LUMINARIES BY HARSHAD KHATRI
SMART Steps
HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN CREATE A SUSTAINABILITY FOOTPRINT FOR MANUFACTURING
If building a sustainable enterprise was a
fashionable trend five years ago, today it is
a strategic differentiator. According to the
nonprofit organizations the Climate Group
and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative
(GeSI), transforming the way people and
businesses use technology could reduce
annual man-made global emissions by 15 percent by 2020,
and deliver energy efficiency savings of more than US$800
billion to global businesses.
Indeed, recent breakthroughs in the technology industry—
primarily in computation and communications—have provided unprecedented capabilities in capturing the promise of
sustainability. In the manufacturing industry, the benefits span
the entire lifecycle and value chain
of any product, including inception, design, manufacture, sales,
and service, as well as supporting
services for each of these business
functions. In today’s global economy,
where the mantra is “design anywhere, make anywhere, and sell
anywhere,” manufacturers continue to leverage efficiently
coordinated global capabilities. The impact of technology-driven sustainability spans the entire value chain by allowing
for global design team collaboration; global manufacturing
coordination; and low-cost, energy-efficient supply chain and
logistics execution.
But how do organizations go about leveraging technology to complete this transformation? The Climate Group and
GeSI recommend managers use a framework to standardize,
monitor, account, rethink, and transform (SMART) their businesses to “optimize for energy efficiency and how we live,
work, and play in a low-carbon world.” This approach will
be successful when low-carbon business models become the
norm and proliferate across all industries and economies.
For manufacturing companies, applying technology within
the SMART framework allows for a closed-loop view of the
value chain, enabling the ongoing review, optimization, and
transformation of the organization to capture sustainability
benefits. Here’s how:
Standardize. Technology ensures the standardization of measurement methods to help managers understand and capture
the sustainability impact of products across the entire lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to transportation. With
standardized measures, the drivers of sustainability can be
modeled, analyzed, and optimized globally.
Monitor. Organizations can use technology to link and make
sustainability goals and outcomes visible, as well as to
monitor statistics such as energy use across the value chain.
This step involves ensuring that the monitoring is consistent
throughout the company and processes, implementing
monitoring devices and tools for power management, and
applying remote monitoring and control of systems
wherever appropriate.
Account. Technology-driven monitoring of statistics such as
materials and energy usage creates accountability across the
organization, driving and aiding
managers who must make decisions
and create sustainability goals.
Rethink. In time, business environ-
ments will change, and sustain-
ability goals will need to be refined.
Technology drives this process
by offering tools that can develop
alternative, updated scenarios and processes. The informa-
tion will enable industry leaders to rethink their own opera-
tions and product development for materials, cost, and
energy reductions.
Transform. Technology allows for the scaling of optimized
sustainability-enabling tools and practices across the value
chain on a global scale. As with any other initiative, a “think
big, start small, and scale rapidly” cadence will allow for
global sustainability transformation.
Manufacturing companies that focus on technology-enabled sustainability are expected to gain a dual edge on
the competition: a “green edge” that comes with being an
environmental leader, and a financial edge gained by capturing and leveraging that reputation in the market. Using the
SMART framework allows companies to monitor and transform value chain activities—which, in addition to reducing
emissions, optimizes results and reduces costs across the
board. Over time, these benefits are truly strategic advantages, driving both the top and bottom lines. <>
HARSHAD KHATRI is a senior director for industry strategy and insight at Oracle.
SHAILJA KHATRI
Applying technology within
the SMART framework
allows for a closed-loop
view of the value chain.
