Economic Observation Network reporter Ye Xinran On July 29, on the occasion of the 2021 Earth Ecological Overload Day, Schneider Electric officially announced the supplier's "zero carbon plan". Green factories and green logistics have always been the focus of Schneider Electric's actions, but this time, Schneider Electric will expand the scope of "green" actions to extend to the end-to-end supply chain and promote the industrial chain to be green and sustainable.
Content of the Zero Carbon Initiative
Low-carbon actions are more controllable and feasible for companies themselves. However, at the larger supply chain level, how can we attract partner enterprises upstream and downstream of the supply chain to reach a consensus and then implement the concept?
Zhang Kaipeng, senior vice president of Schneider Electric and head of the global supply chain china region, said in an interview that first, Schneider Electric will take "sustainability" as one of the assessment conditions for upstream suppliers, and sign a commitment to sustainable development with major suppliers, if suppliers are not able to do carbon emission reduction in accordance with Schneider Electric's standards, they may not be able to enter the ranks of Schneider Electric's key suppliers; second, Schneider Electric has carried out sustainable, carbon neutral and related training among several major suppliers in the United Nations. Promote change from the level of awareness; the third is to empower customers, Schneider Electric through products, including digital systems, lean production systems, etc. to help energy-intensive factories transform, to achieve a safer and more efficient operating environment, "We will carry out pilots in the industry to solve pain points and needs, through the presentation of a model, call on everyone to make changes." ”
Zhang Kaipeng stressed that the reason why Schneider Electric wants to take "sustainability" as its main business is because only by integrating responsibility + main business can it be sustainable. For willing suppliers, Schneider Electric will explore deeper cooperation in the future with them, and for suppliers who have not yet changed their consciousness, they will give them goals, give them help, audit them, and let him see the economic value in it and help him transform.
Schneider Electric supplier "Zero Carbon Project" China launch ceremony
(Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee)
Schneider Electric's supplier "Zero Carbon Program" specifically refers to helping the world's top 1,000 major suppliers reduce the carbon emissions generated by their operations by 50% by 2025 by providing technical guidance and consulting services, including nearly 200 core suppliers in China.
It is reported that in the past three years, Schneider Electric has helped global suppliers reduce carbon emissions by more than 100,000 tons. Zhang Kaipeng pointed out that the carbon emissions of these 1,000 suppliers account for about 70% of the overall carbon emissions of Schneider Electric's supply chain, and the implementation of the "Zero Carbon Plan" is expected to bring about 35% carbon reduction to Schneider Electric's supply chain.
Moreover, Schneider Electric has incorporated green supply chains into its own carbon neutrality goals, committing to achieving carbon neutrality in end-to-end supply chains by 2040 and net zero carbon emissions at the supply chain operational level by 2050. The Supplier Zero Carbon Initiative, launched this time, is one of the actions to achieve carbon neutrality.
At present, Schneider Electric has achieved 29 "zero carbon plants" around the world, of which 12 are in China. What is a "zero carbon factory"? Zhang Kaipeng said that for the "zero carbon factory", there is no unified standard in the world, Schneider Electric is drawing on the internationally accepted net zero emission building (Net Zero CO2 building) standard, formulating its own definition and standard of "zero carbon factory", and regularly carrying out relevant audits and evaluations for its own factory.
According to reports, the audit of "zero carbon factory" covers several major aspects: First, the factory should use digital energy monitoring to achieve energy performance standards, and the factory must use clean energy and renewable energy to provide energy. The second is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as the use of Schneider Electric's leading sulfur hexafluoride-free (SF6-free) products. Third, in terms of energy supply, the use of natural gas and urban heating is not allowed. Fourth, net zero carbon emission buildings, in terms of factory buildings, factories are not allowed to complete the carbon emissions of energy consumption through CO2 offsetting, that is, carbon sinks or carbon certificates cannot be used to offset the carbon emissions of factory buildings.
The difficulty lies in the change of ideas
A recent survey by the Schneider Electric Institute for Business Value showed that about 80 percent of companies have observed or are concerned about carbon reduction pressures from their supply chains. However, for most small and medium-sized enterprises in the industrial chain, they are still worried about increasing operating costs in the low-carbon transition.
In this regard, Zhang Kaipeng pointed out that when it comes to carbon reduction, many companies will think of investment, for several reasons, one is that some suppliers do not understand this new name and new things, and may think that this is a huge investment, but it is not. Schneider Electric generally starts with updating the supplier's sustainable concept and promoting a change in their consciousness first; the second is to focus on a win-win situation, through practical solutions to let suppliers see that carbon reduction actions on the one hand are improving efficiency, on the other hand, they can also increase revenue. "The biggest difficulty is in the start- and in the transformation of conceptual consciousness. The problem is not in ability, but in consciousness. ”
Xia Xueying, director of corporate affairs and sustainable development at Schneider Electric, said that Schneider Electric has concluded from a lot of practical experience that carbon reduction actions are investment, not cost increases. "Our consulting and diagnostic team has recently helped some small and medium-sized enterprise customers to make diagnostics and found that they have many potential points for energy saving and energy efficiency. For example, not many companies are suitable for adding very advanced automation control robots, but by implementing lean production, rearranging the production line, and carrying out flexible production transformation, the production capacity can be greatly increased. We have many practices and cases to prove that for small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development can achieve a win-win economic and social benefit, rather than a simple cost. ”
Take Schneider Electric's logistics center in Shanghai, for example, which has achieved green goals through a variety of initiatives. Covering an area of 22,000 square meters, Schneider Electric Shanghai Logistics Center is the company's largest logistics center in China, accounting for 60%-70% of Schneider Electric China's business. For logistics centers, the "big household" of energy consumption is the consumption on the packaging. In this regard, Schneider Electric focused on research and development of coping technologies.
According to the person in charge of the Shanghai Logistics Center of Schneider Electric (China) Co., Ltd., Schneider Electric has developed a pre-packaging intelligent algorithm to improve the utilization rate of packaging boxes. The system will calculate the boxes that the pickers need to be equipped with according to the volume of the products in the customer's order, how many large boxes and how many small boxes are needed, and the system will inform the staff in advance. It is reported that this algorithm makes the utilization rate of each box reach more than 80%, which not only reduces the consumption of the box, but also reduces the use of bubble filler and damage in transportation.
Leverage algorithms to improve box utilization
Moreover, the system is able to optimize orders by consolidating orders from the same shipping address for customers at different time periods, so that pickers can combine multiple scattered boxes into larger boxes. The person in charge pointed out that this not only improves efficiency, but also facilitates customer receipt, improves customer satisfaction, and reduces the occupation of transportation resources and the waste of environmental resources.
Xia Xueying said that Schneider Electric's green and sustainable action is to do things at both ends of the equation at the same time, one is the practitioner, who is doing well enough; the other is the enabler, helping customers, suppliers, and partners to move towards carbon neutrality together.
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