of the technological support for the project has been provided by Provenance, a blockchain-based supply chain services firm, and Halotrade, a supply chain data processing company supporting information analysis.

In this real-life application of blockchain technology, tea farmers who are focused on methods designed to increase harvests without using more land will benefit from preferential pricing. The partners hope this will incentivize sustainable farming practices. In line with their own sustainability targets, the banks are keen to provide financial support to such practices but often find it difficult to validate whether farmers are truly working with such methods. The initiative also contributes to Unilever’s sustainable agriculture programme, within which it aims to source all of its raw agricultural products sustainably by 2020.

This pilot project involves recording information about the farmers’ produce, including quality, unit price and sustainability-related crop production metrics, to a blockchain. That information can then be accessed in the shared data system by all project partners, including the banks, who can then reward those farmers working with verified sustainable methods by giving them access to more credit, for example, or offering them more attractive borrowing terms.

Blockchain is the secure distributed ledger system used by digital currencies such as bitcoin. It is widely regarded as having countless potential uses for transactions or contracts in all kinds of industries, including to create supply chain transparency. “This innovative new technology will help us increase sustainable sourcing, enhance the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers we work with around the world, and help to make sustainable agriculture mainstream,” stated Keith Weed, Unilever’s Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sustainable Business.

The trial is initially focused on tea crops, but the scope of the project may well expand to cover other areas as the pilot progresses.

Het bericht Unilever trials blockchain to improve supply chain sustainability verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

Key Boardroom Conversations for Supply Chain in 2018

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It’s 2018; in mature companies, the board of directors includes a Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO). He – in spite of gender diversity efforts, the CSCO is still a man in most cases – reports directly to the company’s CEO, underlining the importance of the supply chain function as a crucial part of the business.

In the boardroom, the CSCO hears other executives’ opinions on all kinds of topics. These are some of the boardroom conversations the CSCO should be having with his colleagues this year:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): “We need to start a business transformation for our company this year, because of all the disruptive forces attacking us.”
CSCO: “Yes, I agree. But we have to preserve our efficient core processes, in addition to new agility. Remember, we must be efficient wherever we can and agile where necessary.”

Chief Financial Officer (CFO): “In this era of dramatic changes, business continuity is of the utmost importance for our company for us to be able to predict the next quarterly earnings.”
CSCO: “Of course! Integrated Business Planning will help us to work with a long-term horizon and take smart and timely measures to close any gaps in our financial budget.”

HR Director: “There is a war for talent going on, so we have to make our company more visible and appealing to attract and retain bright new employees.”
CSCO: “Let’s not forget to actively improve the gender diversity in our company to tap into the pool of female talent and achieve better and more balanced decision-making.”

Chief Procurement Officer (CPO): “Our company is facing more supply risks because of a growing number of natural disasters globally and the extensive outsourcing by us and our suppliers.”
CSCO: “Yes, I know. Besides managing supply chain risks, we should also apply open innovation and listen to our suppliers more closely to spot innovative technology at an early stage.”

Chief Information Officer (CIO): “We must address cybersecurity because of the increasing number of data breaches, while still digitalizing processes and implementing the Internet of Things.”
CSCO: “That’s absolutely true. And we should clean up our master data, so we don’t drown in an ever-cloudier pool of data, before applying advanced analytics.”

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO): “In the omni-channel world of growing competitiveness, we need to deliver customer excellence to ensure business growth.”
CSCO: “Clever customer segmentation and optimization of our product and service portfolio will ensure that our company achieves profitable growth.”

Besides holding these boardroom conversations, the CSCO needs to listen to and respond to the challenges and the opinions of his colleagues in Planning, Operations, Logistics, Sales and Marketing. But most of all, the CSCO should communicate his own agenda for realizing sustainable and transparent end-to-end supply chains.

Supply Chain Media wishes all CSCOs and other supply chain professionals many fruitful conversations in 2018!

Martijn Lofvers, CEO & Chief Trendwatcher
martijn.lofvers@supplychainmedia.nl

Het bericht Key Boardroom Conversations for Supply Chain in 2018 verscheen eerst op Supply Chain Movement.

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