Going Green and Saving 'Green'

EcoVadis (www.ecovadis.com) believes in and practices what it calls sustainable procurement. It operates a global platform for supplier sustainability ratings, allowing purchasing organizations to manage risks and drive innovation in their supply chain. By leveraging a cloud solution with corporate social responsibility (CSR) expertise, the EcoVadis Supplier Profile platforms gives access to reliable supplier scorecards covering 150 purchasing categories, 90 countries and 21 environmental, social and ethical criteria. The scorecards contain both quantitative scores that allow customers to benchmark their suppliers, as well as customized alerts and highlights, allowing buyers to quickly define a performance improvement plan with selected suppliers.

IHS Inc. (www.IHS.com) Besides being considered by some to be the No. 1 environmental solutions provider in the market, IHS continues to demonstrate innovation and thought leadership in supply chain areas such as conflict minerals, electronics waste (e-Waste) regulations, restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS), and import/export laws, in addition to implications of these types of issues on material availability, component obsolescence, counterfeit parts, and supplier risk.

Image Microsystems (www.imagemicrosystems.com) is a reverse logistics provider for IT and consumer electronics products. It provides asset recovery, product returns management software and services, depot repair and e-waste recycling for major retailers, OEMs, large corporations and municipalities. The technology keeps these products out of landfills or overseas dumping grounds via refurbishment, parting out, or recycling returned or end-of-life electronics. Currently, more than 80 million pounds of e-waste is diverted annually from U.S landfills. The company’s new facility will be capable of processing 240,000 pounds of e-waste per day, an additional 87,600,000 pounds per year.

Inmar (www.inmar.com) minimizes the supply chain’s negative impact on the environment by viewing sustainability broadly—eliminating all waste, regardless of source, in products that go to landfills, in processes, and in inefficient transportation models that increase the carbon footprint and drive up costs. In 2010, the company’s services kept more than 181 million pounds of material out of landfills. Its transportation analysis capabilities, including sourcing and network distribution, determined that a large Midwest grocer could save 10 million miles per year.

ModusLink Global Solutions (www.moduslink.com) introduced a Sustainable Solutions Suite in 2009 to help clients reduce the environmental impact of their supply chain processes on a global scale. One client, Hewlett-Packard, improved the sustainability and efficiency of its packaging operations by reducing the size its packaging, using more recyclable materials, decreasing carbon emissions and cutting transportation costs. HP eliminated 74,000 cubic feet from packaging; reduce greenhouse gases by 62 metric tons; 144 barrels of oil, 6,974 gallon of gasoline, and recycled 20.9 tons of waste.

OB10 (www.ob10.com) helps global companies receive electronic invoices from their suppliers around the world. Their clients can receive e-invoices form more than 100,000 suppliers in 157 countries, reducing paper consumption by approximately 15 million sheets a year. In three industries along, technology, food and beverage and pharmaceutical, OB10’s environmental impact has resulted in 17 million sheets of paper, 230 barrels of oil saved, 2,000 trees saved, and 6,500 pounds of air pollution removed.

Packsize International (www.Packsize.com) enables end users of corrugated boxes to make their own packaging at the right moment in the right quantity and in the right design, significantly reducing supply chain waste. The fibrous wood pulp in corrugate can be recycled up to seven times. It takes 24 trees to produce one ton of dry paper pulp and 1.6 tons of dry pulp are necessary to produce a single ton of corrugated material (in a complex supply chain). With Packsize’s model, a single major fulfillment company saves roughly five million pounds of finished boxes per year, saving about 90,000 trees. The company also will save about 55 million pounds of CO₂, greatly reducing its carbon footprint.

Paylode (www.paylode.com) provides its customers with thermo-formed plastic dunnage designed to replace the corrugated cardboard and wooden dunnage traditionally used to protect loads. Companies that have bought or are testing Paylode’s product include Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, H.J. Heinz; Hostess Brands and MillerCoors. To help reach its goal of eliminating waste entirely through recycling, Paylode has a standing offer to its customers: It will buy back the product at end of life at resin market value, and will regrind the material and start the process all over again.

SYSPRO (www.syspro.com) recently developed Project Green Enable, a series of programs across three dimensions: energy efficiency, waste reduction and recyclable/re-use of resources and energy efficiency. Its ERP solutions can aid manufacturers in returning to a more cost-effective, lean and green make-to-order manufacturing strategy as opposed to maintaining large, costly inventories of finished product. It facilitates green through energy savings, re-use of resources, waste reduction, electronic data management, sophisticated forecasting, inventory optimization and more.

 

More Green Supply Chain Enablers

Also Energy

American Global Logistics

Aspen Logistics

Damko

Ebuilder

Elemica

e-LYNXX

Full Circle Wireless

Greenstream

Innerworkings

Insight, Inc.

Kenko

Novation

Transplace

 

Green Supply Award Recipients

Arizona State University

BT

Columbia Manufacturing

D.W. Morgan

EMC

Fresh & Easy

Fujitsu Network Communications

National Instruments

Paccar Parts

Saddle Creek

Spinnaker