Last Updated on April 20, 2023 by Ossian Muscad
Sustainability in business operations has become a challenging issue for corporations to address, given the increased public and governmental awareness of environmental problems and their causes competing for sustainability at a global scale.
This guide will help you understand the concept of supply chain sustainability: its importance, how it works, how to integrate sustainable practices into your supply chain, and whether to create one for your business.
What is Supply Chain Sustainability?
It refers to regulating supply chains as equally environmentally and economically sustainable. It includes several approaches to ensure that organizations consume resources with minor impact on people and the environment without compromising the needs of future generations.
The Importance of Supply Chain Sustainability
The supply chain’s sustainability is essential for boosting productivity and optimizing costs.
Other advantages of a sustainable supply chain include the following:
- Helps reduce environmental impact
- Brought constant supply chain improvements
- Strengthens business partnerships
- Creates potential clients for profitable collaboration
- Promotes a positive workplace culture
- Help optimized CSR implementation and boosts a company’s reputation
- Optimizes supply chain risk reduction strategies
3 Key Elements of Supply Chain Sustainability
A sustainable supply chain consists of the following three key elements:
Environmental Responsibility
It involves protecting the environment from possible harm imposed by supply chain activities such as manufacturing, packaging, storage, and other micro-operations.
Social Responsibility
It involves the values, principles, and charitable expectations set on corporations by society. This implies that each individual in a sustainable supply chain is treated justly, equally, and in line with human rights regulations.
Economic Responsibility
It takes care of the company’s financial requirements. Shareholders, employers/employees, clients, customers, suppliers, local organizations, and financial institutions are some of the players in financial markets.
3 Top Supply Chain Sustainability Approaches
It includes a range of techniques and approaches, such as:
- Green supply chain management: emphasizes reducing the supply chain’s environmental effect measures by decreasing energy consumption, shifting to renewable energy sources, and minimizing waste.
- Sustainable sourcing: involves buying items and materials from vendors who follow morally and environmentally friendly business methods.
- Circular supply chain: uses a closed-loop system to reuse, recycle, and rework goods rather than dumping them away.
Steps to Create a Sustainable Supply Chain
Here are the essential steps to create a sustainable supply chain effectively.
Step 1: Identify Supply Chain Sustainability Issues
It should begin with an in-depth assessment of current supply chain operations to determine which parts need improvement relative to their environmental, social, and economic effects.
Step 2: Create a Supply Chain Sustainability Program
It should lay out the schedule for placing the strategy in action and set specific goals and targets in line with the business’s objectives.
Step 3: Plan Out the Steps to Execute the Plan
The steps for implementing the plan must be specified. It involves carefully analyzing the advantages and downsides of sustainable practices for your company.
Step 4: Involve All Stakeholders
By learning about your sustainability plan, your partners and suppliers can better grasp the changes occurring throughout the supply chain and their roles.
Step 5: Monitor the Implementation’s Progress
Regular evaluations of the strategy verify that it meets the goals and standards outlined in the plan and allow you to make the necessary adjustments to create sustainable changes to your supply chain.
Supply Chain Sustainability Challenges
Here are the three common challenges of applying sustainability practices to the supply chain.
The Complexity of the Process
Apart from being a challenging and time-consuming procedure, it could also require extra resources (like training) to ensure workers and suppliers can handle the supply chain responsibly.
Buy-In and Engaugement of Suppliers
Businesses must negotiate with suppliers to ensure that they follow sustainable business practices.
The Expenses
Starting the program requires a substantial investment in new equipment, software, methods, and employees. These can be a huge financial burden for businesses, particularly those who already have financial difficulties.
FAQs on Supply Chain Sustainability
Who Could Use Supply Chain Sustainability?
All sizes of businesses, from small enterprises to large corporations, can implement sustainable supply chain principles. These are particularly beneficial for companies with various suppliers and a worldwide supply chain dependent on natural resources.
How can SMEs Implement Supply Chain Sustainability?
A greener supply chain can be created by small and midsize businesses by:
- collaborating with ethical and sustainable producers, distributors, and suppliers
- switching to environmentally friendly packaging materials
- Changing paper-based procedures into digital ones
What are the 3 E’s of a Sustainable Supply Chain?
The following are the 3 Elements of a sustainable supply chain:
- Economy: the use and control of resources across the supply chain.
- Equality: placing employees and stakeholders at the center of decisions and treating them respectfully.
- Ecology: identify the impacts of business activities on other living things and the environment.
Sustainably Manage Supply Chains With DATAMYTE
Building sustainable supply chains comes with several changes to the way organizations work. For instance, digitizing hands-on tasks is an ideal way to reduce the time spent on jobs and waste from paper usage.
DataMyte Digital Clipboard offers effective solutions to streamline your supply chain operations and ensure you achieve your sustainability goals. With this DATAMYTE, you can do supplier checks from your smartphone, tablet, or PC, transform paper-based forms into digital ones, automate time-consuming procedures, and more.
With DATAMYTE, you can ensure sustainability across your supply chain with the following features:
- Utilize customizable templates, checklists, and forms to evaluate supply chain operations, risks, and procedures they relate to.
- Communicate with all relevant parties with your supply chain sustainability program.
- Plan regular supply chain checks and notifications when something is wrong.
- Using the portable device, report safety events and supply chain problems, and assign corrective actions to address issues quickly.
- Document sustainability actions effectively with relevant pictures, videos, and files
DATAMYTE is an all-in-one solution for creating and implementing automated supply chain sustainability operations. Book a demo with our team today to learn how DATAMYTE can help you streamline and improve your automated supply chain sustainability operations.
Conclusion
Supply chain sustainability improves the creation of supply chain strategies. More companies are moving towards implementing a circular supply chain approach, and supply chain sustainability efforts will continue to grow.
