Assignment Sample on Sustainable Supply Chains
1. Introduction
Sustainability has become an integral part of all companies and businesses across the world. More than 60% of the company’s executives consider sustainable development necessary for surviving in the market today (Houghton and Johnson, 2018). Moreover, sustainability is an organizational approach that can create a long term value by taking into account the ecological, social and economic environment. This approach basically focuses on developing effective strategies that can foster the company’s durability. Sustainability is far more important for maintaining the quality of the environment. Further, sustainability is also necessary for improving the quality of air, natural resources and nontoxic environment. The ecological balance in an organization refers to the impact that companies can produce on the environment or society (Kaounides and Alison, 2012). A balanced business strategy entirely focuses on producing a positive impact both on the company and the environment. It also works towards reducing environmental issues such as air pollution, the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion. Other global issues include climatic change, income inequality, human rights issues, gender inequality, fair working condition, unavailability of natural resources.
Although it may sound vague about the connection between sustainable developments in an organization, a recent study conducted by Harvard Business School suggests that a business cannot succeed if they do not work towards building a sustainable environment (Tsoskunoglou and Omair, 2015). Additionally, driving sustainable initiatives helps in safeguarding the environment and contributes towards organizational success. The overall case study is based on sustainable supply chains for the product from Electronix Automotive PLC. Electronix Automotive PLC is a recently started automobile manufacturer company in the UK. By considering the overall success of companies like Tesla and Toyota, the entrepreneur decided to build high-end luxury automobiles by keeping in mind the philosophical and sustainable background of the environment (Ward and David, 2017). The company product Electronix Pegasus 4S was designed to launch in Q1 2022 due to COVID-19 delays. Likewise, other companies, Electronix Automotive PLC, have also adopted a triple bottom line approach that helps in measuring the social and environmental impact. The triple bottom line approach mainly focuses on three Ps: People, planet and profit. The following approach is helpful in boosting the company’s performance and success (Wang and Roshcel, 2013).
2. Analysis of the supply chain management
Automobile companies, especially those operating in the UK, have dominated the mass merchandising and online retail segments in past decades. The Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, has developed and reinforced competitive, sustainable strategies to maintain a hold in the market (Hisashi and Roger, 2016). There is an urgent need to demonstrate a report on sustainability strategies with growing environmental problems. The concept of the triple bottom approach is one of the most prominent approaches that different companies have adopted to incorporate sustainability chain management. The triple bottom line approach emphasizes mainly three areas: business decisions based on environment, economy, and society. In recent times, the Electronix Automotive PLC Company’s supply chain management program contributed to its growth and development (Pankratov and Merabet, 2019). The company’s serial entrepreneur Simon Jones decided to establish a potential automotive market after analyzing the success of automotive startups like Tesla and Lucid.
The case study of Electronix Automotive PLC describes a car designed around by considering both sustainable and environmental factors which can enhance the ecological balance. The vehicle is fully electronic with a 400-mile range and 60mph time of 2.8 seconds (Biswajit and Mohammad, 2018). Further, the makers of the company have developed the vehicle’s body with a material called ‘Plastica’, which contains 95% consumer plastic waste coated around with special gel. In addition to the plastic vehicle body, the seats of the car use Ultra Fabrics, a material that fulfils the environmental commitment (Veronica and George, 2016).
2.1 Environmental Impact of Electronix CO2 emission and waste
Multiple studies on the environmental impact of car manufacturing in the UK suggests that the designers have significantly reduced the negative effects of car production since 2010 (Shahzad and Tauqeer, 2014). Although, the number of cars manufactured since 2010 drastically increased from 8 million in 2010 to 13.5 million by the end of 2015. But the environmental effects have considerably reduced. The updated figures published by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association shows that CO2 emission from car production was reduced by 24 % since 2010. Further, water consumption in the car production process was also decreased by 31% since 2013 (Masimo and Hanim, 2019). The lesser consumption of water was only possible because of recirculation technologies that reused water for car production. Still, there is an urgent need to analyze the annual CO2 emissions because the stored electricity and natural gas components eventually get converted into CO2 equivalent.
| Lifecycle Stage | Description | Assessment |
| Raw Materials and fabric production | Cars and automobile products | CO2 emissions and other hydrocarbon releases. |
| Warehousing | Warehouse needs to be designed properly to decrease the CO2 emission | CO2 emissions and other hydrocarbon releases |
| Manufacturing | The manufacturing unit has more than 6 six units | Startup company.
The input and output of the company are not predictable. |
| Logistics and transportation | Railway transport system for transporting vehicles is best | Railway transportation will reduce carbon emission by 80%. |
| Retail and distribution | Not decided | Not decided |
| Consumption and use | It is a fully automated car that will enhance the sustainability of the environment. | All the details are mentioned along with the template in the car detail book. |
| Disposal | The waste products are reused or recycled timely. | No recycling alternatives. |
2.2 Social Impact of Electonix CO2 emission and waste
The social consequences or the social bottom line should be necessarily considered when measuring the business profits and human capital invested in the automobile industry (Elisa and Parker, 2017). When analyzing the company’s profit and capital, the Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, significantly considers beneficial labour practices which involve different communities. While examining communal responsibilities, the company needs to question whether their business provides adequate job growth in your country. Are the employees of your company paying back to your community? (Jayanth and Mariana, 2013).
Further, economic stability and statistical data should be considered while hiring candidates for the company. Is your company working towards building a sustainable community? It is necessary to focus on all the above-mentioned questions because if your organization is not dealing with these queries, the company will automatically lose its clients and employees base. Electronix Automotive PLC is concerned about long-term sustainability so that it can measure the social impacts associated with the industry (Peter and Chin, 2018).
| Lifecycle Stage | Description | Assessment |
| Raw Materials and fabric production | Cars and automobile products | CO2 emissions and other hydrocarbon releases. |
| Warehousing | Warehouse needs to be designed properly to decrease the CO2 emission | CO2 emissions and other hydrocarbon releases |
| Manufacturing | The manufacturing unit has more than 6 six units | Startup company.
The input and output of the company are not predictable. |
| Logistics and transportation | Railway transport system for transporting vehicles is best | Railway transportation will reduce carbon emission by 80%. |
| Retail and distribution | Not decided | Not decided |
| Consumption and use | It is a fully automated car that will enhance the sustainability of the environment. | All the details are mentioned along with the template in the car detail book. |
| Disposal | The waste products are reused or recycled timely. | No recycling alternatives. |
2.3 Economical Impact
The triple bottom line approach adopted by Electronix Automotive PLC considers economic sustainability management, which is simply not traditional. Economic sustainability should not mainly focus on the economic capital invested in the business, but it should also count the impact of automobile business on the economic environment (Kathy and Jeffrey, 2016). The makers of Electronic Pegasus 4S are responsible for contributing to the economic health of its support network and community. While examining the economic impacts of the organization, Electronix Automotive PLC needs to be very clear about its innovations. Is your business helping local dealers to grow and innovate the business? Or is the company activity putting the overall economy at risk? (Duarta and Cabrita, 2015). Is your employee pay scale efficient enough to enhance economic growth and expenditure? Or does your company fails at handling the compensation policy? Economic impacts are more or less associated with environmental impacts. The company needs to ensure the quality of products they are using for manufacturing automobile products. Are they using products and material that are economically sound for investment? Or is the company purchasing products that develop issues in other areas. Is your company involved in purchasing chemical products that produce low emission or materials that cause environmental risks? (Wibowo and Handayani, 2018).
3. Benchmarking Electronix with Lucid or Hunday or Toyota Or BMW
| Section | Your company practice | Competitors best practices | Benchmarking |
| Suppliers management | 5-6 suppliers in the Electronix Automotive PLC, UK | More than 40 suppliers in the Toyota Corporation. | Develop worldwide suppliers for the growth and development of the company. |
| Procurement | Products are designed and obtained from different parts of the world. | Products are designed and obtained from different parts of the world. | Products are designed and obtained from different parts of the world. |
| Warehousing | Warehouse needs to be appropriately designed to decrease the CO2 emission | Develop effective warehousing to mitigate adverse environmental effects | Decrease in CO2 emissions and other hydrocarbon releases |
| Manufacturing | The manufacturing unit has more than 6 six units | 40 supply units worldwide | Develop worldwide suppliers for the growth and development of the company |
| Transport and logistic | No definite company transportation policy | Railway transportation process for each delivery | Railway transportation process for each delivery |
| Packaging | The packaging percentage is high, which is disturbing the ecological balance. | Packaging is reduced by 45 % | Urgent need to reduce the packaging process in the Electronix Automotive PLC, UK. |
3.1 What SLAs and checks and balances will be put on suppliers
The Toyota industries corporation is a wide-spread business that ranges from textile machinery to automobile industries such as car engines, compressors and vehicles (Kaounides and Alison, 2012). The company has a fair entry process irrespective of the nationality, size and experience of potential suppliers. The company is efficient in selecting its business partners based on economic reasons such as quality, prices, and volume.
The Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, has 5-6 suppliers, but more strategized planning should be initiated to maintain the supplier chain worldwide. Initially, the company needs to focus on adopting sustainable practices that can help to decouple the company’s growth (Tsoskunoglou and Omair, 2015).
3.2 Changes to be made in the supplier base
Toyota automobile sector has constantly worked towards zero waste landfill by reusing or recycling its products. In many cases, new revenue has been evolved using waste products for manufacturing unique and valuable products for Toyota (Ward and David, 2017). Toyota created durable strategies that can provide positive results for the company and reduce the environmental impacts through its cycle by the end of 2025.
The Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, has readily identified that the company faces waste control and management issues. With the implementation of the triple bottom line approach, it is clear that there are manufacturing errors that have increased environmental waste and economic losses to the organization (Wang and Roshcel, 2013). Electronix Automotive PLC should consider various waste management strategies adopted by Toyota Corporation to improve and reduce waste material and resources. The strategy will aid in enhancing the operational performances also.
3.3 How could buy-back system be facilitated
A buy-back system is essential for all the dealers and car owners to trade in or sell various automobile products in the world. A proper buy-back system needs to be facilitated by Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, to provide quality assurance to the buyers of their vehicles. The automobile company can adopt two types of a buy-back program: buy-back guarantee and buy-back guarantee return policy.
It is crucial to design the warehouse in such a way that reduces carbon emission and energy demand. Toyota’s infrastructure and design are built to minimize carbon emission (Hisashi and Roger, 2016). Further, they have designed Building Information Modelling that encourages lean construction to reduce the site waste and use other resources precisely.
Unlike Toyota Corporation, Electronix Automotive PLC did not consider the environmental impacts of warehousing. Communication problems and stock management issues are also faced by employees of Electronix Automotive PLC. The company should plan out ways to handle the technical problems, which will improve employees’ situation, but it will also prevent the losses incurred from sales and product wastage (Pankratov and Merabet, 2019).
3.4 Relevant legislations
Various legislations are formulated by automobile industries in the UK. Warranty risk management should be encouraged where suppliers can allocate definite responsibilities depending upon the risk. Testing and validation is another relevant legislation that deals with documents and other responsibilities to test the vehicle’s electrical components. Warranty issues need to be tacked within the warranty period to analyze the root cause.
3.5 Sustainable Key concepts
Long term success in the Electronix Automotive PLC, UK is only possible through consistent innovations and improvements. Further, the company should increase global efficiency, promote the brand, and motivate the employees throughout their course work. Packaging is an essential unit in the entire process of production and transportation. In the past five years, Toyota Corporation has drastically reduced packaging by 45%. They also embraced recycling and reusing multiple products, contributing to sustainable management (Shahzad and Tauqeer, 2014).
Implementing sustainable raw materials in the packaging process can be the best example of sustainable management. The Electronix Automotive PLC should consider the Toyota packing process to restore the environment around us. Presently, Electronix Automotive PLC does not use any recycling products and raw material that can reduce the waste in the industry (Masimo and Hanim, 2019).
3.6 How can a company market the product to reduce the consumer carbon footprint
While promoting the company in the worldwide market, it is necessary to develop strategies that can reduce carbon dioxide emissions on the open road. Providing fully automated controlled car is the easiest way of reducing carbon emission. Toyota has implemented effective strategies to curb the issues evolving due to carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other hydrocarbons. While establishing an automobile company anywhere in the world, the owner needs to realize the detrimental effects of fuel and other gases during the transportation process (Biswajit and Mohammad, 2018). The owner of the Toyota group realized that 70 % of the carbon dioxide was emitted from the fuel used during the transportation process. After 2017, all the Toyota outlets and manufacturing units have incorporated a carbon-neutral approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was possible due to the use of renewable energy and bio-methane gas.
The Electronix Automotive PLC can also adopt the same strategy that Toyota adopted for reducing harmful gas emission (Veronica and George, 2016). The railway transportation system reduces the CO2 emission by 80% and reduces the cost of transportation. Embracing railway transportation service for transporting automobiles will prove beneficial to the company’s economic and environmental growth.
4. Application of sustainable methods and procedures
Although there is no “one right measure” on maintaining the ecological balance and sustainability, the best option depends on the strategies every company designs individually. The Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, needs to improve its sustainability practices by discussing practical ideas with its management team (Shih and Hung, 2014). The management team in the automobile industry needs to ensure that sustainable strategies are aligned successfully with the efforts of the organization.
4.1 Waste hierarchy
Lack of commitment, divergence and prioritization are common issues that can make the sustainability efforts fragile. Electronix Automotive PLC needs to develop an ambition of reducing waste materials and enhancing the output through ecological sourcing (Goujun and Monica, 2012). Automobile companies like Toyota and Lucid have adopted hybrid engine models that can reduce import dependence and operational hazards.
Further, it also decreases the financial burden associated with the organization. The Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, should address compliance related to waste management, air pollution and energy consumption (Black and Thomson, 2016). The majority of the investors focus on the company’s sustainability performance which adds to the competitive advantage of any organization. Recent automobile statistics show that 50% of the investors do not invest in companies with poor sustainability performance. Mainstream companies struggle to maintain the records of return on sustainability investments. There is a crucial need to link a sustainable economy with the growth and development of the business, but only small scale industries work towards creating a sustainably sound environment (Elisa and Parker, 2017).
Collaboration for effective sustainability practice is necessary to shape the career of automobile companies in the future. The MIT/BCG data shows that more than 55% of company executives feel the need for collaborating sustainability for enhancing the company’s growth and success. Finally, Electronix Automotive PLC, UK, should engage their employees with environmental organizations that can support sustainability programs. Although sustainability is a significant issue that matters beyond small-cap companies, larger companies are developing sustainable policies to decrease the environmental, social and economic impact on nature (Elisa and Parker, 2017).
4.2 Impact on the three bottom line
| S.no | Action Plans | Benefits |
| 1 | Prevention
Conducting a review on paper board will help in understanding the prevention strategies for carbon emission in the automobile industry (Peter and Chin, 2018).
|
The prevention process will automatically enhance the environmental conditions and make nature a better place to live. |
| 2 | Reuse
Reusable materials such as paper, scraps, discs and plastics can help in producing new products without involving capital. |
Detrimental effects on the environment can be significantly reduced by initiating the reusing process in the automobile sector (Kathy and Jeffrey, 2016). |
| 3 | Recycle
Waste paper can be used for recycling. It will maximize the product quality and is a cost-effective process (Duarta and Cabrita, 2015). |
Compared to another process, recycling is the best process that can help in building a sustainably sound organization. |
| 4 | Recover
Paper can be best used to generate energy in the entire automotive sector.
|
Renewable energy can be produced by recovering waste paper materials. |
5. Conclusion
The impact of the automotive industry and its supply chain is likely to produce both negative and positive impact on the environment in coming years. The emission of carbon dioxide through vehicles is probably going to increase in the coming years. Further, the transportation sector’s contribution to climatic change will also increase till 2050. Working towards sustainable management does not intend to sacrifice the profits of the company, but it is a crucial step towards an organization’s success. A company that does not focus on sustainability risk is less likely to grow its profit margin, growth, and employee retention. The Electronix Automobile PLC should designs ways for managing supply chain management as this will increase competitive advantages, including lower-cost products, use of quality materials and user-friendly automobile system running on a complete automation process. A close effort by the automobile management team will definitely provide valuable learning towards sustainable chain management.
References
Books and Journals
Black, J. and Thomson M., (2016). Design rules for implementing the Toyota Production System, 8(5), pp.3939-3945.
Duarta, S. and Cabrita, M., (2015). Exploring Lean and Green Supply Chain Performance Using Balanced Scorecard Perspective, 3, pp.89-95.
Elisa, M. and Parker, J., (2017). Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, 3(2), pp.75-79.
Fontaras, G., Zacharof, N.G. and Ciuffo, B., 2017. Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from passenger cars in Europe–Laboratory versus real-world emissions. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 60, pp.97-131.
Goujun, H. and Monica, Y., (2012). Constructing sustainable supply chain under double environmental medium regulations
Hisashi, I. and Roger, K., (2016). Well-to-wheel efficiency analysis. JHFC, Total Efficiency Study Group, 4, pp.23-26.
Houghton, J. and Johnson, M., (2018). Global warming: the complete briefing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jayanth, M. and Mariana, N., (2013). Looking beyond the obvious: Unraveling the Toyota production system, pp.280-291.
Kaounides, L. and Alison K., (2012). Climate Change and the Restructuring of the Word Economy and Trade, Specialist Masters Programmes SMM714. Cass Business School, London, 6(3), pp.156-160.
Kathy, O. and Jeffrey, B., (2016). Justifying sustainable buildings – championing green operations, 4(2), pp.191-195.
Masimo, N. and Hanim, R., (2019). Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Automotive Industry: A Process-Oriented Review, 11(4), pp.39-45.
Pankratov, E. and Merabet, B., (2019). Resilience and sustainability of supply chain management in the automobile industry. International Journal of Data and Network Science. 4(3), pp.339-348.
Peter, Y. and Chin K., (2018). An empirical investigation of green initiatives and environmental sustainability for manufacturing SMEs, 7(3), pp.56-60.
Shahzad, Z. and Tauqeer A., (2014). Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM), 5, pp.353-356.
Shih, C. and Hung, W., (2014). A strategic decision-making model considering the social costs of carbon dioxide emissions for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Environmental management.
Tsoskunoglou, M. and Omair, S., (2015). Facing the climate change introduces a new era for the technological evolution of automobiles. Proceedings of Conference on Electric Vehicles and Ecological transportation, Hellenic Institute for Electric Vehicles, Kalamata/Greece. 3(2), pp.65-68.
Veronica M. and George, S., (2016). Evaluating key factors of sustainable manufacturing in Indian automobile industries using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), pp.219-221.
Wang, M. and Roshcel, K., (2013). Well-to-wheels energy and emissions impacts of vehicles/fuel systems: Development and applications of the GREET model. Argonne National Laboratory, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA, 8(3), pp.441-445.
Ward, K. David, G., (2017). Global Trends 2020 and Beyond: automobile use, environment and safety challenges, paper presented on behalf of the FIA Foundation Report in Autoworld, 3, pp.89-92.
Wibowo, A. and Handayani, N., (2018). Factors for implementing green supply chain management in the construction industry.
Online
Three Facets in Practice. (2020) [Online]. Accessed through:< https://line.17qq.com/articles/kwkmwnmsy_p3.html >
Waste Management Pyramid. (2020) [Online]. Accessed through:< https://line.17qq.com/articles/kwkmwnmsy_p3.html >
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