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Supply Chain

AI x Sustainability (3): Supply Chain Compliance with AI

November 12, 2024

Can AI help us to get to (better) grips with supply chain compliance? Supply chains are based on fairly complex partnership networks where every link ideally must meet strict efficiency and compliance standards. Supplier audits and legislation aim ultimately to ensure high standard, it is a not the least highly time demanding task to be successful at. AI offers the potential to support practical solutions for risk assessment, process optimization, and partner evaluation. Commercial providers are already jumping on the band wagon by providing ways to build 'digital twins' of real supply chains – hence opening them up for 'offline optimisation' - and of course highly sophisticated data analytics tools drawing from multiple disjoint data sources.

Finance Governance Labels Supply Chain

The Next Wave: Biodiversity (8) – Habemus propositum! Targets we have!

July 18, 2023

After some results at the COP in Vancouver, as well as efforts by the TNFD (Task Force for nature-based financial disclosure) – we finally (!) got the first ever Science -Based Targets for Nature (SBTN). It is a first release, however. So the question obviously is, how do these targets address the 5 key drivers of biodiversity erosion? Are the SBTNs worth their salt?

Definitions Finance Globalisation Supply Chain

The True Cost – Hidden Costs x Sustainable Development: Transport

January 18, 2022

This post is part of a series where I look at and into the true cost of certain goods and services. This time I’d like to look into the True Cost of all types Transport and Mobility: road, rail, aviation and water. The question therefore is: What are the total costs – the True Cost, i.e. including what is commonly called ‘externalities’ – of the different types of transport we use globally, both for passengers and for freight? Or if you prefer: how do different types of transport compare to each other when it comes to ‘collateral damage’? Spoiler alert: It is really quite complex and rather diverse. And: public infrastructure investments and maintenance costs play a significant role in it.

Definitions Finance Globalisation Supply Chain

The True Cost – Hidden Costs x Sustainable Development: Energy Generation

January 11, 2022

This post is part of a series where I look at and into the true cost of certain goods and services. When in the previous post I looked at subsidies and the True Cost (associated with the True Price) for oil and gas, this time I’d like to look into what we know about the True Cost of Energy. Not just about fossil fuels, but indeed across the breadth of the energy spectrum. The question therefore is: What are the total costs – the True Cost, i.e. including what is commonly called ‘externalities’ – of the different types of energy we use globally? Spoiler alert: It's very interesting - and also a bit suprising and counter-intuitive.

Definitions Finance Globalisation Supply Chain

The True Cost – Tax Money x Sustainable Development: Oil & Gas

January 4, 2022

This is the first of a series that will look at and into true cost of certain goods and services. Cash subsidies thereby is one component, but certainly not the only one relevant one – indirect subsidies (e.g. in the form of environmental degradation or similar) need to be considered also. In this particular post, I’d like to focus on Oil & Gas subsidies, fossil fuels' True Cost, and what we know about these. What we already also learn: comparing apples to apples won't be easy. True Cost calculations are only ever 'best available efforts', and much data remains missing or speculative at best. This is an issue we will encounter again also once we'll look into renewables, or indeed other kinds of industries outside of energy.

Biz Strategy Circularity Globalisation Supply Chain

Circularity and Business Models: 2 US reports, many learnings

October 20, 2020

The world, by and large, operates based on land-filling. The only way to improve the situation any time soon is: not to landfill. At all. Or at least as little as possible, and that asap. To that extent, 2 reports on textiles the circular economy have been published, both of which look at the issue from different, and complementary perspectives. What is it that we can learn from these 2 reports, side by side? One, the old adage could not be any truer: One Man’s Rubbish is another Man’s Treasure. And: True cost accounting would make a huge difference.

Biz Strategy Governance Supply Chain

The Power of Questions: An upside to Greenwashing?

September 8, 2020

Greenwashing is defined as 'the expression of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities'. There also exists Diversity-washing, Governance-washing, or skill-washing for example. In itself a truly nasty thing, there is an unexpected upside to Greenwashing however: it will come back to haunt the greenwasher. Maybe not fast, but no doubt steadily. Just like the tortoise won the race against the hare.

Biz Strategy Definitions Supply Chain

Mind the Gap: Language Matters

July 14, 2020

The supply chain. It has been accepted a long-time ago: supply chain is a risk. Or better: a RISK in capital letters. But also a word that sounds impersonal. Very akin to a factory being a cogwheel in a much larger clockwork. And while the definition of the term does list ‘people’, the focus is very clearly on the idea of it all being a neat system of seamless interactions.

The Most Beautiful Job in the World - Mensitieri

Book Reviews Labour Supply Chain

Luxury? The original gig economy

June 16, 2020

Let’s put the conclusion at the beginning: This book is a must read, for those that intend to ‘go into luxury’, fashion, or any other creative industry. But also for all those that are of the opinion that the ‘Gig Economy’ only came into being with companies like Uber, AirBnb, Just Eat and the like. In fact, luxury – and linked to it – the creative arts have been pioneering the Gig Business Model for many decades already.

Biz Strategy Supply Chain

Inevitable Policy Response: The day when politicians will kick into gear (III/III)

March 31, 2020

What would the Inevitable Policy response mean for the consumer goods industries? What could the effects be? This instalment of a 3-part series looks at: consumption patterns, role of consumer goods industries for economic development, population behaviours when affected by severe conditions

Biz Strategy Supply Chain

Inevitable Policy Response: The day when politicians will kick into gear (II/III)

March 18, 2020

What would the Inevitable Policy response mean for the consumer goods industries? What could the effects be? This instalment of a 3-part series looks at shifts in costing paradigms, in transportation, and in supply chain structures.

Book Reviews Materials Supply Chain

The Pleasure to know the How and Why: Craftsmanship, Connection, Activism

March 11, 2020

Daring to ask and daring to understand: the key ingredients that turn a passive customer in an active (activist) participant in our market economy. This book portrays 26 natural dye artisans, in beautiful pictures, honouring their skill and wisdom.

Future Tech Materials Supply Chain

The new cool in traceability: DNA Tracers / Bio-based markers

May 29, 2019

Authentication and traceability backbone solutions have become a key technology for many a brand to prevent not only product forgery, but also to prove truthfulness of on-and-off product claims. What few realise: product authentication is just one half of a 2-part system (Figure 1) whereby authentication is applied to the product at its point of origin, and a traceability backbone ensures that the product reaches its destination – for example the end consumer – safely and untampered.

Definitions Governance Supply Chain

Fair Process, Consensus, Accountability: Governance and SLCP

August 3, 2018

The quality of governance is one of the key ingredients why projects, companies, and even governments fail in their tasks. It is also the key ingredient to achieve results, buy-in and participation. It is for this very reason that good governance was seen early on as one of the fundamental success factors for the Social Labor Convergence Project (SLCP).

Circularity Materials Supply Chain

One man’s woolly waste is another man’s woollen treasure

June 11, 2018

Wool is slowly recovering some of its former popularity. While for some it is an old acquaintance, for many others in our industry, and in this current time and age, it is a new, or maybe better novel, material for the portfolio. And what about Recycled Wool? This report answers many of the key questions.

Circularity Materials Supply Chain

Extended Producer Responsibility – Lessons from the Electronics industry

August 3, 2017

Within the EU, legislative requirements have lead to implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes (EPRs) in the following industries so far: packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and automotive industries. In this article, we would like to look sidewise, and see what can be learned from the electronic and electrical equipment industry, as they have been ahead of the curve – although not always voluntarily, since the 1995 laws came into place – when it comes to the implementation of EPR.

Future Tech Labels Supply Chain

From the trees to the wood: with GS1 beyond product codes, towards traceability

September 6, 2015

Barcodes, RFID tags, and QR codes have each introduced a new era of on-product information distribution and acquisition. In this article I would like to look at a family of digital solution components that many brands and manufacturers will already use and be reliant on, and that – if integrated – could be leveraged to provide full-depth traceability.

Labels Supply Chain

Scaling down for scaling up. Or: Why SMEs matter

March 14, 2015

Large corporations now habitually report on their sustainability achievements, have resource efficiency programmes firmly implemented into their operations, and are investing to make their enterprises ‘future proof’. But what needs to happen for SMEs to do the same? After all they make up way over 80% of national economies ...

Materials Supply Chain

Italy: High-end Fashion Mekka – also for sustainability?

April 24, 2014

Italy. Known for the style of its inhabitants, the quality and sharp cut of its suits, the inventiveness of its fashion designers, the quality of its fabrics. Yet, if we were to talk sustainability in textiles and fashion, what is going on on the ground?

Globalisation Governance Supply Chain

Risky Fashion: The challenges of Integrating Product Design and the Supply Chain

March 7, 2014

The design stage is usually the longest, most expensive and riskiest part of the chain. Additionally, research has shown that at least an estimated 80% of a product's environmental (and to a lesser degree also social) impact is locked at the design stage into a product. By integrating the product design with the supply chain, companies can compress non-value adding time and costs in their supply chains, increase responsiveness and mitigate supply chain risks – while simultaneously managing (improving) their sustainability performance without added costs or efforts.

Future Fit Industries of 'Stuff': Governance, Responsibility, and the Age of Doughnut Economics

Supply Chain

AI x Sustainability (3): Supply Chain Compliance with AI

The Next Wave: Biodiversity (8) – Habemus propositum! Targets we have!

The True Cost – Hidden Costs x Sustainable Development: Transport

The True Cost – Hidden Costs x Sustainable Development: Energy Generation

The True Cost – Tax Money x Sustainable Development: Oil & Gas

Circularity and Business Models: 2 US reports, many learnings

The Power of Questions: An upside to Greenwashing?

Mind the Gap: Language Matters

Luxury? The original gig economy

Inevitable Policy Response: The day when politicians will kick into gear (III/III)

Inevitable Policy Response: The day when politicians will kick into gear (II/III)

The Pleasure to know the How and Why: Craftsmanship, Connection, Activism

The new cool in traceability: DNA Tracers / Bio-based markers

One man’s woolly waste is another man’s woollen treasure

Extended Producer Responsibility – Lessons from the Electronics industry

From the trees to the wood: with GS1 beyond product codes, towards traceability

Scaling down for scaling up. Or: Why SMEs matter

Italy: High-end Fashion Mekka – also for sustainability?

Risky Fashion: The challenges of Integrating Product Design and the Supply Chain

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