Breakthrough Helps Consumer Goods Company Achieve Sustainability Metrics: Top Supply Chain Projects Award

Customer client: Global consumer goods company
About the project: In 2024, a global consumer goods company was looking for a solution to reimburse carriers with a fair and accurate fuel price calculation vs. relying on generalized national averages. This company partnered with Breakthrough to implement Fuel Recovery, a market-based fuel reimbursement solution that provided transparency to fuel and freight costs and cost efficiency in their transportation network. During the onboarding process, Breakthrough cleaned, organized, and optimized the global consumer goods company’s transportation network data. Additionally, the absence of established industry benchmarks for transportation emissions created uncertainty about setting realistic reduction goals. The global consumer goods company then implemented CleanMile, Breakthrough's transportation emissions management solution, to establish formal corporate sustainability targets.

Solution: Breakthrough worked closely with the global consumer goods company to analyze their data and provide a precise calculation of their 2015 and 2023 absolute emissions baseline and emissions intensity. Armed with these metrics, Breakthrough’s CleanMile solution provided actionable recommendations to achieve up to a 20% reduction in Scope 3 transportation emissions, including Category 4 (upstream) and Category 9 (downstream). 

These tailored recommendations spanned carrier selection, intermodal conversion, network optimization, and alternative energy options such as biodiesel, RNG/CNG, renewable diesel, and electric. These strategies were designed to be cost-neutral or cost-negative, aligning with the global consumer goods company's budget while achieving up to a 20% reduction in emissions. 

These opportunities in detail: 

• 2.3-5.3% through improving SmartWay ranks
• 3.9% through intermodal conversion
• 8.8% through load consolidation
• 0.4-2.4% through biodiesel
• 1% through CNG
• 15.6-35.3% through RNG, depending on the feedstock
• 2.2-3.6% through renewable diesel
• 0.1% through electric 

Results: The project delivered measurable, impactful results across multiple facets of the global consumer goods company's operations. Specifically, the RNG initiative is expected to reduce total cost of ownership over five years by 14.8% and reduce emissions by 40%, representing a 0.3% reduction against their entire network. Additionally, the implementation of Breakthrough's mode conversion recommendations will result in a 5.85% reduction in transportation costs over the past year. Looking forward, the recommendations Breakthrough provided will enable the global consumer goods company to reduce transportation emissions by 14% in 2025. 

Beyond cost and emissions savings, this initiative has enhanced supply chain reliability and scalability, ensuring the global consumer goods company can meet customer demands seamlessly. 

CLICK HERE to learn more about the 2025 Top Supply Chain Project winners.