5 Strategies for Driving Supply Chain Sustainability

-

 



As a Purchasing Agent, I am in a unique position to drive change. Here are some ideas I have been developing to help reduce my company's ecological impact. They also have the potential to increase our profit margin, so it's a win-win scenario (bonus!).
 
1. Optimize Inbound Shipping
- When ordering multiple items from the same manufacturer or
distributor, I can request they all be sent in the same shipment (better
planning and scheduling helps with this too). This will not only reduce freight
costs, it will also reduce the amount of fuel needed to transport the goods I
order, thus reducing carbon emissions.
 
2. Request Eco-friendly packaging from vendors
- This one could add a bit of cost initially, but more and more
options are available now, so those costs should go down over time
 
3. Purchase Eco-friendly packaging for our shipping department
- See above
 
4. Evaluate the sustainable practices of potential and current
vendors
- I often face a time crunch in purchasing, so this isn't always
practical, but I need to make this a priority, particularly when evaluating a
new long-term supplier
 
5. Buy Local Whenever Possible
- Not only is it good to invest in the local economy, it is better
for the environment. Buying locally reduces both the cost of transportation and
the amount of fuel needed for said transport of goods.
 
 
My fellow purchasers, buyers, procurement agents, and sourcing
specialists - we can make a difference! It can start with you and me. #todayistheday
 
 
#sustainability #ecofriendly #green #climatechange #reduceemissions #reducereuserecycle #purchasing 
#buyer #procurement #drivechange #1000littlechoices #supplychain #logistics #shipping


Photo by Li-An Lim on Unsplash



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Navigating the "Maize": Simplifying the Modern Supermarket

-
Image
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash 31,704       Thirty-one thousand, seven hundred and four. That was the average amount of “stock keeping units” – SKUs for short – being sold in U.S. supermarkets in 2023 (Source: FMI ) . With so many options, one would think we have a veritable cornucopia of nutrition available to us. However, there is a lot less variety in our modern markets than we might think. Hiding in plain sight, on so many of the food labels, is a single ingredient – corn. Corn, the Colonizer Crop      For more than 1,000 years Zea Mays, or “corn” as it is popularly known, has been feeding humans. According to author Michael Pollan , this once wild grass “is the hero of its own story, and though we humans played a crucial supporting role in its rise to world domination, it would be wrong to suggest we have been calling the shots…Indeed, there is every reason to believe that corn has succeeded in domesticating us” (Pollan 23). That is a...
Read more

Longing for Simplicity

-
Image
Introduction Clutter. It’s a dirty word, right? It comes in different forms: mental clutter, a cluttered room, a cluttered schedule, digital clutter...you name it. I find myself more and more longing to “de-clutter” my life. I find myself longing for simplicity. Is it possible to find meaning in a simple life?  Considering Minimalism      Sometime in 2019 or 2020 I discovered a beautiful little book about the Japanese minimalist movement called “Goodbye Things.” The cover itself was simple and elegant, and that beauty, along with the title, caught my attention as I passed it at my local library. I checked it out and started reading about the author’s personal journey from a cluttered life to a minimalist life. I sensed something stirr deep within me - a longing for simplicity.           Personal sacrifice and austerity were two qualities that I learned from Jesus and his followers. To limit one’s materi...
Read more