Kraft  Foods has eliminated more than 50 million truck miles since 2005 through a focus on transportation sustainability efforts.  The company made these sustainability improvements by shifting wheat shipments from truck to barge and by using technology to reduce costs and emissions in transportation.  

Kraft's initiative is called Project MOST (Management of Optimized Sustainable Transportation) and utilizes Oracle's Cooperative Routing which is an integrated option for Oracle's Transportation Management application.  By looking at your entire logistics network over time, Cooperative Routing has allowed Kraft to strategically examine the use of carrier and fleet resources in their supply chain.  It does this by identifying historical shipping patterns and determining optimal asset utilization, while bringing visibility to potential continuous move opportunities.

Kraft has achieved a strategic approach to transporation by mostly eliminating one-way freight with the establishment of permanent lane assignments that have improved service, reduced costs and lowered their carbon footprint.

Intel's new Atom chip costs one fifth the cost from Intel's other chips and required a new supply chain design with substantially reduced costs. They achieved this by revaluating every assumption and focusing on ways to reduce inventory levels. 

For its traditional chips, Intel operated on a nine-week order cycle time with with many order changes from their customers which led to higher inventory levels and sub optimized factories.  Intel focused on shifting to a make-to-order model with firm orders accepted and then delivered in two weeks instead of nine.

One of the challenges that Intel faced with this paradigm shift was overcoming the instilled industry perceptions about the make-to-order model.  With the success of this initiative, Intel is now looking at implementing the new approach to the traditional chip's supply chain.

http://www.scdigest.com/ASSETS/ON_TARGET/09-11-04-3.PHP?CID=2911

Tesco, a supermarket giant based in the UK, has set a goal of  cutting the carbon footprint of its entire supply chain by 30% by 2020 as part of long-term plans to become a zero-carbon business.  Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's chief executive, said that the supermarket giant would focus on consumer behavior as it aims to become a zero-carbon operation by 2050.

Tesco is not only working with their suppliers to reduce packaging but also has modified their Buy One Get One Free program to a Buy One, Get One Free - Later in which consumers can pick up the free product in the future when it is needed.  They also publish the carbon footprints of 114 products on their labels and is aiming to work out the carbon footprints of 500 products by the end of the year.

Leahy said: "Of course, we are taking action because it is the right thing to do, because we don't want our children and grandchildren to face the chaos of climate change.  Other measures announced by Tesco today include using green systems and technology as well as support for a universal accountancy standard for carbon in products and services to provide a basis for carbon co-operation between businesses and promote carbon numeracy among consumers.

Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors have been gaining momentum due to their lower costs and quicker implementations.  SaaS vendors offer an on demand software deployment that allows IT resources to focus on more strategic initiatives rather spending time and money managing expensive hardware.  SaaS and cloud computing also offer improved energy efficiency and sustainability benefits. 

Companies like Tesla Motors are re-thinking their manufacturing outsourcing strategy and looking at near-sourcing their crtitical components.  Tesla just shifted production of their 1,000 pound batteries from Thailand to near their facility in California.  With volatility in fuel costs and overall high freight costs, there has been a shift towards "reverse globalization".  Another factor in this trend comes from increased strength in Asian currencies which has made outsourcing to be less attractive to manufacturers.  How will the trend of near-sourcing affect you and it makes sense to evaluate whether this strategy makes sense for you. 

I read an article from Dan Gilmore of SC Digest that discusses how companies are looking for new ideas on how to use their supply chains in dealing with the downturn and how to prepare for the recovery.  Companies should consider work on projects designed to improve their supply chains so that they are more competitive as the economy improves.  Areas that companies are looking to make improvements include supply chain network redesign, supply chain reorganization, SKU-rationalization projects, aligning metrics with people and the way you deliver value to the customer.  Additionally, it makes sense to eliminate silos of optimization in an organization so that there is a holitic view and decisions are made with the entire supply chain in mind instead of optimization of one area at the expense of another. 

http://www.scdigest.com/ASSETS/ON_TARGET/09-08-31-1.PHP?CID=2682