John wilkerson 5 Major Challenges to Green Supply Chain Management from Dustin Mattison on Vimeo.

Wilkerson discussed important themes such as; Green Standards, Green Awareness, Supply Chain Business Case Development, Sustainability Program Implementation and Program Communications Planning.

The Interview concludes with seven (7) recommendations. Sample recommendations range from defining program deployment planning, sustainability integration strategy and green supply chain scorecards.

The Logistics & Supply Chain social media interview is located on online at several websites:

About the Speaker

John Wilkerson is Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Sustainability Practice Leader for Bellwether Services, a strategic management consulting firm advising global clients on complex issues of strategy, operations, technology, and sustainability. He specializes in Global Supply Chain Planning, Retail Business Intelligence, Strategic Sourcing, Spend Management, Lean Six Sigma, Sustainability, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Wilkerson also supports the markets as a buy side, sell side and M & A advisor with expertise in numerous sectors including; CPG, Food, Pharmaceutical, Beverage, Logistics, Chemical, Automotive, Defense, Homeland Security and Computer Electronics.

Wilkerson is author of numerous Supply Chain, Procurement, CSR and Sustainability including the Green Supply Chain Management Book Series, Reality of Green Series, Game Changing Moment for the CPO, Greening the Supply Base in Four (4) Simple Steps, It Takes Strategic Vision to Secure the CFO’s Attention and many more.

Contact us:
Bellwether Services
John Wilkerson, 404-386-2437
sales (at) bellwether-services.com

http://www.bellwether-services.com/publications.html

http://green-supply-chain.blogspot.com

http://professional-services.greenbiz.com/listing/bellwether-services-95d779c51a/?source=all_listings

Our Mantra – Believe, Execute, Achieve

“The introduction of the Carbon Minimizer functionality reflects our commitment to providing customers with software solutions that meet the needs of the ever changing logistics industry,” comments William Salter, Paragon’s President and CEO. “We have been helping improve environmental efficiency within the industry for over 25 years by building efficient route combinations that reduce empty running, cut mileage and reduce fuel. We’ve now taken this a step further by adding a new Carbon Minimizer tool which enables transportation operators to look at the environmental impact of their truck routes as part of the planning process.”

Built on proven technology the new functionality looks at route efficiency in terms of fuel used and associated carbon emissions. “The Paragon algorithm has been extended to take account of truck weight and speed variations and the impact that these factors have on fuel consumption and carbon emissions,” explains Richard Street, Paragon’s Software Development Director. “As a result users can review and monitor the carbon and fuel related KPIs of their operations, and can apply an additional optimization step to further reduce emissions and fuel used.”

The software estimates and reports the total CO2 and fuel content of all the routes and schedules, taking account of distances, speeds, weight and truck fuel efficiency. The Carbon Minimizer is then used as a final optimization step to adjust the schedules – changing call sequences and swapping calls between routes – to further reduce the total CO2 and fuel figures.

The software takes account of slower urban journeys incurring more fuel/CO2 per mile than faster highway journeys. Similarly, heavily loaded trucks use more fuel/CO2 per mile than empty ones. The Carbon Minimizer takes these factors into account to generate carbon-friendly schedules.

“Fuel consumption also depends on other factors, such as driving style, truck age, weather conditions and so on”, adds Richard Street. “But regardless of these, trucks will use more fuel per mile if they are heavily laden or traveling at slow speeds – so by taking account of these two key factors, Paragon is able to generate fuel-efficient and carbon-friendly routes and schedules.”

As a result of these enhancements, all Paragon users can benefit from explicit reporting of carbon and fuel factors. Companies using Paragon strategically to analyze distribution scenarios will be able to make decisions based on expected carbon footprint, as well as cost criteria. Equally, companies using Paragon every day to calculate dynamic routes and schedules will be able to monitor their carbon KPIs, such as expected CO2 per drop or per ton. And in all cases, the Carbon Minimizer can be applied to refine the calculated schedules and further reduce the carbon and fuel content.

“The Carbon Minimizer is something that our dedicated in-house development team has been working on for some time and is built on our established optimization technology which is proven to deliver benefits across a wide range of industry sectors”, adds Salter. “In these times of increasing emphasis on both fuel costs and the environment we are very pleased to have been able to provide additional functionality that helps users address both of these key issues.”
Notes to Editors:

Paragon Software Systems, Inc is committed to excellence in providing routing and scheduling software solutions for companies wishing to optimize their transportation operations. The company has an unparalleled track record of successful software implementations with over 1,500 systems installed in more than 33 countries worldwide. Paragon provides software solutions for operations ranging from 10 trucks based at a single site to hundreds of trucks running out of several sites.

Paragon software is used by 3PLs and private fleet operators for routing and scheduling optimization on a daily basis; managing transportation resources; rationalizing fixed routes; and strategic transportation planning and modeling.

With clients including CEVA Logistics, Airgas, Exel Logistics, Toyota Material Handling, Ryder, BrandsMart, McLane, Honda, Canada Cartage, National Food Corporation, SCI Group and Safeway.com, Paragon has the experience to ensure that logistics problems are translated into software solutions that provide real benefits for customers.

Paragon solutions are helping hundreds of companies across the globe to cut transportation costs, improve operational efficiency, reduce planning time and raise customer service levels, and frequently support a company’s strategic business growth objectives.

Jane Geary
Paragon Software Systems
Email: j.geary@paragonrouting.com

“Human activity generates annual greenhouse gas emissions of around 50,000 mega-tonnes CO2e. We estimate that 2,800 mega-tonnes – or 5.5% of the total – are contributed by the logistics and transport sector. Key to supply-chain-wide decarbonization is an understanding of CO2 emissions across the system. Corporate-level reporting, guided by the widely-used Greenhouse Gas Protocol, is a spreading reality. Product level foot-printing is an important step towards supply chain carbon rationalisation. It has been given a boost by the agreement of the first standards.” The Role of Logistics and Transport in Reducing Supply Chain Carbon Emissions

The sun was just rising as I wheeled up to Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel, to find out what Walmart had up its sleeve when it invited 350 top retail execs and competitors for the Walmart Canada Green Business Summit.

The Mayor, the Premier, environmental alarm, sustainability case studies, live wireless polling, this show had it all. I even got to ask the Walmart CEO, face-to-face, about their business model and position on packaging take-back recycling.

This blog is going to run on a bit, but I wanted to keep all of the info in one document, so grab an organic java and get comfortable. David Suzuki vs. Walmart CEO: The 2010 Walmart Canada Green Business Summit Recap

“A declaration signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Guadalajara on the weekend committed the three governments to work together on climate-change issues, including co-operating on the construction of their emissions-trading systems. Both Canada and the United States are vowing to implement national caps that would force industries to either cut emissions or purchase allowances. Both governments have indicated they will allow companies to meet some portion of their regulated limits through the purchase of “offset” credits, which are generated by renewable energy plants, reforestation projects, and environmentally friendly agricultural practices.” NAFTA partners eye continental carbon scheme

Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and president of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), has loaned his knowledge in energy efficient home design to aid the White House during its demanding transition, stating, “LEED certification of the White House is absolutely possible and viable… A normal building is already a challenging assignment, and this is something that’s a historic structure, one of [the] nation’s most historic structures,” he says. The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) are working under the USGBC’s guidelines to implement computerized energy efficient heating, cooling and ventilation systems, as well as other energy efficient appliances, automatic light sensor monitors that turn off in vacant rooms, low-flow water systems to avoid waste, and window films that help president-barack-obama-leed-certification-white-houselower UV rays and save energy.” President Barack Obama Seeks LEED Certification for Energy Wasting White House

“To the average consumer with a do-gooder instinct, but with no insider experience, it’s hard to understand what “green” really means in the corporate sector. Rebecca Kanthor did an investigation for CHaINA into the topic and discovered that greenwashing, outright lies, and fake documents are a few of the dirty secrets of green supply chain management.

Lesson 1: In the financial downturn, more than ever it’s all about the bottom line.
Green is the new gold, the current adage says. Paul McCann, Director and China General Manager of Smurfit-Stone, a US company providing packaging solutions for companies manufacturing in China, says interest in sustainability has been a growing trend among his company’s clients for the last year or two.

Why the sudden interest? Most companies commitment to greening their supply chain is no more than a commitment to efficiency and cost-cutting, with green being an added bonus. It’s not that companies suddenly have the urge to go hug a tree; it’s because financially these changes made sense. 2008’s booming commodities market had a huge impact on companies interest in reorganizing their supply chains. Rising oil costs impacted the price of other commodities and made recycling materials and reevaluating sourcing locations smart financial moves.

Industry insiders say that in this uncertain economic climate, greening efforts by most companies have to impact on the company’s bottom line; otherwise it is not a financially viable direction.“Practically speaking, in this financial situation it’s going to be tough for companies to pay more money to be more environmentally friendly,”McCann says, “so I think companies will start with opportunities where becoming more environmentally friendly also saves them money. It makes sense right?”

If green is code for cost-cutting, is much of anything in the way of environmental sustainability actually being achieved? Not much, says one director of an industrial goods manufacturer who asked to remain unnamed. “If you’re just the normal company sourcing in China, you have zero control over where it is green, and that’s not your concern. Your concern is best price.”

From the supplier standpoint:“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If they [suppliers] became super compliant, the price would just rise and they wouldn’t get any new buys. All the factories would close.” He concludes, “Everything about green is PR now.” He acknowledges that for companies with large amounts of capital to inject into Chinese supplier infrastructure, perhaps the claims of greening efforts have some legitimacy. But in his experience that’s the extreme minority.”
Green or Green Washed? 7 Lessons in Green Supply Chain Management

Ewan French, co-developer of the world-beating CAST-CO2 carbon optimisation software and Chief Operating Officer of Barloworld Optimus, said this week that despite the global economic downturn, pressure on companies to reduce carbon emission remains on a sharp upwards curve – but that individual governments following their own targets and agendas will ultimately result in a dilution of the initiative unless all nations recognise and agree to adopt ‘like-for-like’ carbon calculation and accounting processes.

“The only commonality at present is that every nation on earth knows it has to tackle global warming and climate change, and many have already taken steps to tackle their own emissions issues by developing specific countrywide standards – and that’s precisely where the confusion lies” he says.

“If there’s going to be any impact at all, it has to be a global standard, not seventy different ones” he commented this week – adding that events of the past year have brought into sharp focus ‘the glaring lack of common direction’ over emissions and targets…

in the UK, the draft Climate Change Bill calls for an independent panel to set ministers a ‘carbon budget’ every five years, in a bid to cut emissions by 60% by 2050
the European Parliament has also backed a package of measures to combat global warming – seen as a key EU initiative with agreement to cut emissions by 20% by 2020
in the US, the Lieberman-Warner bill aims to reduce emissions by 63% of 2005 levels by 2050 though incoming president-elect Barack Obama has pledged to uphold his election campaign target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
Taiwan’s GHG Reduction Act (Sep 06) is calling for 15% reduction by 2014
China’s National Climate Change Programme 2007 sets target of 20% reduction of energy consumption per unit GDP by 2010 (compared to 2005)

And in a month of far-reaching effects, campaigners in Australia – until recently hailed as the world’s most forward-looking nation in campaigning against GHG emissions – actively condemned the country’s newly-revealed climate plan calling for emissions to be cut by between between 5% and 15% by 2020 from 2000 levels and introducing a carbon trading scheme in 2010, describing the initiative as ‘a joke’.

Now, with less than a year go to before the UN Climate Treaty successor to Kyoto is hammered-out in time for the Copenhagen Climate Conference planned for December this year, Ewan French is calling for the formal adoption of a global standard.

Following official confirmation to two of Barloworld Optimus’ global CAST-CO2 clients, Colgate Palmolive and CEVA Logistics that the high-impact tool is developed in line with GHG Protocol standards, he says that support is growing for adoption of the published standard developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and described as the ‘single and most effective model’ for common accounting procedures.

Initially launched in 2001 as part of its mission is to develop internationally-accepted GHG accounting and reporting standards, the recently unveiled second draft covers the accounting and reporting of all six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

According to the report, five key objectives were instrumental in its development: to help companies prepare a GHG inventory that represents a true and fair account of their emissions through the use of standardised approaches and principles; to simplify and reduce the costs of compiling a GHG inventory; to provide business with information that can be used to build an effective strategy to manage and reduce GHG emissions; to provide information that facilitates participation in voluntary and mandatory GHG programmes; and to increase consistency and transparency in GHG accounting and reporting.

According to Ewan French, there are major advantages in agreeing a common global standard – not least in terms of cost and reporting consistency, but also because a common standard ultimately makes tracking and progress comparison easier.

He also adds that now is the time to take the necessary steps to adopt the protocol as the global accounting standard as companies begin to step up their emissions reduction initiatives as a way of both reducing costs and boosting their image in terms of corporate social responsibility.

“It’s difficult to see the ultimate use of figures and information derived from widely-varying accounting procedures. In its place, the Greenhouse Gases Initiative offers a route to reporting that is consistent, accurate and transparent, and as such should be promoted for use as the single global standard.

He added that 2009 is likely to see growing demands on all organisations to get better at managing emissions, and that despite the global financial crisis, the next few years will see all companies being compelled to manage the carbon footprint of their products across the supply chain in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, increasing energy costs and changing consumer attitudes.

“That’s why I say that we should not only embrace the GHG protocol as the UK standard as of now, but also widely promote the initiative into becoming the one, true global standard” he said.

Note to editors:

Ewan French is Chief Operating Officer of Barloworld Optimus and co-developer of CAST-CO2.

Solihull-based Barloworld Optimus has 70 staff globally with 50 based in the UK, and is part of the Barloworld group operating in 42 countries, employing 26,000 staff worldwide and notching up $4.8 billion turnover.

Last year, leading research organisation AMR revealed that one in five of the world’s top-performing companies including Nokia, Coca-Cola and Hewlett-Packard uses supply chain planning or modelling tools designed and developed by the UK-based company whose world-beating software applications are:

CAST – with more than 200 licences world-wide and over 1000 trained users is used to evaluate and identify different supply chain strategies, in turn leading to significant cost savings and service improvements while allowing customers to design and configure the optimal supply chain infrastructure.

CAST-CO2: the company’s latest carbon emission application dedicated to reducing emissions in supply chains. Includes standard emissions factor data for different vehicles (including carriers), modes of transport, warehouse types, energy types as well as the capability to define customer specific vehicles and factors, CAST-CO2 can measure either CO2 or Carbon and also has the ability to factor in carbon while optimizing supply chain networks

Optimiza – an advanced inventory optimisation application that, unlike traditional inventory re-ordering systems, takes into account the unique supply and demand characteristics of its supply chain, effectively reducing stock levels by between 15-50% while increasing service levels by as much as 20%.

ODP (Optimiza Demand Planner) – a purpose-built demand management tool designed to create responsive multi-level multi-channel forecasts with highly flexible financial views.

CINO (Combined Inventory and Network Optimisation) – a major new tool specifically developed to combat the potentially fatal downside of multi-sourcing and multi-echelon inventory flow.

Details of the applications are available on the company’s website www.barloworldoptimus.com