How Going Green is Impacting Supply Chain

The “green” movement has created more challenges and benefits to supply chains for businesses of all sizes who deal with providing products to customers. For you to stay competitive, you may be looking for sustainability in operations to satisfy customers’ pain points while still bringing in profits to keep your operations running at full speed. Yet going green has created some interesting challenges to the manufacturing marketplace and how to operate supply chains without compromising established budgets.

Driving the Green Supply Chain Movement: What Customers Desire

As customers voice their opinions about the products you sell, one of the aspects you are noticing time and time again is that your customers want to lead a more environmentally-conscious lifestyle. They want to reduce their overall carbon footprint that is negatively impacting the environment and spurring climate change. The customers are also aware that their shopping choices may also affect other people socially, as they want companies to be held more accountable to fair labor practices and human rights. These customer pain points are leading toward greener supply chains with transparent processes to satisfy the questions customers are posing about the products they buy.

Balancing Between Customer Pain Points and Sustainable Operations

Balancing Pain and SuccessYour business objective may be more customer-centric to meet the growing demands that people want from their products. With customers desiring more knowledge about how your products are made and transported to store shelves, it is leading you to take a closer look at revamping your supply chain to become green. Yet to reduce waste and to become more responsible about how products are made, your company may be spending outside budgetary limits.

This issue forces your company to raise the price of products to offset the increased costs toward a more sustainable supply chain management. Unfortunately, while customers may be willing to adopt more eco-conscious products in the market, some are still not willing to pay the higher price tag, according to a report by the Wharton University of Pennsylvania. Your company is forced to create a balance between making the supply chain green while keeping costs low so that savings can be passed on to customers who will be willing to pay for your products.

“Going Green” Impacting Supply Chain Best Practices

Luckily, your supply chain can adopt specific best practices and policies that allow for more green manufacturing operations while lowering operational costs. Some of the top supply chain management decisions you can make include:

  • Selecting the right suppliers with streamlined RFP processes
  • Collaborating with suppliers to adopt more green initiatives
  • Focusing on key green supply chain objectives that applies to your operations
  • Enforcing transparency for greater business compliance

Selecting and managing suppliers that are willing to accept your company’s sustainability objectives throughout the green supply chain is crucial for success. For your company to reach this stage, a versatile and scalable eSourcing and RFP technology can prove beneficial in keeping costs low as you locate the right suppliers, find out what types of green processes they employ, and ensure the suppliers meet business compliance standards.

Benefits to a Green Supply Chain

There are several benefits to having a green supply chain. By collaborating with suppliers, your company gains more transparency into their processes. You can make instant changes when the supplier no longer offers the quality products you desire, or engages in risky labor operations or environmental practices that can cause risks to your company’s reputation. In addition, you improve communication with suppliers to strength the business relationship. Lastly, you are reducing the carbon footprint for your manufacturing processes by producing less waste and lowering expenses.