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.
カイザー・パーマネンテ
電子機器と情報技術のおかげで、カイザー・パーマネンテは、会員、患者、医師が電子医療情報にリアルタイムでアクセスできるようになり、ケアの提供が迅速かつ簡素化されました。しかし、コンピューター、プリンター、モニター、およびそれらの電子アクセサリーの製造、使用、廃棄は、世界的に人と環境の健康に大きな悪影響を及ぼしています。このことを認識したカイザー・パーマネンテは、2000年代初頭に、環境への影響を最小限に抑えながらIT運用のメリットを最大限に生かすことができる、より環境に配慮した電子製品を特定するための取り組みを開始しました。2006年初頭、カイザー・パーマネンテは、新しいコンピューターシステムのサプライヤーとの契約において、米国EPAが支援する電子機器の環境評価システムであるEPEATを指定した世界初の民間企業の1つとなりました。この契約書では、エネルギー効率が高く、環境に配慮した電子機器を強く希望することが明記されており、EPEATはそのような製品の選択肢を確実かつ効果的に特定するためのベンチマークとして利用されています。EPEATとの10年以上にわたる協力関係の中で、Kaiser Permanenteの仕様はより高いレベルの性能を要求し、新たに対象となる製品カテゴリーに拡大しました。EPEATに登録された電子機器を調達することを10年間にわたって約束した結果、3年連続で評価され、グリーン・エレクトロニクス・カウンシルからEPEATの2つ星賞レベルを獲得しました。2016年、Kaiser Permanente社は、EPEAT登録機器の購入を2015年から約5.9％増加させ、2016年1年間のEPEAT登録機器への支出総額は8,500万ドルという驚異的な金額となりました。今回は、EPEAT登録されたテレビの購入も含まれており、医療機関の購買力が市場を正しい方向に導くことをさらに実証しています。カイザー・パーマネンテは今後、課題となっている製品カテゴリーのパフォーマンスを向上させる一方で、その他のカテゴリーではトップレベルのEPEAT調達を維持することを目指します。
Pacific Gas and Electric
PG&Eでは、自らの環境への影響とコンプライアンスのパフォーマンスを測定しています。これらの取り組みの結果、業務の効率化、コスト削減を実現し、お客様、従業員、サプライヤーに環境管理のメリットを伝えています。当社は、サプライヤーにも同様のプログラムと目標を期待しています。サプライヤーエンゲージメントの一環として、環境マネジメントシステム（EMS）の構築、環境影響の追跡、改善目標の設定、パフォーマンスの公開などの重要性についてサプライヤーを教育しています。これらの詳細を収集するための仕組みは、電気事業者の持続可能なサプライチェーン・アライアンス（アライアンス）に加盟しているサプライヤーに対して毎年実施している調査です。PG&Eは、2008年にアライアンスの創設メンバーとなり、サプライヤーの評価に使用するための調査回答に基づいたスコアカード手法を作成した最初のメンバーの1つです。アンケートの質問は、アライアンスの環境フレームワークに基づいており、回答が成熟度に応じて蓄積される仕組みになっています。これは、サプライヤーが自らのパフォーマンスを評価し、最も効果的な方法で取り組みを進めるために何が必要かを明確に理解するための学習ツールとなります。アンケートの回答は数値化され、品質、性能、サプライヤーの多様性、持続可能性など多くの主要なパフォーマンス指標を考慮したサプライヤーの年次スコアカード評価に使用されます。サプライヤーは、5点満点で評価されます。PG&Eは、毎年、3点以上のスコアを達成したサプライヤーの割合を企業目標としています。環境パフォーマンス基準は、サプライヤーが環境への影響を最小限に抑える努力をしているかどうかを測るのに役立っています。経済・市場への影響 サプライヤー環境管理基準を導入して以来、PG&Eではサプライヤーのパフォーマンスが年々向上しています。毎年、約100社のサプライヤーを対象に調査を行っています。2013年の目標は、調査対象となったサプライヤーの55％が3以上のスコアを獲得することでした。この目標は達成され、それ以来、目標値を上げてきました。2016年には70％を目標とし、75％を達成しました。これは、年々、より多くのトップティアのサプライヤーが、環境影響の結果を測定し、目標を設定し、公に報告することの重要性を認識し、そのためのシステムを導入または維持していることを意味します。課題 このプログラムの導入と実施を通じて経験した課題には、以下のようなものがあります。継続的なサプライヤーの参加とトレーニングの必要性、サプライヤーとの接点の最小化、「一律の調査」というハードルの克服などです。それぞれの課題は別々に取り組まれましたが、いずれもサプライヤーへの配慮がなされています。私たちは、調査の実施、スコアカードの結果、そして私たちのプログラムのアクションについて、完全な透明性を提供しています。これにより、サプライヤーは自分の回答がどのように使用されるか、また、どのようにすれば長期的にパフォーマンスを向上させることができるかを認識することができます。プログラムのマイルストーン 2016年には、調査対象となるサプライヤーの範囲を広げ、当社の多様なサプライヤーの多くを対象としました。これは、トップクラスのサプライヤーになったときに期待されることに備えるとともに、環境パフォーマンスを向上させるための教育を行うための取り組みです。毎年、3点以上のスコアを獲得したサプライヤーの割合を向上させるよう努めています。2017年には、トップクラスのサプライヤーの75％がこのレベルを達成することを目指しています。
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.