2017 GEC Catalyst Awards
2017 GEC Catalyst Awards
Representatives from the Global Electronics Councilwere pleased to honor in-person several of the Winners, Finalists and a member of the Judging Committee at the 2017 Catalyst Awards Ceremony in Shanghai, China, in June 2017.
2017 Catalyst Award Winners
Sourcemap Inc. Supply Chain Transparency Community
Advances in supply chain transparency driven by enterprise social networking, analytics and visualization are making it possible for manufacturers and brands to have continuous assurance that their products are sustainably sourced and assembled. Sourcemap introduced the first supply chain social network designed to connect supply chain stakeholders, from raw materials to end customers, to enable full traceability across the hundreds of thousands of businesses that work together to deliver modern electronics. Used for years by individual brands and manufacturers to collect custom data from 1st, 2nd and 3rd-tier suppliers, Sourcemap is now introducing supply chain communities that enable multiple competing companies to benefit from a shared repository of pre-competitive information on suppliers’ social and environmental performance. Brands that have achieved visibility and benchmarks are also able to take advantage of Open Sourcemap, the world’s largest public platform for sharing product supply chains transparently with consumers through website embeds and linked QR codes.
Xerox Corporation Optimizing a Reverse Logistics System
Xerox, as a corporate citizen, has a role to play throughout the lifecycle of our products and services. Our responsibility does not end once the product is sold. Xerox takes on supply chain responsibility as an electronics manufacturer from material extraction all the way through the end-of-life management of products. Over the past few years Xerox has optimized the Eastern and Western Hemisphere reverse logistics systems, which manage and process all products at their end-of-life. Xerox has always been recognized as an industry leader in end-of-life management, and this innovative optimization takes the next step towards creating a robust circular economy. The optimization utilizes a new centralized control system which calculates the value associated with sending a product through one of five potential processes, then the optimization system selects the process that will create the greatest value. These five processes include remanufacture, refurbish, remove parts for reuse, recycle, and broker sales. This optimized system utilizes current part and product inventory levels, along with the condition and service history of each return, to create a real time end-of-life inventory of spare parts and full products. These parts and products are then used to supply the manufacturing of new products and second life sales. Specifically, in this optimized system the remanufacturing and refurbishing strategy has shifted from ‘waiting for a market need’ to ‘actively seeking and creating the highest possible value’ for each end-of-life product. In addition, the parts reuse process has improved in multiple ways so that a recovered part is always the first choice over a newly manufactured part. The last end-of-life product stream is broker sales, which is a newly established process in the optimized system and is able to create a 2nd life for a product without any additional processing. Through all of these innovative improvements the optimized reverse logistics system as a whole has helped Xerox realize over $127 million USD in cost benefit, achieve over 115 million lb. CO2 equivalent in greenhouse gas savings, decrease cross continental transportation, and enable social sustainability. Xerox makes continuous improvements to this system in order to overcome all challenges, specifically to increase end-of-life collection of equipment that is not directly sold by or leased from Xerox. The global goal is to continue to drive innovation and optimization in order to increase the incremental cost savings and environmental savings by increasing the quantity of products taken back, formalizing the sharing of assets between Eastern and Western Hemisphere operations, and integrating consumable returns into this optimized system. With a global team working together towards these common goals, Xerox will continue to lead the industry with a truly innovative and sustainable reverse logistics system.
2017 Catalyst Award Finalists
China United Environmental Certification Center
Government procurement list of environmental labeling products (hereinafter to be referred as “List”) aims to promote green procurement in China and promote the development of a green supply chain. China’s policy on government procurement of environmental labeling products has been improving over the past years with wider scope of products and gradual improvement of management mechanism. It plays a good guiding and demonstration role in facilitating comprehensive implementation of sustainable consumption. Up to the end of 2016, 19 issues of the list have been released. The government policy and list on procurement of environmental labelling products not only improves environmental performances of government agencies, but also reduces energy consumption and emissions of pollutants by forcing green upgrading of enterprises through consumption and promotes the development of green supply chain, in particular electronic product industry. The scale of government procurement of environmental labelling products reached 715.45 billion Yuan during 2008~2016 with continuous rise of the percent of environmental labelling products in similar products of government procurement.
Kaiser Permanente
La electrónica y la tecnología de la información permiten a Kaiser Permanente proporcionar a los afiliados, pacientes y médicos acceso en tiempo real a la información médica electrónica, lo que ha agilizado y simplificado la prestación de asistencia. Pero la fabricación, el uso y la eliminación de ordenadores, impresoras, monitores y sus accesorios electrónicos tienen un impacto adverso significativo en la salud humana y medioambiental a nivel mundial. Consciente de ello, Kaiser Permanente comenzó a trabajar a principios de la década de 2000 para identificar productos electrónicos más responsables desde el punto de vista medioambiental que les permitieran maximizar los beneficios de sus operaciones informáticas al tiempo que minimizaban su impacto medioambiental. A principios de 2006, Kaiser Permanente se convirtió en una de las primeras empresas privadas del mundo en especificar la EPEAT -un sistema de clasificación medioambiental para dispositivos electrónicos respaldado por la EPA de Estados Unidos- en un contrato con un nuevo proveedor de sistemas informáticos. El lenguaje del contrato especificaba una preferencia firme y definida por los equipos electrónicos eficientes energéticamente y responsables con el medio ambiente, utilizando la EPEAT como punto de referencia para identificar de forma creíble y efectiva tales opciones de productos. A lo largo de diez años de trabajo con la EPEAT, las especificaciones de Kaiser Permanente han exigido mayores niveles de rendimiento y se han ampliado a nuevas categorías de productos. Después de diez (10) años de compromisos de compra para adquirir dispositivos electrónicos registrados en la EPEAT, la organización fue reconocida tres (3) años consecutivos y obtuvo el nivel de premio de dos estrellas de la EPEAT del Green Electronics Council. En 2016, Kaiser Permanente aumentó su compra de dispositivos registrados en la EPEAT en aproximadamente un 5,9 % con respecto a 2015, lo que representa un asombroso gasto total de 85 millones de dólares en dispositivos registrados en la EPEAT en el año 2016. En esta ocasión, la organización incluyó la compra de televisores registrados en la EPEAT, lo que demuestra aún más el poder adquisitivo de un sistema sanitario para mover los mercados en la dirección correcta. Kaiser Permanente tiene ahora como objetivo aumentar el rendimiento en las categorías de productos más difíciles, al tiempo que mantiene las adquisiciones de primer nivel de la EPEAT en otras.
Pacific Gas and Electric
En PG&E medimos nuestro propio impacto ambiental y el cumplimiento de las normas. Como resultado de estas iniciativas, identificamos eficiencias operativas, realizamos ahorros de costes y hacemos partícipes a nuestros clientes, empleados y proveedores de los beneficios de la gestión medioambiental. Esperamos que nuestros proveedores tengan programas y objetivos similares. Como parte de nuestro compromiso con los proveedores, les enseñamos la importancia de establecer un sistema de gestión medioambiental (EMS), de hacer un seguimiento de sus impactos medioambientales, de establecer objetivos de mejora y de informar públicamente de sus resultados. El mecanismo para recopilar estos detalles es la encuesta anual de sostenibilidad de los proveedores que se realiza en el marco de nuestra pertenencia a la Alianza de la Cadena de Suministro Sostenible de la Industria de Servicios Eléctricos (Alianza). PG&E fue miembro fundador de la Alianza en 2008 y uno de los primeros miembros en crear una metodología de puntuación basada en las respuestas de la encuesta para su uso en las evaluaciones de los proveedores. Las preguntas de la encuesta se basan en el marco medioambiental de la Alianza y cuentan con un sistema en el que las respuestas adquieren madurez. Se trata de una herramienta de aprendizaje con la que los proveedores pueden evaluar su propio rendimiento y ver claramente lo que necesitan para progresar en sus esfuerzos de la manera más impactante. Las respuestas a la encuesta se cuantifican y se utilizan en la evaluación anual del proveedor, que tiene en cuenta muchos parámetros clave de rendimiento, como la calidad, el rendimiento, la diversidad del proveedor y la sostenibilidad. Los proveedores reciben una puntuación basada en una escala de 5 puntos. PG&E establece un objetivo corporativo cada año para que un porcentaje de proveedores alcance una puntuación de 3 o superior. Las normas de comportamiento medioambiental nos ayudan a calibrar la importancia que los proveedores están dando a su esfuerzo por minimizar sus impactos medioambientales. Impacto económico y de mercado Desde la implantación de las normas de gestión medioambiental de los proveedores, PG&E ha observado una mejora año tras año en el rendimiento de los proveedores. Anualmente se encuestan unos cien proveedores. En 2013, nuestro objetivo era que el 55% de los proveedores encuestados alcanzara una puntuación de 3 o superior. El objetivo se superó y desde entonces hemos tenido objetivos crecientes. En 2016, el objetivo era el 70% y logramos el 75%. Esto significa que cada año, más de nuestros proveedores de primer nivel se dan cuenta de la importancia de medir, establecer objetivos e informar públicamente de los resultados de su impacto medioambiental y de implantar o mantener sistemas para ello. Desafíos Algunos de los desafíos que hemos experimentado a lo largo de la implementación y ejecución de este programa incluyen la necesidad de un compromiso y una formación continuos de los proveedores, la minimización de los puntos de contacto con los proveedores y la superación del obstáculo de la encuesta "de talla única". Cada reto se ha abordado por separado, pero todo ello teniendo en cuenta al proveedor. Proporcionamos una total transparencia en la ejecución de la encuesta, los resultados del cuadro de mando y las acciones de nuestro programa. Esto garantiza que el proveedor sea consciente de cómo se utilizarán sus respuestas y cómo puede mejorar su rendimiento con el tiempo. Hitos del programa En 2016, ampliamos el alcance de los proveedores encuestados para incluir a varios de nuestros proveedores diversos. Este fue un esfuerzo para prepararlos para lo que se esperaría de ellos en caso de que se convirtieran en un proveedor de primer nivel, así como para educarlos sobre cómo mejorar su desempeño ambiental. Cada año, nos esforzamos por mejorar el porcentaje de proveedores que obtienen una puntuación de 3 o superior. En 2017, nuestro objetivo es que el 75% de los proveedores de primer nivel alcancen este nivel.
toxnot PBC
Customers, retailers, and name brands are demanding chemicals transparency from their manufacturers and supply chains. Manufacturers must meet these requests or lose their largest customers, e.g. Walmart, Google, and LEED builders. Without supply chain transparency, manufacturers risk lost sales and legal costs. Today, manufacturers spend a lot of money hiring consultants to survey suppliers and produce one-off transparency reports. toxnot’s software solution reduces manufacturers’ costs and risks by automating the chemical transparency process with: (1) Fast, searchable access to the world’s best chemicals hazards data. (2) Seamless supply chain data collection. (3) Automated transparency reporting for multiple industry standards toxnot is a web based software solution that supports manufacturers and suppliers of all sizes in selecting preferred chemicals and automating the product reports required by their customers. toxnot provides a freely accessible chemical hazard database as well as best in class subscription tools for supply chain data collection and product reporting. toxnot is quickly becoming THE source for chemicals hazard data. Our ‘software as a service’ subscription tools provide the easiest and lowest cost path to generating product transparency reports. Customers can access chemicals hazard data for free and purchase modular subscriptions starting at $49/mo to access reporting and supplier survey tools. toxnot is the first transparency software that is fully accessible to all business users regardless of their company size. It is also the first solution to incorporate workflows for the two most difficult issues (data collection and reporting) for users in one software solution: Toxnot combines supplier data collection directly with a full chemical hazards database and reporting engine so that users can manage the entire product transparency reporting process from one place. In addition, toxnot provides its searchable database free to anyone – the first service to make complete hazards data available to all. Our business model offers free access to our chemical hazards database, allowing all supply chain participants to drive better product design outcomes. We are the only source for free access to GreenScreen List Translator scores, the predominant method for communicating chemical hazards in product reporting. Our solution seamlessly integrates with companies’ Bill of Material and formulation systems, importing product data directly into our reporting engine, and drastically reducing the time and cost of reporting. Suppliers skip tedious web forms and quickly import their data to submit to their customers. toxnot protects proprietary chemicals while still allowing suppliers and manufacturers flexibility to see hazards and run products against changing compliance lists without having to recollect data from their suppliers. Our service was engineered from the ground up for scalability – it works across different device sizes, from phones to desktops, and can scale to hundreds of thousands of users.
Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials
One couldn’t imagine a world without tablets or smartphones. Lithium-ion batteries have been powering the portable electronics technology in the last decade and this technology still has a very healthy growth perspective. Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials is a world leader in the production of cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. Next to the development of new technologies and products, Umicore pays a lot of attention to the sustainability of their products and the sustainable procurement of raw materials. Together with portable electronics, the growth for lithium-ion batteries is supported by the transition towards the electrification of the automobile. Both the electronics and electric vehicle sector are driven by the ambition for a sustainable and bright future. Companies in the battery supply chain, however, are facing high ethical and environmental risks in the supply chain of cobalt, an essential mineral in the lithium-ion batteries of portable devices. Umicore is aware of the risks that are linked to the sourcing of cobalt. Infringements of human rights, occurrence of child labor and environmental issues, as well as the lack of sufficient health and safety protection are reported to occur in certain parts of the cobalt supply chain. Last year, research by Amnesty International revealed the occurrence of the worst forms of child labor in the artisanal mining activities of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Amnesty International, “This is what we die for”, January 2016). To avoid the occurrence of these practices in Umicore’s supply chain, and consequently that of its customers, Umicore has created a dedicated Sustainable Procurement Framework for Cobalt already in 2004. The current Sustainable Procurement Framework for Cobalt builds on this and takes into account the specific risks that are currently linked to the mining of cobalt. It is inspired by the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals (OECD, 2013). For the practical implementation of the framework, Umicore has created a decision tree. Following the decision tree leads to the decision whether or not to source from a certain cobalt supplier. This decision tree includes four essential steps: supply chain traceability, supplier research, risk assessment and risk mitigation. In 2016, Umicore was the first company worldwide to obtain external validation for its ethical procurement approach. Umicore proactively engaged the services of the assurance provider PricewaterhouseCoopers to perform an audit on Umicore’s procurement activities of 2015. The audit included providing full transparency on Umicore’s purchasing activities, chain of custody documentation and due diligence research, as well as visit reports and risk mappings. Aiming to raise the bar for the cobalt industry, Umicore has made the compliance report of the last audit publicly available in March 2017. In doing so, Umicore wants to increase transparency towards its customers and stakeholders. Next to that, Umicore wants to stimulate other players in the cobalt industry to develop similar systems and engage with third-parties for verification. In this way, Umicore believes it is actively contributing to the further development of a sustainable supply chain of cobalt. Umicore believes that its unique approach and publicly reporting on its compliance, provides comfort to its customers about the provenance and the ethical nature of the cobalt used in the material they source. Umicore’s customers have valuable brands to protect and Umicore is committed to provide them peace of mind on all aspects.
