The key innovation of green supply chains – Schneider & Overhaul

Measuring logistics emissions is a crucial first step

Roseman says that product emissions increase throughout their life cycle and that measuring this “provides insight into how production, manufacturing and distribution affect overall carbon emissions.”

He adds: “Lifecycle traceability is particularly important as guidelines are constantly changing to ensure companies are ethically and sustainably accountable to their climate goals.

Roseman also urges action on monitoring so-called “cold chains,” which are environmentally controlled areas that protect temperature-sensitive goods — such as food and biopharmaceuticals — during transport. and storage.

“Cold chain monitoring is essential to ensure that cold chain journeys are as efficient as possible. Monitoring also helps reduce wait times at ports, where more energy is needed to maintain storage temperatures and control systems.

Roseman also says Schneider’s Green Premium program is making a difference.

“Green Premium offers strong value propositions through its portfolio of products, services and solutions. By collaborating with third-party organizations, we can help our customers achieve their sustainability goals. »

Another action he says can go a long way toward reducing CPG emissions is integrating sustainability into manufacturing design.

“Not only does this translate to a reduced carbon footprint, but it also provides transparency – both on environmental impact and circularity attributes, through third-party labels and product certifications.”

Regionalization is a way to reduce public transport

At a more strategic level, Roseman argues that “regionalization” – the process of sourcing goods locally rather than internationally – will be a major factor in reducing mass transportation.

He says, “A purely local footprint is not feasible, because a single disturbance can bring down the whole chain. Organizations must therefore empower themselves at the regional level and maintain close coordination of local sites.

Roseman admits that such a decision will have an impact on costs, but says these are offset by lower costs through lower inventory, greater working capital through shorter supply chains and also higher levels of durability.

So it’s about saving energy on a global scale. But what about the small gains that, when added together, are just as significant?

Wenjia Tang is responsible for data at digital-freight business DigiHaul. In this role, she is responsible for the company‘s UK data-driven insights into shipping information, drawn from geospatial data and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as vehicle trackers.

One of the areas Tang is focusing on is improving efficiency by reducing the empty run of road freight. Empty running often occurs on a leg of a journey, when freight is unloaded and not reloaded with anything for its return trip. It is estimated that, in the road transport sector, empty runs reach 20%, and this does not take into account partial loads.

“Empty” transport is a huge waste of energy

“This is a problem not only for carriers looking to optimize their fleet, but also for shippers who may struggle to find capacity,” Tang says. “Not to mention the carbon footprint for both.”

According to Tang, tackling this problem has the potential to solve two of the biggest problems in commercial transportation: reducing carbon emissions and freeing up additional capacity to alleviate some of the pressure on supply chains.

Tang says some degree of idle running is ‘inevitable’, but insists that with better planning and the right technology, ‘we can reduce it to what is considered a more efficient and sustainable level’ .

She adds: “This can be achieved with quality data analysis. A good model can produce better matching quality compared to the traditional labor-intensive brokerage method. »

According to Tang, the biggest obstacle to combating empty running is visibility on the commercial road transport network. “The more visibility we have, the more we can optimize things through data analysis and connecting different parties,” she explains.

“For shippers, digitization makes logistics much more transparent and gives them better visibility into where their shipments are,” says Tang. “They will also see their costs go down due to the efficiency of the network.”

She adds, “For carriers, it allows them to better plan their journeys, including accessing new income by taking on jobs they might not otherwise have access to.

“An important part of the solution is to bring the carriers on board and show them the benefit of being involved in a larger network. Transportation is a really fragmented industry, so we can only make appropriate gains if we have a critical mass of carriers Overall, when carriers see the opportunity to maximize their own fleet, reduce their carbon footprint and make life a little easier for drivers, they are very keen to be a part of it.

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