Duurzaam inkopen in ziekenhuizen

Toegevoegd op 29-06-2011 22:29:20 | Door Overig

Duurzaamheid is in ziekenhuizen nog een couveusekindje. Duurzame inkoop heeft dan ook nog een lange weg te gaan. In een artikel in vakblad Deal! van december reik ik een stappenplan aan om duurzame inkoop, bottom-up, te realiseren. Klik op de link hieronder voor het artikel.

Artikel Deal! december 2010 MVI ziekenhuizen

From my previous posts on: http://edwinrutten.wordpress.com/, now available via the new Coppa site.

INGEDEELD ONDER  duurzaam, healthcare, inkoop, maatschappelijk, mvi, mvo, sscm, sustainable, ziekenhuis, ziekenhuizen | THEMA:  Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen

Is sustainable SCM like opening Pandora’s box?

Toegevoegd op 16-06-2011 18:30:23 | Door Overig

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman to appear on stage. Her name meaning ‘all-gifted’, she was certainly gifted with a strong sense of curiosity. In the myth, spurred by curiosity, she opened a jar (not a box actually!), thereby releasing all the evils of mankind. Whereas some CEOs see their own supply chain as Pandora’s box, other (more gifted?) ones would like to open this black box and continuously improve company performance by learning from what they discover.

In the Accenture UN Global Compact CEO Study 2010,  ninety-six percent of CEOs, compared to just 72 percent in 2007, now believe  that environmental, social and governance issues should be fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company. Also, these issues should be embedded into their global supply chain (88%). Although these are important and promising figures, embedding these issues in their global supply chain is showing the largest performance gap (difference between what companies should do and are doing). Now what is hampering these CEO’s most in meeting the execution challenge? According to the study, “Rising concerns about complexity demonstrate how CEOs are shifting their sustainability focus from strategy setting to execution. Of particular issue for many of the CEOs we spoke to was the challenge of ensuring a consistent, companywide approach across large and increasingly complex supply chains as well as subsidiaries.”

Many of the CEOs interviewed, expressed concerns about whether they can effectively manage sustainability issues throughout such large, complex supplier networks. Maybe they are afraid that they might open a box of Pandora, finding unpleasant realities in their current business model and supply chain configuration…?

Well, as long as you’re not curious, you’ll never find out. But I’m convinced that it can be very rewarding to have a deep look into your supply chain wearing 3P-glasses. It will give you a head-start in the new competitive environment that is arising. According to these leading CEOs, this will be an environment with:

• A broader sense of, and ability to measure, what value creation means to society as a whole, encompassing both positive and negative impacts.
• New kinds of collaboration and partnerships with suppliers and distributors, civil society organizations and governments to drive sustainability outcomes.
• More effective use of technology to drive transparency, resource efficiency and a transition to clean energy infrastructure.
• New models of innovation that use an open approach to harness ideas and expertise from around the world, often at low cost and using collaborative technologies.
• More effective business practices when operating in emerging markets to tackle different consumer and citizen needs and alternative distribution channels.
• Sustainability leadership and culture that embeds sustainability issues into the way executives and employees think about strategy and execution.

Main question is: how to get there? The study identifies five enabling conditions (p.48) for integrated sustainability in general, but let me focus here on my suggestions for your supply chain:

1. Draft your supply chain: map your product-, information- and financial flows. 
2. Unravel it: identify the key variables in impact for Profit, People and Planet. 
3. Simplify your findings (start with common sense) and envision what negative impacts on 3P can be avoided.
4. Create measures to measure 3P value, helping to focus on things that make sense.
5. Start understanding and improving your supply chain in an integrative and sustainable way.

Remember what finally came out of the box that Pandora opened? Hope.

Now let’s hope companies will be curious enough to open their black-box called supply chain. This will create hope in the first place, for a better profit and a more sustainable economy!

From my previous posts on: http://edwinrutten.wordpress.com/, now available via the new Coppa site.

INGEDEELD ONDER  duurzaam, inkoop, maatschappelijk, mvi, mvo, sscm, sustainable | THEMA:  Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen

Greening the cotton chain: H&M and Wal-Mart move upstream

Toegevoegd op 15-06-2011 08:13:39 | Door Overig

Wal-Mart and H&M, two of the world’s largest clothing retailers, are starting pilot programs with their Chinese textile suppliers to reduce water, energy, and chemical use in their supply chains according to this newspost on ProcurementLeaders. Both companies will focus at key mills for reducing their environmental footprint.
According to Linda Greer, director of the Health Program at NRDC and Clean by Design creator, “People don’t think of the fashion industry as polluting the environment like chemical or steel manufacturing, but in fact it is one of the biggest polluters in China.”

Please join me in having a closer look into this supply chain…

The textile supply chain generally consists of the following steps: 1. fibre production, 2. spinning, 3. fabric production, 4. dying/finishing, 5. clothing production and finally 6. clothing retailing.

The pilots will focus on low-cost practices that dramatically cut water, energy, and chemical use in textile dyeing and finishing. This is a great initiative, and a logical next step ‘upstream’ after a focus on social issues like child labour and poor labour conditions in clothing production.

From a supply chain perspective, it’s good to consider all the ‘People’ and ‘Planet’ issues from the ‘source to shop’. In the cotton case, there are quite some negative effects as well at the fibre production stage, as can been seen in Figure 1 below. Yet, it’s a start and a matter of choice where to start (start from the source or move upstream from the end).

Figure 1. Ecological and social impacts in a cotton chain [1]

Maybe these giants can learn from Bergman/Rivera, a company created in 2007 as the result of the merger of Bergman Sweden (formerly Verner Frang) and Cortextil’s organic cotton projects. They are one of the pioneers of the organic cotton movement in the world. A case study of this company by Beatrice Kogg [2] describes a change process in greening a cotton-textile supply chain. The lessons learned from this case were based on the experience of a small company. Below I modified it the for big players, in this case H&M and Wal-Mart:

• Find someone your own size to pick on: work with suppliers that are motivated to participate since your orders are big enough (this should not be a problem in this case…)
• Pay a premium: in the case of H&M and Wal-Mart, this may be financing initial investments and sharing anticipated revenues with the suppliers, since the NRDC reports very positive business cases. This is to be preferred over shifting away from these suppliers in case of non-participation in the initiative (which is of course a viable option for big players).
• Facilitate and make the process as painless as possible: share knowledge and resources.
• Pick the right actors: use local connections, and close the gap. Use this initiative to get to know your suppliers well, don’t just demand things from a distance.
• Promise growth: for making collaboration interesting, make the business case as interesting as possible for the suppliers. If the measures taken require fixed investments, but their effect grows with production, the suppliers can make their whole production more sustainable and profitable, not just the part for Wal-Mart of H&M.

After making site specific improvements, the real challenge for H&M and Wal-Mart will be to go further upstream and create and co-ordinate sustainable cotton chains for the mass market. In my next blog, I will elaborate on the co-ordination implications of making supply chains more sustainable.

[1] Source: Goldbach, M., Seuring, S. and Back, S. (2003). Co-ordinating Sustainable Cotton Chains for the Mass Market, Greener Management International, Vol. 43.

[2] Source: Kogg, B. (2003). Greening a Cotton-textile Supply Chain: A Case Study of the Transition towards Organic Production without a powerful Focal Company, Greener Management International, Vol. 43.

From my previous posts on: http://edwinrutten.wordpress.com/, now available via the new Coppa site.

INGEDEELD ONDER  duurzaam, inkoop, maatschappelijk, mvi, mvo, sscm, sustainable | THEMA:  Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen

Blood coal: If you can’t confuse them, convince them

Toegevoegd op 13-06-2011 14:52:21 | Door Overig

In a documentary on the origins of coal used in the (Dutch) energy sector, tv-program “Netwerk” unravels unsustainable practices. The energy companies are accused of importing ‘bad’ coal from Colombia and South-Africa. The journalists found out that the quarries where the coal is excavated create environmental damage and health problems. In Colombia, 90% of the imported coal originates from mining companies that finance paramilitary missions that caused several casualties.

The documentary has led to a political debate which seems to result in a call for transparency. The energy companies in turn state that they are not familiar with the origin or circumstances of their imported coal since the commodities are marketed via middlemen and/or commodity markets. Yet, they state that they follow the guidelines as formulated by the UN Global Compact. Isn’t that inherently contradictory? How to apply something to someone you don’t seem to know?

Whatever happens next (e.g. a lawsuit, regulation or reputation loss), the companies better look into their supply chain: Who are my suppliers? Or better: where do my raw materials come from? In the end the supply chain is as strong as its weakest link. Traditionally this weakness could be e.g. bad quality or unreliable delivery, but in this case it means “risk” (from the company point of view).

From the Netwerk ‘factsheet‘, and as confirmed by a sector response, one can conclude that the supply chain in some cases is quite compact: vertically integrated multinationals own mines and sell coal. Horizontally integrated joint-ventures (partially owned by the same multinationals) take care of the exploitation (literally and figuratively..), handling and transportation. In other cases, coal is purchased on the international commodity market, which makes its origin less transparent.

To my opinion, energy companies should ask themselves the following questions:

1. Do I want to make energy out of coal in the first place (since it’s inherently unsustainable)?
2. If so, do I want to buy coal that is or could be coming from dubious (‘unsustainable’) sources?
3. Which part of my supply originates from bilateral agreements with multinationals, which part comes from anonymous commodity markets?
4. Do I want to buy from anonymous commodity markets? The current ‘intransparancy’ can give me an excuse for not ‘knowing’ what happens upstream in the supply chain.
5. In bilateral agreements: do I feel responsible for the operations of my suppliers or my suppliers suppliers (if not: maybe my customers think I should). If so: can I identify them and their practices? If so, are there any irregularities? If so, how to influence my suppliers to become more sustainable (by shifting demand, imposing controls or cooperation)?

In short: energy companies can choose. From a sustainability point of view, parallel sourcing via commodity markets and directly from multinationals seem mutually exclusive in the current market. So companies come out into the open: choose your real responsibility level, choose your supply chain, get to know your sources (really) and lead the way in taking responsibility. Harry Truman once said: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them”. I advise energy companies the opposite: “If you can’t confuse them, convince them”. This is your canary bird early warning indicator.

From my previous posts on: http://edwinrutten.wordpress.com/, now available via the new Coppa site.

INGEDEELD ONDER  duurzaam, inkoop, maatschappelijk, mvi, mvo, sscm, sustainable | THEMA:  Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen

Duurzaamheid is in ziekenhuizen nog een couveusekindje.

Toegevoegd op 06-01-2011 13:31:40| Door

Duurzaamheid is in ziekenhuizen nog een couveusekindje. Duurzame inkoop heeft dan ook nog een lange weg te gaan. In een artikel in vakblad Deal! van december reikt consultant Edwin Rutten een stappenplan aan om duurzame inkoop, bottom-up, te realiseren. Het gehele artikel is te lezen op zijn blog over duurzaam supply chain management .

INGEDEELD ONDER  duurzaam, inkopen, mvi, mvo, zorg, ziekenhuis, nederland, maatschappelijk, inkoop,  | THEMA:  Inkoop, Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen

Duurzaam Inkopen Zorg: wel groen - niet rijp!

Toegevoegd op 16-02-2011 16:14:37| Door

Op 4 februari had ik het genoegen om in samenwerking met het UMCU een workshop te verzorgen op het NEVI-zorgcongres 2011. Het thema luidde "rijp en groen". Mijn persoonlijke conclusie na twee workshops was een bevestiging van eerdere bevindingen: duurzaam inkopen is meer 'groen' dan 'rijp' in ziekenhuizen. Maar: enkele ziekenhuizen en zorginstellingen hebben reeds een voorzichtige start gemaakt en enkele Raden van Bestuur lijken een plekje voor het thema gevonden te hebben op de bestuursagenda. Door onze presentatie in te steken op MVI in de praktijk (mouwen opstropen en  aan de slag!), hebben we de aanwezigen hopelijk kunnen enthousiasmeren om werk te maken van duurzaam inkopen in de zorg. De aanwezige leveranciers zaten te popelen om hierin toegevoegde waarde te bieden! Dat sloot mooi aan bij een van onze kernboodschappen: gebruik de kracht van de leverancier om te komen met innovatieve en duurzame oplossingen! Dit vergt een brede blik en nieuwsgierige instelling van de inkopers. Ben je zo'n nieuwsgierige inkoper, check dan de presentatie op mijn Linked-in pagina voor enkele prikkelende vragen en overwegingen uit mijn deel van de presentatie.

INGEDEELD ONDER  mvi, zorg, ziekenhuis, ziekenhuizen, inkopen, duurzaam, maatschappelijk-verantwoord,  | THEMA:  Inkoop, Duurzaamheid, | PROJECT : Geen