Wal-Mart puts forth an initiative to build a global, open database: It may be the most important effort to limit carbon exposure
-by Andy Leventhal, CEO and Founder of , maker of software that helps companies visually understand their carbon emissions across the supply chain.
Read our interview with Andy Leventhal on Planet Metrics Rapid Carbon Modeling and checkout our interview with the co-founder of method, a customer using Planet Metrics today
Wal-Mart really gets it. It is almost as if they have been listening to us. Their Sustainability Index webcast had three phrases that were repeated by each senior executive taking the stage. Producers of goods and services, large retailers, automakers, and just about every manufacturing company should take their words to heart:
- Reduce cost
- Improve quality
- Understand and manage the Product Life Cycle
The message from Wal-Mart is simple: Start looking at sustainability metrics right now; looking at carbon and energy embodied in your products will help you find ways to reduce hidden costs. And, it will help reduce emissions across the whole product life cycle – something that will become increasingly important to your business, especially as we head toward rising oil prices and global carbon regulations.
Improving quality is also an activity that can benefit from applying a sustainability lens. For example, customers habitually return perfectly good products that passed quality inspections, but for whatever reason, didn’t meet their desires or expectations. Product returns generate carbon emissions through the energy required for handling, storage, and transport. What if we define a quality product as one that delights customers, is efficient to use, and does not generate a one-way waste stream? Its certainly possible but requires incorporating sustainability initiatives into product goals and a thorough understanding of the materials and processes in your supply chain. I think Walmart is telling us, and their 60,000 closest friends, that if you haven’t already begun measuring and improving visibility into your supply chain, time’s up! Their efforts, like it or not, are driving sustainability metrics as Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to manage their complex and massive supply chain.
Obviously nearest to our hearts was CEO Mike Duke’s consistent reference to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). His call to the industry to clearly understand and manage the entire product life cycle to reduce cost, improve quality, improve resource use efficiency, and reduce or even eliminate waste, is a message that we are communicating to our customers everyday. Understanding the entire product life cycle for all products requires performing some version of an LCA and then taking business action to achieve measurable goals. This process is not just a one-time activity. It is a company’s ongoing journey, and the Wal-Mart initiative is pushing suppliers to start down this road — today. Reducing cost is an obvious business driver, however, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’re not likely to find it.
Planet Metrics’ Rapid Carbon Modeling approach helps customers get started by taking a look at the whole product life cycle and gaining valuable insight using their existing data, combined with our database of materials and process emissions factors. With that crucial insight, customers can start evaluating which of their products can provide the greatest improvement opportunities, which products need a closer look, and which metrics work best when creating new KPIs. Using the Planet Metrics software, companies can model the impact of large and small decisions. Product designers, packaging experts, supply chain managers, transportation overseers, scientists, and others can collaborate on decisions around cost reduction and carbon emissions, resulting in a higher level of product. Using the Planet Metrics software, Wal-Mart’s suppliers could get a fast head start in meeting the large retailer’s demands.
We also recognize (and often experience) the limitations of quality data available to stakeholders wanting to analyze products’ life cycles. Today, a small minority of scientists and technical developers are trying to figure it out on a limited scale, but sustainability is a fast growing field inside almost every company. The need for quality data and the tools to examine carbon exposure is growing and the Wal-Mart initiative to build a global, open database may be the most important effort to expand the quantity and the quality of emissions data. Planet Metrics’ RCM™ software adds immeasurable value to companies who want to clearly understand and improve the complete life cycle of their products and services – a business imperative in today’s world.
What are you doing to improve your supply chain visibility? Visit to let us know.