Supply Chain Management and the Triple Bottom Line

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the interrogation of the supply chain the system is based around.

N- order supply chain – where the main product being commercialised can be reused or resold once the consumer has finished with it. The used product is then reincorporated back into the original companies supply chain (Svensson, 2007). A.P.C. currently run the Butler program, where customers can return a broken-in pair of A.P.C. raw indigo denim jeans for a new pair of A.P.C. raw indigo denim jeans at half-price (Usonline.apc.fr, 2014), A.P.C. then resells the jeans to new consumers. This provides higher margins on products due to the lower material costs and also alleviates their impact on the environment.

Closed loop supply chain – reusing all, or part, of a customers’ used product in order make a new product and explore new markets for this “renewed” product (Guide, Harrison, & Van Wassenhove, 2003). Dell has begun turning plastics from recycled electronics back into new IT systems (Dell, 2014) helping drive a circular economy. This not only reduces costs of materials for the company but also lessens its environmental impact.

Product Recovery Management – Incorporating the ability to avoid waste; at all levels of the product life cycle. Repairing it as a product, remanufacturing when its at the module level, cannibalisation at the parts level and recycling it when its’ a material (Ching and Moreira, 2014). This system directly relates to environmentally friendliness with economic gain.

Green Supply Chain Management - making the supply chain processes greener and the sourcing of greener products (Ching and Moreira, 2014). When green and non-green products are at the same price, evidence shows that the consumer will choose the green product (Murthy 2012). In 2005 GE released their ecomagination range comprised entirely of green products and services for both consumers and businesses. The range generated an extra $10.1 billion of the company’s sales in its first year (Ge.com, 2005), almost doubling their revenue with $18 billion in 2009, even during the GFC (Ge.com, 2009) and in 2011 they announced that Ecogmagination was growing at twice the rate of total company revenue (Ge.com, 2011). This is a prime example of the ability to offer new environmentally friendly products in order to create new revenue streams and increase environmental friendliness.

Sustainable Operation Management. Integrating the profit and efficiency of the traditional practices of Operations Management, but with the inclusion of social demands of the stakeholders and potential impacts on the environment (Kleindorfer, Singhal, & Van Wassenhove, 2005). “SOM is based on three areas: green products and processes, green and lean operations, remanufacturing and closed loop supply chain” (Ching and Moreira, 2014).

Integrated Chain Management - enhancing the performance of the supply chain through the “interaction of members, better material flow and more efficient production” (Ching and Moreira, 2014). Through simply collaborating with your suppliers directly and meaningfully, their engagement levels will increase, they will have a better understanding of the task at hand and in turn be happier and have an increase in productivity rate (Willard, 2012). This not only increases profits but also the social welfare of employees.

Supply chain practices incorporating TBL

Supply chain practices can be seen as a foundation for sustainability and should be implemented in conjunction with the management systems.

Ecodesign - reducing the environmental impacts of a product while maintaining its use quality (Kazazian, 2005). For example if Coca Cola were to change from their regular bottle shape to a cube shaped bottle that can be stacked much more tightly, increasing amount of bottles that can be transported per truck or shipping container. Saving money on transportation and reducing their impact on the environment but not changing the quality of their product (plasticsandtheplanet.com, 2014).

Traceability - the ability to trace the history, the application or the location of an item through previously recorded information (Ching and Moreira, 2014), this firstly should be implemented for the organisation in order to reduces losses in the production of products through the ability to track problems in an efficient way. However it’s also used to open up transparency and convey this to the consumer. Aldi has recently implemented the ability for not only the company but their consumers to trace what quadrant of the ocean the tuna was caught in and, through the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation website, fish stock levels. (Han, 2014). This not only increases the company’s sustainability image and transparency level, in turn increasing sales, it also benefits the environment. It can also work on a social level as seen with the Thankyou enterprise. Consumers can track their impact after buying one of their products to see the water, food, education or sanitation aid project in a developing country the purchase helped to fund, including the number of people it will assist, project status, completion date and GPS co-ordinates (Han, 2014). The transparency that traceability opens up provides increased social benefits for the workers as suppliers are encouraged to provide better working conditions (Ching and Moreira, 2014), this can be monitored through recording the amount of days without incident.

Collaborative logistics - Sharing information among members of the supply chain, different members interacting with each other in order to add value throughout all aspects of the supply chain (Ching and Moreira, 2014). Not only is this imperative for employee engagement and fulfilment but it is also an important practice needed in order to maintain an environmentally sustainable supply chain (Ching and Moreira, 2014). Communication between all members also pushes the organisation to seek more efficient processes (Viera, 2006). Achieving supplier delivery can be achieved through multiple options including imposing obligations, expectations, performance analysis, goals and burdens. However to gain the best results in terms of happy and engaged suppliers is to use interaction/communication, cooperation, and planning, to be open and honest with each member (Gimenez, Sierra and Rodon, 2012).

Green purchasing - the practice used by public authorities and private companies to consider the sourcing of green products and the performance of the sourcing process when buying products or services. Involving the engagement of suppliers with the environmental requirements within production, as well as auditing and only sourcing through suppliers that have certain supplier certification (Ching and Moreira, 2014). Coca Cola “use