More than 40 companies met at a series of workshops, organised by Scala Supply Chain Consulting, to discuss better ways of measuring the impact of the supply chain on the environment.
Initially the group, made up of retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies, will focus on measuring key indicators in transport, but will extend to the whole supply chain.
John Perry, managing director of Scala, said a survey commissioned by the Department for Transport, showed that to achieve “fewer and friendlier miles”, the efficiency indicators that we currently measure must be widened, eventually expanding to cover the extended supply chain.
“Environmental issues are right at the top of the agenda for government, industry and academia at the moment,” said Perry. “However, there have been few practical steps taken to actually get something done to improve environmental standards in the supply chain. I believe this is a very practical step to do just that.”
Roger Watkins, senior partner, said: “What we want to do is to establish Supply Chain Environmental Efficiency ‘SCEE’ Indicators. These need to be easy to measure, understandable and meaningful – especially as we move to cover the entire supply chain.
“We will not only have a basis for on-going comparison, but will also have a measurement of real improvement achieved. There will be comparable sub-groupings of, for instance, suppliers, retailers, food service and logistics companies.
The Department for Transport, Institute of Grocery Distribution ECR group and the Cold Storage and Distribution Federation, are backing the initiative.
Among those attending the workshops were Asda; Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer, H J Heinz, Mars Group, United Biscuits, Wincanton, DHL, Kuehne + Nagel, 3663, and Christian Salvesen.
