A Low-Code Building Block Approach for ESG & Sustainability Software Applications in Manufacturing.
Sustaira Founder and CEO, Vincent de la Mar, recently spoke at the Mendix Manufacturing Forum about how a building block approach to Sustainability and ESG can solve the most common challenges we are seeing within manufacturing. Today we want to recap what Vince went over at the forum for those who missed it.
Why Sustainability in Manufacturing Matters:
When talking about Sustainability and ESG in manufacturing it’s important to keep in mind just how cross functional and dynamic Sustainability and ESG is. This is one of the few topics that transcends all areas and roles within a business regardless of industry. From operations, to supply chain, to IT, even to sales and marketing. Sustainability and ESG is impacting each and every role in some way.
This impact is highlighted by the changing requirements we are seeing across the globe. Policies from The SEC regulations to the EU taxonomy, even to new announcements regarding ISSB, and more. These requirements put pressure on IT to explore new software, R&D to look into new practices, and a level of transparency within supply chains that hasn't been explored much until now. Transition then to customers and employees demanding transparency and making employment and buying decisions based off of the answers organizations can supply. Last but not least, executive level roles, board members, investors are more and more focused on risk. Risk being one of the biggest drivers of sustainability and ESG as it’s deeply tied to the bottom line.
ESG & Sustainability Challenges in Manufacturing:
Ultimately as we explore sustainability and ESG in manufacturing we find that these challenges we see are in fact a digital issue that innovative technology and software can solve. At Sustaira, the core of the platform is dedicated to solving the most common challenges seen in Sustainability and ESG as a whole. These challenges include the following:
Sustainability/ESG data is siloed inside and outside the organization
No easy and efficient way to aggregate and manage the data online
Too many manual processes and excel spreadsheets: error prone
Lack of a centralized data hub and single source of truth
Inefficient reporting internally and externally
Difficult to demonstrate the impact
Once a year reporting versus real time and ongoing insights
Lack of transparency in the supply chain and product-lifecycle
Incapable to turn insights into measurable actions
No real way to track progress and results based on set goals
Unable to engage employees around sustainability
Hard to keep up with constantly changing requirements
When looking specifically at Manufacturing, we see those same core challenges along with even more that are more specialized for this industry. As Vince outlined a the forum, three specific challenges seen in manufacturing include the following:
Sustainability/ESG data being siloed, including Scope 3 complexity and the lack of supply chain transparency;
Inefficient disclosures and reporting, incl. waste and localization needs;
Incapability to turn insights into measurable actions, including design decision impact and the circular economy.
Addressing challenge one, Scope 3 across all industries is seen as challenging to navigate. As we explore manufacturing it can become even more complicated due to the innate amount of waste and water used, but also due to the fact that there are often many stakeholders involved in these processes from suppliers all the way to distribution channels. Visibility and understanding of the supply chain is now a requirement, not a nice to have. With the complexity of scope 3, it can be even harder to gain that insight and transparency.
This then pairs with inefficient disclosures and reporting. The less insight and transparency you have, the less effective and accurate your reporting and disclosures will be. Let alone considering the likely manual lift to aggregate the data all together. This is paired with the fact that as countries and legislation across the board become more and more concerned with Sustainability and ESG we see an uptake in climate or sustainability related policy. With these new policies in place, organizations now have to adapt and report in order to be compliant. Compliance can be anything from reporting scope 1 and 2 emissions data to diving into categories of scope 3 and the social and governance side of ESG as well. Failure to do so often results in fines or other penalties.
And lastly, with the complexity paired with lacking or manual reporting, you manufacturers are struggling to turn the insights they do gather into measurable actions. This includes tackling things like increasing operational efficiency, shifting processes to produce less waste, or even things such as circular economy. Creating products that can be reused over and over.
The Solution:
The solution to all these challenges translates to needing a flexible, open, customizable solution that can connect with a wide variety of data sources, and that be rapidly tailored or changed to fit each organization as well as any changing goals or policies. This is where the Sustaira ESG and Sustainability Application Platform truly shines. Leveraging Siemens’ leading low-code platform Mendix, Sustaira combines the speed of an off the shelf solution with the flexibility and made-to-fit feel of a totally custom application because of a smart, low-code, building block approach.
Using this low-code approach, Sustaira has pre-built application templates or building blocks within and between all domains of goals, actions, etc. All Sustaira applications or solutions are meant to be a starting point that you then expand on, customize, and add to at any time. This allows you to implement a solution sooner, with the flexibility of customization to ensure that whatever you do adopt, completely fits your needs now, and has the option to grow and change with you as those needs or requirements change.
Overview of Sustaira:
The best way to explain what Sustaira offers is through the Sustaira Sustainability Circle. At its most basic, think of Sustaira and this entire circle as a layer of applications and software that fits an organization's goals or initiatives, and it sits on top of the current systems - not as a replacement - but as a way to bring everything together.
At Sustaira we believe that sustainability goes beyond just reporting, or just energy tracking. It’s a journey that includes goal setting, data aggregation and awareness, taking action, Seeing the results and rewards of those actions, and of course the ever important digital reporting piece. Within and between each of these areas we have created these “building block” applications that solve the common challenges we see within each of these areas. Sustaira calls these Building Block applications for a very specific reason - these are core building blocks where what you see isn't JUST what you get. It's your starting point, the core framework that we then customize and tailor to each individual need.
As you’ll notice, all of Sustaira sits on top of existing core systems. When talking about manufacturing, this would be a smart layer on top of perhaps a PLM system. Here we show, Siemens Teamcenter. Teamcenter is their PLM system, but this platform doesn't discriminate. Sustaira can connect with a wide variety of core systems such as Autodesk Dassault Systemes, PTC and many others. A huge strength of this platform is how open and extensible it is. allowing Sustaira not to replace your core systems, but to have an agile, smart app layer on top that expands upon them. Typically doing this through API integrations or web services.
Think of Sustaira applications as your accelerator. Adopt the out-of-the box features and functionality, understanding that you can add or shift functionality, build integrations and make the application your own so it can fit the needs of today, and grow with the needs that may come tomorrow. These applications are building blocks to get you started.
Others who have taken a low-code building block approach to Sustainability and ESG
Other organizations including manufacturing and logistics company Logistick Inc., Xavier University of Louisiana, and Siemens Canada have all used this building block approach with Sustaira to solve the challenges we have outlined here today.
Xavier University needed a way to not only aggregate their sustainability data, but to be able to clearly track progress, goals and KPI, and share those results. The ultimate goal is to build awareness across not only campus faculty and staff, but the student body as well.
“Right now, the Sustaira Goals and KPI Tracker is making sustainability visible across Xavier. This application gives us all of that, and it integrates with our existing systems, specifically the Energy Star Portfolio Manager and proves that what we're doing is working.”
Logistick faced a challenge that many organizations struggle with today. With a growing list of goals and metrics to track around sustainability and ESG, they were stuck with manual processes and Excel spreadsheets.
“Sustaira is great, and very user-friendly. It’s a platform any organization can utilize to improve stewardship and sustainable practices in terms of: Carbon Accounting, metric tracking, action items tracking, footprint calculators and educational resources.”
Siemens Canada faced a unique challenge that required a unique solution. They were looking for a way where they could implement technology in a non-profitable way, that would show benefits within the sustainability sector by showcasing the sustainable differences between fossil fuel and renewable energy resources. You can read more about these customer cases, here.
Going forward:
Like Xavier or Logistick you may start with the Goals and KPI Tracker app now, and in a year move on to Carbon Accounting or Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Perhaps like Siemens Canada you’ll need something totally custom. Wherever you may be in your journey, Sustaira is here to support you. To learn more and explore our menu of applications head to this link: https://www.sustaira.com/menu-of-solutions
Sustainability starts with Sustaira, will you join the journey?
