Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008 - (Page 41)

practices not because it is a nice thing to do but because it saves them money and makes them more efficient and improves the quality of their whole operation. I think sustainability will be the biggest thing since the internet and will dramatically change how we do business.” Sanker is such a believer that he opened a new CaseStack regional office in Fayetteville, Ark., and moved there himself. He explains that in 2005 Wal-Mart chairman Lee Scott spoke to a board meeting of the Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Arkansas, on which Sanker serves. “He talked a lot about sustainability and that really got me thinking,” Sanker says. CaseStack subsequently started a biodiesel program and accelerated its consolidation programs. “There is a lot going on at the University of Arkansas Walton School of Business with the retailing center and the new Applied Sustainability Center,” he says. “People are starting to call this area the ‘Green Valley’ and we wanted to be a part of that and help find solutions.” Starting Point As the Whirlpool and Stonyfield examples show, there are a range of tactics and tools available to companies embarking on the path to sustainability. To begin this journey, however, it is necessary for a company to understand its starting point. “It is very difficult for a business to say, hand on heart, that it is going to reduce its carbon footprint if it hasn’t got a baseline to start from,” says Accenture’s Wright. “Very few businesses out there can say what their carbon footprint is today, and you have to know that to start to drive year-on-year improvements.” Having a tool that would enable businesses to baseline their carbon emissions is essential, he says. Vendors already are on the case. LLamasoft, a supply chain optimization and simulation software company based in Ann Arbor, Mich., recently added a new tool to its Supply Chain Guru network design solution that can help companies model and calculate their carbon footprint. To do that, LLamasoft incorporated research from the U.S. government, the Carbon Trust and other organizations, says CEO Don Hicks. An important part of this solution is aimed at helping companies define the appropriate scope of the calculation. “Looking at only a piece of the problem is not sufficient, because if you model only GHG emissions from your direct activities, the answer would be to outsource everything,” Hicks says. “If you only do a small part of the problem, you really do none of the problem.” “Early efforts have been focused on obvious areas like packaging and transportation, but future programs must take on a more holistic approach across the product life cycle,” says Patrick Connaughton, research analyst with the Forrester Group, Cambridge, Mass. Moreover, businesses will need to track not only their own carbon footprints but also their trading partners’ compliance with environmental standards, he says. Edgar Blanco, research associate at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, agrees. “Measuring the carbon footprint of the supply chain requires a broad view,” he says. “Of course, there may be some very basic, low-hanging fruit that can be addressed without analysis, but we are GLOBAL LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES 41 http://www.transgroup.com http://www.transgroup.com

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Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008 Editorial GL & SCS Exclusive FastForward Up Front The Green in Green Think Inside the Box Have a Second Look Can't Happen Here Opinion: Stay in the Black as Your Workforce Fades to Gray Opinion: Four Critical Steps to Managing Change in the Supply Chain Industry Voices

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008

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