Sustainable Supply Chain Management increases business success

• DHL white paper outlines roadmap for companies to create Sustainable Supply Chains
• Reduce emissions, save costs and leverage additional revenue streams through Sustainable Logistics

In a newly released white paper, DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, explores the most important parts of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) and discusses its various functional areas. Developed together with experts from Center for Advanced Sustainable Management of Cologne Business School and M3TRIX GmbH, a consultancy company for sustainable business transformation, the white paper illustrates how companies can unlock the full value of their supply chain, and have a positive environmental impact by adopting an embedded sustainability model.

“A drive towards sustainability is happening now. We see evidence that taking decisions in the interest of sustainability provides a source of innovation and growth for a lot of our customers and business partners. Stronger employee engagement is another upside as sustainability leadership instills a sense of pride and inspires employees,” says Angelos Orfanos, Executive Vice President Global Marketing & Sales, DHL Global Forwarding.

The white paper provides a roadmap of potential actions for businesses that want to intensify their environmentally friendly and socially responsible actions while increasing their economic success. The included case studies demonstrate how renowned companies have improved profitability and operational performance by implementing sustainable solutions.

According to SSCM, a sustainable approach to supply chains can help reduce costs, particularly in logistics, due to a reduction of transportation costs and reuse of products and materials. SSCM promotes replacement of the long-standing, linear “take, make, dispose” production model with a circular “reduce, reuse, recycle, and return” method, driving process and product innovation, thereby generating additional revenue streams.

Engaging in environmentally and socially responsible business practices helps strengthen ’license to operate’, supports employer branding and improves a company’s image for the public and NGOs, while helping mitigate potential reputational risks.

“There is no doubt that there are strong ethical and environmental arguments in favor of sustainable business practices. Scientific and practical evidence now shows that following the Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) approach also creates added value for businesses,” says Kathrin Brost, Global Head of GoGreen, DHL Global Forwarding. “We found that cost and emissions reductions are not contradictory, but often complementary. At DHL Global Forwarding, and in fact the entire Deutsche Post DHL Group, we are confident that our commitment to sustainability, illustrated by our GoGreen program, will contribute to retention of our market leading position in the long-term.”

The emerging field of SSCM, a development of traditional Supply Chain Management (SCM), includes such functional areas as sustainable logistics, reverse logistics, sustainable supplier and vendor management, and internal sustainable operations management.

Deutsche Post DHL Group supports sustainable business practices through its company-wide GoGreen program, which outlines initiatives to achieve specific goals such as dramatic emissions reduction and increasing the use of alternative energy.