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Green Logistics: Sustainability in Supply Chain · Speaking of Supply Chain

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You're listening to Speaking of Supply Chain, a Meeboch podcast. This is a
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show for logistics professionals looking to learn more about the latest innovations in supply chain.
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Each episode will feature a conversation on topics such as mitigating supply chain disruption
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and reducing risk, current automation trends, sustainability initiatives, and more. Let's
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dive right in. Hello, and welcome to Speaking of Supply Chain, where
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we explore trends, current events, and innovations impacting the logistics and supply chain
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industries. I'm your host, Ellen Wood. Today I'm excited to be joined
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by my colleague Jacob Stari, and we are going to be talking about various
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ecological improvements and sustainable practices for the logistics industry when it comes to transportation and
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warehousing that have gained traction in the past years. Jacob, Welcome to Speaking
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of Supply Chain. How are you today? I'm very good. You've been
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with mi Bach for a handful of years? What is it six? Now?
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No, Allan, I have to correct you there. I'm with Meva
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full time since three years. I did an internship back in the days in
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the US and therefore probably the longer. I think it was in two thousand
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and eighteen. Yeah, it seems like forever ago. But yeah, it
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has been a long time, and I know you have got a ton of
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experience since you have been a full time colleague in the Munich office. Correct,
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exactly, Okay, and sustainability is one of your passions. Yeah.
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During my studies, during my master's degree, which I did in between mi
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Bach internship in US and MEBA full time now in Germany, Yeah, we
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also had a topic about sustained or a lecture about sustainability, and that was
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really interesting. So sustainability only focused on logistics and thereby I got the bit
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into the topic. Then I did an internship for doctors without Borders, focusing
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again there on sustainability part I don't have a medical degree, so sustainability in
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transportation because of course all the medication also needs to go somewhere. And after
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that, sustainability was part of my logistics competence. And yeah, then with
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starting in Mibach, I pushed for that topic and I'm happy to be able
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to push that also in projects and help colleagues closely when these questions appear.
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Yes, so it's become such a big topic. So last year in twenty
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twenty three, we talked with Anastasia and about some of the legal parameters being
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set in place for supply chains. We were talking about the governance that was
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coming through. Germany was the first to adopt it. I know that the
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European Union is still working on some of those some of those governances that they're
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putting into place for all logistics companies or for all companies that have logistics operations.
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But you've got some really specific solutions that we're going to talk about today
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about implementing those initiatives. So it's great to have obviously something in place where
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everyone has a level playing field. You know, we know what the expectation
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is. That doesn't mean that it's necessarily the easiest thing or the most natural
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thing to just fall into. You know, these are big changes for some
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of these companies when it comes to their transportation and facilities. So are companies
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starting to be more proactive about these concepts or is it still very reactive to
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you know, a law coming into practice or you know, keeping up with
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their competition. What is the impetus that gets companies more aware of it and
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that it needs to be something they should do, I would say a little
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bit of everything. So when we look at the market, what do we
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see is we definitely have some early adopters. They are pushing for the topic.
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It's part of their culture and I mean not from a marketing perspective,
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but they're really living it. Because of course everybody says, we agree and
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we want to be we want to push sustainability. And then of course that
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we have other companies who are following. Then these early adopters who are then
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more pushed through governance, through regulations and also aiming a little bit more for
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the financial benefits some of these solutions might also enable. But yeah, if
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we look at the market, and that's also what we what we see in
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the past years in our project, is that we see a clear trend towards
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more sustainability. If I'm so my specialty within mebach's a network design, and
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if I talk to my colleagues who are longer than myself within the company,
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let's say five years ago, sustainability wasn't a topic at all and it was
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not regretted at all, And now it's very rare that we do a network
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study where we don't touch sustainability at some point. It's not that it's it's
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not that it's the main topic, but definitely in every network study we calculate
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the emissions and it's now becoming part of the decision tree. So before with
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only costs and services service level, and now it's emissions are part of the
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decision making process, which is great because we see this trend toward it.
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And we also had really our first project which are focusing purely on green topics,
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so sustainability also network studies, not whole network studies, but and that's
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something what we can do with our simulation software is that we can optimize by
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costs, but if we then integrate emissions into our simulations, we can also
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optimized by emissions, so we can generate the lowest emission solution. Usually that's
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not the preferred solution or not the solution we recommend, but it's great because
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in the end we can show the customer, if you want to focus more
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on sustainability, these would be the steps compared to now your preferred solution,
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what you could do better. Yeah, it's at least a measurement you can
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know, rather than have that be just a question out there and the either
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even if it's not the reason to change, you can at least know where
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you're starting from with that emissions calculation exactly. And I think there's a lot
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of going on on the market. So for example, we have seen in
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the past years a clear rise of green warehouse certifications. A couple of years
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ago there were I mean, these certifications are existing already since a couple of
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years. But nowadays almost every new facility, where a logistics facility which is
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built, has some kind of a certification, if it's pre M LEAD,
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DGNB, whatever, they're There are few out on the market, we don't
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have to discuss these, but what we see definitely is that most of new
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facilities have these. And what is really interesting when we then look on the
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one hand, or when we want to understand why is that the case of
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course that companies, if they own their own facilities and they want to push
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for sustainability, that's one of the one of the layers where they can go
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for it. But on the other hand, if for example, we're thinking
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about three pls and why would they then again go for this topic of more
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green a warehouses. Again we have this perspective that their clients, So the
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their clients, any company is pushing for that topic. But on the other
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hand, they expect or they have they have the expectation that in the future
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these green green warehouse certifications might become so important that if they don't get them
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now when they build a new building, that their future building will lose a
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lot of value. So basically getting these green warehouse certifications to ensure the value
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of your investment. Well, of course, and it's easier to do it
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when you're still building it. You can you can build all that into the
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to the cost of the facility, and it's just easier to do it at
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the beginning rather than trying to retrofit after the fact and make sure something lead
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certified or or certification, you know, whatever that green certification is. It's
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easier to do it from the from the get go. But but that's interesting.
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So we've talked about how it's different for the transportation side, but that
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was really based on carbon emissions. So, I know, electric via goals
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have been also a big topic and it's a complicated issue. Do you have
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any other insights that you can share that are different on the transportation side besides
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just emissions so I mean in general when we're talking about sustainability, because nowadays
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everybody's focusing on climate change and carbon emissions, sustainability is a much broader topic.
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We usually talk about the three piece so people, planet and prosperity.
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And when we're talking about planet again, it's not only carbon emissions. There's
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a circle economy, air quality, noise, pollution, you name it.
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There there are even more topics. So in general, just just to keep
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that in mind when when we're talking about sustainability, of course, the priority
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or the prioritization is definitely carbon emissions, because that is one of the topics
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which is really necessary to work on, and it's let's say daily with within
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the news, it is a big deal and also within our project. This
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is this is what mostly is requested when we when we talk about the topic
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of electrification of transportation. That is definitely one of the key targets where the
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future might develop towards too. But of course then there are few considerations which
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have to be taken into account. So for example, is really the electricity
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which you're consuming with your green with your ev cars or drugs, is that
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sustainable produced? I mean, if you then using electricity which comes from fossil
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fuels. Again, it doesn't really make a change, so that that should
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be definitely consideration. Also thinking about the grid and the power charging availability.
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So if you're planning a new DC and you say in the future we want
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to have e drugs, you have to take into consideration that you need charging
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stations, so your dogs need high voltage supplies, and so there are a
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few things to keep in mind. For sure there are, and not only
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the availability of clean electricity, but also clean storage for that electricity in those
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vehicles, those batteries that require you know, metals and components that are very
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difficult to pull out of our natural environment and make storage cleaner for those vehicles.
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I know that it's a very complex issue. Definitely it is. And
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that's also what we see on the market. So let's say if we look
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at last my delivery so urb delivery delivery trucks, their electrification is the clear
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target. This is a process which is well ongoing, so we see many
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many electrified urb delivery trucks because the battery is also the payload of the battery
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is small. All with one charge, you usually can make your route.
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If we then again look at the long distance, long long haul transportation,
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heavy duty trucks you could get from you could get the idea that electrification here
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is also the long term solution. It could be one. That's what I'm
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saying. I'm not saying it is not. But if you look at the
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bare numbers, so the bare figures which we currently see in the market,
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this picture is a little bit different. So in Germany we have every single
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day around eight hundred thousand trucks rolling through Germany and above seven and a half
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tons, so really not any delivery trucks, so only heavy duty trucks.
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And if we then look at how many of these are currently battery fully battery
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powered or hydrogen powered, yeah, we come up with about around four hundred
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battery powered trucks and forty hydrogen trucks. So we're talking about less than zero
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point one percent of the top fleet. That's small, it is, It
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is very small, but of course there are developments on going to push forward,
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to push that forward, but we will see what the future brings.
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So yeah, that is a very small number. I don't know if I
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necessarily expected that to be higher, because this is going to be a long
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process of adopting all of these new technologies and making sure that we're choosing the
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right things for the right reasons and in the right ways to keep the sustainability
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and the environmental concerns in place across the entire situation and not just only in
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one compartmentalized piece. Like we have an electric truck, yay, Well,
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what does that mean for the electric grid or charging or you know, being
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able to serve the customer and all these other considerations. It's going to take
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time, exactly. And if I just can add one point here, I
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think for urban delivery it is rather our electrification can be definitely understood as a
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solution which covers ninety percent. But if we're thinking then again about long haul
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heavy duty trucks, there is no silver bullet on the market, so electrification
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can't be the solution for everything. There will be, for sure parts where
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you say definitely electrification can be the right solution, But there are aspects of
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this transportation or characteristics and types of transportation where other solutions need to come in
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place as well. So that's a great point. Are what drives these requests?
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Is it that need or that desire to make these changes because of the
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environment or is it financially driven? I mean, is it only going to
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be put into place if there is a financial benefit for that company, I
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would say yes and no. So there are of course companies who want to
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really puel creen their supply chain. We did projects which had a completely pure
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green background, which I think is great. Again, then most of the
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time it also comes the question regarding the financial benefits, and I have to
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say that that's a very fair point. That's a value, that's that's a
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valid point because in the end, you're doing some investments and you're looking for
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a payback. And I think that's that's the great part of it. When
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we usually when you push something, when you push for sustainability, that you
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then also get some payback in return. So when we say, for example,
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transportation, you reduce the miles or the mileage which has to be driven.
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If you do, if you reduce the consumption of your truck, you
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pollute less emissions. But in the end you also need less money for the
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transportations because you consume less fuel. That is what we then call the low
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hanging fruits. Really where we have investment and you have a payback. To
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think about solar panels on the roof of a facility. Usually we're talking about
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the amortization period of ten years, and afterwards you have some kind of free
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electricity, which I think is great. But then, of course at some
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point we will leave these low hanging fruits, and then comes the point where
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companies really need to invest without or where with a limited payback. Let's call
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it like this. Good that we still in the early phase, so low
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hanging fruits are usually still available, right that everyone's looking for the quick ones
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to get started. Obviously, so you were talking about emission reductions, and
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we've talked about both transportation and warehousing. They can't have an equal impact,
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you know, the solar panels on a roof versus an electric vehicle. So
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should they be treated the same when it comes to, you know, a
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project in trying to reduce carbon emissions or become more green for these facilities or
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does it have to be a completely separate measurement. So when we're looking at
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the supply chain and the emissions along the supply chain, transportation is the much
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bigger part. Usually we talk about eighty five percent emissions from transportation and fifteen
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percent from warehousing. So it is quite the comparison. So if customer says,
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and if it cross customer requests that they want to reduce their emissions as
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much and as fast as possible, the bigger layer can be found in transportation.
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For sure. That does not mean that we should leave warehousing just by
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the side, because often companies have outsourced their transportation and still own their own
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facilities, and then if you have a long term contract, it's rather hard
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to push here for a mission reduction. Of course, you can sit down
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with the three pl but in the end they also want to have some in
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investment for greener fleet, so they're Our recommendation is usually if we have a
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new contract, include sustainability requirements in the tendering process. If you have an
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existing contract and you already want to push for it, of course, I
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mean the three pl is also happy to green their fleet reduce consumption. But
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yeah, you have to figure that out and sit down together. But of
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course, if you want to invest in your own facilities, then warehousing or
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if you have own facilities, warehousing is often a good way to start it
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because you just have the ownership over these. And what we also have to
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keep in mind is that even that transportation has is the bigger layer, so
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has the higher share of the percentage. These fifteen percent still need to go
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some somehow away because Germany has the target to become neutral by twenty forty five,
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the European Union by twenty fifty, So even if you only focus on
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transportation, you still have to get rid of these emissions from warehousing. So
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therefore the recommendation usually is to look at both parts, of course, focused
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maybe a little bit more on transportation, but nevertheless, there are great initiatives
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also when it comes to carbon reduction and warehousing, so they need to be
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treated differently, but the same prioritization, So that makes sense. What are
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some specific examples of some of these initiatives. I mean, you've talked about
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the amount they have to reduce, when they have to reduce it by where
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we can find those quick wins. What does one of those wins look like?
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What is something that we can do so yeah, for sure, I
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mean I mentioned solar panels, which is definitely one of one of my favorites
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when we're talking about facilities, because you have such a wide space on these
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logistics facilities and it feels to me kind of a waste of space or an
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untapped prote these huge facilities, and then I don't know, you drive along
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the highway and then you see these solar parks, when you think, okay,
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here with a field and there's the facility, maybe just use that space
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in a better way. What about in transportation, Is there is there anything
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that seems like that that no brainer? Why why aren't we already doing this?
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I think that what we do here within me, but most of the
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time is this logistics system design, So we try to reduce the need for
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transportation, so really reduce the mileage which the truck has to go because we
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optimize the transportation flows and that includes for examples, freight model shift to push
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something on rail, vehicle routing and scheduling getting something out of that. But
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often in our projects, or at least in the network design projects, the
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sustainability analysis ends there. And then for me there comes this more operational personerspective
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where there's also a lot of untapped potential. You don't have to exchange your
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entire fleet with hydrogen or electric trucks. There are also a lot of intermediate
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steps which can be taken driver sustainable driver training is definitely one of the topics
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which is underrated on the market because the person who's driving the truck has such
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a big impact on the fuel consumption at great point. And then you can
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support this training with monitoring the performance of the truck, so giving I mean
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not telling your employee he's did something wrong or false, but just he can
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under the drivers then can understand in a better way what was good and what
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was bad during the drive, maintenance or also new technologies. I guess everybody
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knows the overcap spoiler of a truck for the aerodynamics, but they're there are
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so many other different opportunities to make your trailer more aerodynamic and therewpe I reduce
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the fuel consumption. So it comes down to back to what I know we
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have always worked toward is just efficiency and processes and looking at what that status
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quo is and how can we improve it, and just by making some of
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those small improvements that we would have recommended anyway, there is an aspect of
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sustainability that can be achieved through those changes and those quick ones. Definitely,
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definitely, And there are also then some solutions which I think are really interesting
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in transportation, which are then a little bit more situation specific. So for
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example, I know from a company in Berlin which is now fueling their trucks
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with HBO so hydro treated vegetable oil. So that's basically a waste product from
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cooking and which is great, but of course what we have to understand there
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is it has a limited scalability. So these are solutions which fit for some
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companies here and there, and it's great to see them on the market.
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I love these innovations, but yeah, if we're looking then on the big
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picture, we can't drive, not everybody can drive with recycled cooking oil,
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then we need have to scale up the cooking a lot. So as a
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former restaurant manager, I do have some experience on the other side of that
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in collecting and maintaining that used oil storage. And it's you're right, it's
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not an overall blanket solution for every instance, for every company. It's not
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going to work for everyone because we just don't eat that much fried food.
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It's not good for us either, and we shouldn't start eating fried food just
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so we can make oil for these vehicles to reclaim. That defeats the entire
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purpose. But it's good to look creatively at the different things that we do
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in our life that can be that can be put towards this, this overall
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goal of making sure that we're using everything available to us and not just filling
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up landfills or dumping things. But one thing you had mentioned earlier was that
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there, you know, there there is a financial aspect to this, and
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you know when it when it comes to these smaller companies that that may be
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a great fit for utilizing this reclaimed fuel. It's not scalable, so it
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has to be a small thing. Are there still financial benefits for those is
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it? Is it a smart business choice to maybe forego some of those financial
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benefits in the one area in order to achieve you know, a sustainability goal
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in another They are there for sure financial benefits coming out of that. I
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don't know the business case of the particular example I just mentioned, but there
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are there are a ton of initiatives where if they if they are suitable only
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for a certain niche, or if they are suitable for the bigger picture.
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Along the logistics companies around the globe, there are a lot of initiatives which
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have a financial benefit. I mean, if if you're looking at the if
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you're looking at warehousing. I mentioned already solar panels. That would be then
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the side of producing your own electricity. But of course the other aspects of
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the other views would be reducing the demand for energy, and we see that
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a lot so easy examples like L E. L ED lightning movement sensor,
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so you don't need to have the lights all the time within on within within
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the in the warehouse. Yeah, roof lights Again, here then comes a
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little bit the target conflict. You want to use the sunlight for lightning,
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but then again you have to range it around with the solar panels which you
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should put on the roof. So many things going on up on the roof
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exactly insulation of the of the building. So if you have to heat or
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cool the building, of course it isn't It is investment, and then you
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will reduce the energy demand for heating or cooling. But in the end this
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has a nice payback for sure. Well, and this goes back to what
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we were talking about earlier with you knows, as facilities are being built,
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whether it's owned or whether it's by a three pl you know, all of
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these things need to be taken into consideration. And it makes me chuckle,
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because you know that was built into warehouse design from the get go years you
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know, half a century, a century ago. You know, when they
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were building warehouses, they didn't have electricity you know, widely available all over
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the world in every place that there needed to be a warehouse. So that's
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why we have that iconic design of you know warehouses that have that little triangular
27:06
symbol at the top of them. That was because that's the way they design
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the roofs to allow light in. And yeah, for sure. Then then
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when you look further into you know, heating and cooling, well, are
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we facing the sun? Is that letting in too much light? Does it
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need to be ambient or direct? Are we able to capture wind to be
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able to utilize that to you know, cool anything within the building, whether
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it's you know, the atmosphere or just harnessing the power of wind. I
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know, turbines are are another option that a lot of geographies utilized. It's
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very big here in the Midwest of the United States. We have lots of
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wind farms because we're just like there's nothing happening in the landscape and we can
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harness that that wind energy that we get Heaven forbid, there's a tornado,
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those things go berserk. But you know, those are all things and they're
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not new. Windmills have been around for centuries, so they're not new concepts,
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but we're utilizing them in different ways to achieve different things. And I
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think it's it's just going in a great direction. So when companies start doing
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these things now and going back to you know, older technologies and utilizing the
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earth and the environment and our weather to help power their organizations, are they
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expected to go this extra mile in the carbon reduction based on their own intrinsic
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morality or motivation or should they cave to social pressures or you know, what
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is the motivation to go behind just that quick win those low hanging fruit and
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really dig in and make significant changes to their operations. So in the perfect
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world, you would say the social responsibility should be sufficient to make these moves.
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I would leave that answer to philosophers to answer. But coming back to
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the real world, so some early adopters, some companies might have this intrinsic
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motivation, but I think for the most of them, legislation and government governments
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needs to step in to make this push towards sustainability. Development beyond the low
29:26
hanging fruits, and that is also what is taking place already. So we
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see some regulations which are pushing companies. What in my expectation will be that
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there is coming a lot more. So. For example, we have now
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it's not finalized yet, but it's in discussion, and it's already quite longer
29:49
in discussion, so the status is already quite good. We have in Europe
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now this Smart Solar Panel Directive, where then if you build a new commercial
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or public building, solar panels are a requirement on the building if certain aspects
30:07
come in place, so if it's above two hundred and fifty square meters and
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so on, and then within the coming years. It should also be applied
30:15
to already existing buildings. So basically a lot of logistic warehouses will need to
30:22
install solar panels on their roofs. Of course, if for example, the
30:26
statics don't work out, this is this does not apply. But just to
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have that one example here, that's something that there are regulations already in place.
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But as I said before, for the EU, we have this binding
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target. So it's not that the U said we want to do this,
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but they said, okay, we have to do this by twenty fifty carbon
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neutrality of the U. So there there will be the need for a lot
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of new legislation, new regulations to push companies towards these ambitious goals. Yeah.
30:59
Absolutely, And as I spoke about, you know, when I mentioned
31:03
that I'd spoken with ANSTC about this last year, it's it's a leveling of
31:06
the playing field. When one company is doing it because of their own motivation
31:11
internally, that's that's wonderful. But then you know there are other companies that
31:15
can try to get by without it and cut cut costs elsewhere, and it
31:22
really does make a difference to raise everyone up to the same level at the
31:26
same time, at least whatever that baseline is going to be, whether it's
31:30
you know, carbon neutral by twenty fifty, which is lofty, Yeah,
31:34
definitely. And what you just said just fitting exactly in the idea of this
31:41
European emission trading system, which which we already have for for example, the
31:48
electricity sector, and now in twenty twenty seven it's going to be extended also
31:53
for transportation sector within Europe. And what is that is you basically pay some
31:59
kind of a carbon tax. But the nice thing about it is so it
32:02
is based on a cab and trade principle. So the total for every emission
32:08
which you pollute you have to have you have to buy an allowance, not
32:13
yourself but the companies who are bringing the fuel into the market. So in
32:16
the end fuel is just getting more expensive for example, and the total amount
32:22
of allowances is set by the EU. So there this is everything which you
32:27
can which can be pulled, which can be emitted from pollutants, and then
32:31
this cab is reduced every single year by a reduction factor and the price for
32:38
one of these allowances is then is generated through auctions. So the companies need
32:45
to pay for these allowances, and the idea behind is as will reduce the
32:51
cab every single year. It is it is expected that the cost per allowance,
32:57
so the cost per ton of CO two is also increasing. And the
33:02
idea behind this is really okay, either you reduce your emission or you pay
33:08
somebody else to reduce the emissions. Because the total amount of emissions are reducing
33:13
every single year, there's no way to stop that, so somebody has to
33:16
take action and either you pay more or you do it in yourself, which
33:21
I think is great just to include everybody. Of course, in a perfect
33:25
world we wouldn't need that, but yeah, I think legislation is necessary to
33:31
push companies for these last steps. I did say that the twenty to fifty
33:37
goal of carbon neutrality for the EU correct is it's lofty, it's bold,
33:45
and I like it, but is it realistic? Is it too fantastical or
33:50
is it actually possible to do all of this change and make all of these
33:57
adjustments within that time frame or are some companies just going to be held back
34:02
because there just isn't the time or the capital to be able to put these
34:07
projects into place, and so they're going to be penalized just because we're trying
34:13
so hard to do something so fast. It's a little bit the question what
34:17
should be the alternative, because I mean climate change is then again not saying
34:22
yeah, of course we know it was a longer, it was a short
34:25
time to adapt, so of course we need companies to make that move within
34:32
the shorter time. I totally agree. Is it is very ambitious twenty fifty
34:37
and there's a lot of things which need to happen. But I also think
34:42
that the governments are there, not alone, because a lot of companies have
34:46
agreed to science based targets. So they have committed also themselves to become become
34:53
neutral by twenty fifty, to reduce emissions by twenty thirty twenty forty, So
35:00
they really committed to climate targets. And that's all publicly available. And I
35:05
think there is a very interesting development will come within the next years because a
35:10
lot of big companies agreed on these as science based target and stated and marketed
35:17
these Okay, by twenty thirty, we will do X and Y, by
35:21
twenty forty, we will do set. And now you know we were moving
35:27
closer to twenty thirty and now also that's what we see from the market.
35:30
The reaction is, Okay, we have this twenty thirty goal, what can
35:35
we actually do to get there? And yeah, and then we're back with
35:37
the logistics sustainable initiatives, where we say, okay, if we're looking at
35:42
the supply chain, these should be the things which you should do. Sure,
35:46
So it's it is ambitious, I like your word, but it also
35:53
opens up the opportunity for innovation. I think is what I hear you say
36:00
that, yes, we know that there's this penalty or this benchmark that we
36:06
have to hit because there's a regulation, but that means we have to get
36:09
creative about how we fix it and how we get there. It is ambitious.
36:14
I don't think there's an alternative, and I like how you said it
36:17
opens up a lot of opportunities for innovation and really changing the way how the
36:23
companies are operating and also how we consuming for sure, so we're also part
36:29
of the problem and the solution. Exactly, we can be part of the
36:32
problem and the solution. We can recognize where we are not being the best
36:37
stewards of our planet and make a conscious decision to do better and to change
36:43
and to consider other ideas. Yeah, definitely, I read that quote there
36:46
are no passengers on Spaceship Earth, which I really like because in the end,
36:52
it means you can't be just a passenger. Everybody has to act,
36:58
so you just can't there and say somebody else is doing it for you.
37:01
Also us and also all the companies they need to adapt to more sustainable operations.
37:08
That's fantastic. So one of the things that you got excited about earlier
37:14
was the solar panels on roofs, just because it makes so much sense.
37:19
I totally agree, and I will say in Indianapolis, which I'm sure you
37:22
recall, there are solar fields out next to our airport where you have to
37:28
have a lot of you know, open area in order for planes to take
37:32
off. You don't want a house directly underneath there. So where we have
37:37
space, we have solar panels. But a lot of companies are doing that
37:42
on roofs now. But what are some of your favorite sustainability practices that are
37:46
being put into place in facilities other than solar panels. I think for warehousing,
37:52
one of the easiest and fastest way to reduce your mission footprint is really
37:59
just to ensure to procur one hundred percent of green electricity. And if you
38:05
just consume renewable energy, that should be the first step. Then second step
38:08
again bringing in the solar panels. You just depend on others to produce the
38:14
green electricity. You have that untapped potential roof space whatever. Of course,
38:20
you can also be part of the solution and produce the electricity, the renewable
38:25
electricity, all right, now, that makes total sense. And so this
38:29
is a very strange aside, but that was one of my requirements when my
38:35
husband and I purchased a new house a few years ago. Solar panels are
38:38
not big on residential structures in the United States, or at least in our
38:43
area of it. They're not very popular, and a lot of it has
38:47
to do with aesthetics. Now, when we're talking about a large commercial property,
38:52
you know, on the roof, it doesn't matter, no one cares.
38:52
No one's coming into your building because they thought it was so pretty.
38:55
But when you're looking at a you know, an individual home for a person,
39:00
it looks different. And I insisted that our house face a certain direction
39:06
so that when and not if, but when we want to install solar panels,
39:10
and when it makes sense to do so, it would be on the
39:13
back of the house, so you don't see it from the front. And
39:16
some of my friends thought that that was just a ridiculous condition to put on,
39:22
you know, looking at real estate and considering which houses to buy,
39:24
and I thought, no, this is important to me that I need resale
39:28
value on a real estate investment, So obviously I don't necessarily want them on
39:32
the front elevation of the roof, but the back elevation, that's important to
39:37
me. That we could use that in order to you know, generate some
39:40
of our own electricity. Through a solar panel. So that's you'll find you
39:45
find And if I can add one thing which is crossed my mind, of
39:50
course, one of the other aspects which we're focusing on when we're looking at
39:53
warehousing is basically phasing out of fossil fuel consumption because if you're dependent on image
40:01
equipment which is still using patrol or diesel or whatever, there's no way to
40:09
reduce the emissions from that side. So phasing these out and use electrified image
40:16
outside of your warehouse. I hope you don't use them inside anyhow. And
40:22
again, if you think further, if you have a gas based heating,
40:27
of course you can also move towards electricity based heating and cooling. This again
40:32
has a requirement that electricity which is used is renewal, otherwise this move doesn't
40:37
make sense. And then there are so many there are a lot of cool
40:42
innovations on the market where you have certain insulation or cooling systems which are then
40:49
based on chemical, chemical and physical reactions and are not requiring any energy,
40:57
yeah, any external energy source to to power those those things. So do
41:02
you have a client use case or a story that you can share. Of
41:08
course, I mean it would be sad if I if I wouldn't have to
41:13
share anything being part of our center of excellence for sustainability. What do you
41:19
want to hear? Warehousing or transportation? You pick? Okay, I pick.
41:23
I think I'm going to pick warehousing because I think that was really interesting.
41:30
So this was for client who from consumer goods industry and with a lot
41:37
of warehouses around Europe. So we're talking about a few hundred warehouses and here,
41:43
and they approached us and say, okay, we want to make them
41:45
more green. And of course we can't just look at five hundred warehouses individually,
41:52
or we can, but it will take quite a lot long time and
41:55
they want to have some fast results. So what we did for them was,
42:00
first of all, of course, we had to understand the business,
42:04
how it worked for them. Operations are always a little bit different, especially
42:07
when you think about different countries, different climate zones in which these warehouses were
42:14
based and what they went through these warehouses or the products. But in the
42:20
end, what we did was we developed a methodology for the client to identify
42:27
for each of these five hundred warehouses, based on certain characteristics, what should
42:31
be the first priority steps to reduce emissions from these warehouses. So it really
42:39
was looking at some of those benchmarks and looking at different metrics for each of
42:44
those warehouses, rather than just saying, okay, you need solar panels on
42:46
every warehouse. That could be you know, expensive. With hundreds of warehouses
42:52
and all of those arrays and installation and maintenance, that's a huge deal.
42:58
So it comes down to the individual facility and knowing what to look out exactly.
43:04
But not in the part that we looked at every of these five hundred
43:07
warehouses individually. But we build up this methodology where this recommendation and I think
43:14
we included thirty different sustainable initiatives within warehousing, so where with the certain characteristics
43:22
when we need some input of course from each warehouse, but if they included,
43:28
they the recommendation comes out, Okay, what should be your first steps?
43:30
I mean, you don't probably don't need a lot of heating if you
43:35
have a warehouse in southern Spain, and then it's not a big deal to
43:39
move from gas based heating on electrified heating. You know, that's fantastic because
43:45
I know one of the one of the larger statements when it comes to sustainability
43:52
initiatives or green. You know, thinking is that you know, individuals.
43:57
My example about our own home, me use, seeing a solar panel on
44:00
my roof is going to make a very small dent in the overall electricity usage
44:05
in my community, But if large facilities do it and start doing it,
44:09
it's going to make a large impact. And so we need these large companies
44:14
to take the lead because they do utilize so many of these resources that we
44:20
have, and if they can make a change to make it more sustainable,
44:23
more carbon neutral, it's going to make a much larger impact than even if
44:28
my entire community, you know, were to put solar panels on our roof.
44:31
It's just a matter of scale, definitely. But I also have to
44:37
disagree in somewhere that that I think companies have to do it, but also
44:42
we ourselves. So I always say, be the change you want to see
44:45
in the world. So it's not just it is easy to say somebody else
44:51
has to do it for us. We also have to play all a part.
44:53
True, true, Yes, it does not absolve the individual of needing
44:59
to participate in these things. As you pointed out, there there are no
45:01
passengers on this planet, so we do need to do our part and we
45:07
need these companies to do their part as well, and I am so glad
45:12
that there are these types of initiatives in place because honestly, it fuels the
45:17
innovation and that is what is so exciting and interesting. We're not going to
45:22
find a one fixed all solution, so we need all those creative minds out
45:28
there thinking of new ways to be to be more sustainable, to be a
45:32
better steward for our planet, and to come up with better ideas to do
45:37
what we need to do and what we want to do and still be that
45:43
that leader of the change and the steward of our planet. Definitely well one
45:47
hundred percent the cree here. Thank you for joining me today. I hope
45:52
our listeners learned as much as I did, because I learned a lot today.
45:57
If any of our listeners out there have a suggestion for a topic or
46:00
would like to be a guest on this show, we'd love to hear from
46:04
you, please contact me at podcast at mebok dot com. As always,
46:08
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As always, thank you for listening to Speaking of Supply Chain. We'll
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be sure to tune in next time. Thanks for having me Ellen. Meebok
47:00
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