SC&B Blog 2022

The objectives of green supply chain management sync an organizations aspiration to scale their production by lining up their sustainability principles.

Paris Agreement. Energy Community of Southeast Europe. Kyoto Protocol.

All the above terms have one thing in common. All the agreements & pacts are driven by a singular cause of the practices across global industrial applications. To set some context, let’s look at the following text by the UN.

Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.080C every decade, and since 1981 the rate has been twice as high.

While this is a matter of concern on a large scale, considering the feasibility of our planet for generations inhabiting the blue sphere, there’s a silver lining that promises that the cause is finding its takers through tech advancement & concerned stakeholders (consumers). And one of the pillars witnessing a complete overhaul for improving the environment is the supply & demand leg of industries.

With green supply chain management, companies now better understand their GHG emissions. Conglomerates are now well aware of the methods which lead to their carbon footprint reduction and waste minimization while being in tandem with energy efficiency protocols & sustainable sourcing approaches. But before diving in, let’s first define the green supply chain.

Every organization is dependent on its supply chain processes from procurement to delivery. A green supply chain has the same framework but with sustainable practices adopted at every stage.

The techniques can involve advanced technology keeping track of carbon emissions across every step of the supply chain or applying basic practical approaches like using renewable material for packaging, which has zero impact on the planet. The notion of green supply chain management is to ensure that the organization across scale has metrics for better performance which drives their growth without any detrimental impact on the planet.

And, to stand true to sustainability principles, a green value chain should come good on certain objectives which cover the outlines of an economic, social & environmentally aware process.

Implementing the latest technologies lays down the framework for a value chain to be more intelligent, intuitive, and proactive to mitigate any potential bottleneck. Let’s reflect on the crucial pointers that fall under the umbrella of green supply chain objectives.

• Reducing GHG Emissions: The virtue of implementing a green value chain is its ability to keep track of its GHG footprint. With scope emissions duly recorded, companies are now informed of the damaging impact their upstream and downstream process might have had on the planet's well-being. Organizations have adopted intelligent methods and tech stacks to make their end-to-end functioning more accountable and environmentally responsible.

• Using Renewable Resources: The traditional methods have resulted in elevenfold GHG emissions since 1961. Such alarming rates are a cause of concern, and much of it is attested to the usage of fossil fuels across the stages of supply chain activities. Management nowadays actively seeks renewable resources like solar & electrical energy, which are 100% efficient in their application and are accurate to the norms of decarbonization in every aspect of their usage.

• Waste Minimization: Improper management of industrial waste has been detrimental to the earth's natural depletion; with harmful chemicals left untreated by the organization, the flora & fauna stand to be in the line of fire due to the dated supply chain modus operandi. One of the crucial overhauls with green supply chain mechanism was that its residual impact was minimal to zero, aiding conglomerates to manage their industrial wastage programs better. This involves adopting production methods that generate minimal residue and opting for biodegradable packaging material to minimize the wastage at the consumer end when the final goods are delivered.

• Sustainable Sourcing: In simple words, a supply chain is a collaborative functionality with various stakeholders working towards a singular cause. One such vital cog is selecting suppliers who are equally on page with the enterprise's goal of sustainable sourcing practices. With conscious suppliers on board, a company can see an expansion of its corporate responsibility through its vendor management programs that second ethics & process that benefits the environment and are socially relevant for the foreseeable future. The baseline is to sideline any risks that impact the well-being of our habitat.

• Compliance with Environment Regulations: With the global environment conventions dialogue seeing its translation to actions, governments across demography have designed environmental regulations to ensure that companies adhere to laws put in place to keep their value chain activities from negatively impacting the ecosystem. A green supply chain safeguards both the planet and its residents by being proactive in its optimized implementation and being transparent with the actual numbers representing the actual process.

• Risk Mitigation: Supply chain tech, with its intuitive and collaborative functioning, aids management to be more adept at making fail-proof strategies that align the revenue-generating model to weather any unwarranted scenarios occurring due to market volatility. A green value chain takes it a step further as its non-dependence on traditional methods makes it immune to market fluctuation, raw material unavailability, price hikes, etc., thus making the organization well-positioned to make the most of the market opportunities.

• Transparency and Accountability: The objectives of green supply chain management underline the importance of a supply & demand process to be mindful of their carbon footprint. And that is where the inception of machine learning has evolved the once-dated practices into a self-reliant one where automated processes keep track of every scope emission involved in the value chain. With reliable & correct numbers available, management can empower itself to make more sustainably driven informed decisions that keep the interest of the general public & a company's revenue goals aligned. Having transparency in one's framework also allows enterprises to be more vocal about their initiatives to make the planet more habitable. It also proves to be a great connection with the target group as they, too, look to associate themselves with an environmentally conscious brand.

Opening up avenues that keep the best interests of nature & its inhabitants aligned, a green supply chain benefits focuses on creating a more sustainable work order for an enterprise without compromising its revenue goals. With the end-to-end supply chain process engaging best practices for the betterment of the world, it is safe to say that technology, with its wide-scale application, is the answer for industries to course correct themselves for a greener future.

 The importance of sales forecasting powers an organization’s collaborative efforts across the supply chain and enhances efficient workflow across production, marketing, sales, and logistics – leading to better scalability & revenue prospects. 

A business, irrespective of its scale, needs a plan to ensure smooth operations from the planning stages to real-time execution. All the storyboarding from management leads to one consequential goal, which drives the fate of the enterprise. And that is revenue generation. And good revenue is achievable through good sales – for which forecasting plays an irreplaceable role in allowing businesses to plan for seasonal demands, positioning them to make the most of the market opportunities. When sales forecasting is taken into consideration, an organization comes true to the request of the users, subsequently boosting the customer satisfaction & retention rate, in the process, building itself as a brand that edges out its competitors.

Most importantly, sales forecasting powers an organization's collaborative efforts across production, marketing, sales, and logistics so that all factions contribute to the singular goal of ticking off better numbers with each quarter furthering the enterprise's growth across demographics. A company can achieve its desired targets by implementing sales forecasting software which helps the management make better-informed decisions through an advanced machine learning stack courtesy of the application. The tech interface makes the most of your historical operational data to showcase a quantitative approach toward the end-to-end supply chain process. This includes overlooking resource allocation, scaling up business operations, and enhancing infrastructure, among others, to ensure no missteps in planning stages hurt the company's expansion. 

 Why Sales Forecasting is Important?

With the context set, let's dive into the pointers covering the importance of sales forecasting, making it an indispensable asset to supply chain management.

• Demand Forecasting: Organizations need to be up to speed with their demand forecasting process to plan the production levels of a manufacturing unit consistently to match the targeted user group's requirements. While managing spreadsheet holding manual data by stakeholders is both time-consuming & error-prone to finalize accurate demand for the future, a sales forecasting module can ease all the hard yards by accounting for previous operational data with its automated machine learning process. Such an upgrade of tech infrastructure helps an enterprise get precise metrics concerned with their sales and place it well to make the most of the retail opportunities. Such astute forecasting tech positions perfect sync with future production & inventory keeping, prepping a supply chain management to be well-set for a conglomerate’s long-term goals.

• Financial Planning: With the quantitative analysis done for the potential future sales, the next step is to finalize the working capital so that the process runs smoothly during its execution. When laying out the foreseeable demand, sales forecasting software enables businesses to gauge how much money the operations will require to see a valid success rate or to run a campaign generating new customer acquisitions. With key performance indicators for sales identified, management can have a thorough insight into its quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly profit and loss statement, further providing a roadmap that provides complete transparency across the factions of the value chain.

• Resource Allocation: Being a collaborative effort, a supply chain must ensure its framework toward the definite target is as straightforward as possible. And, to ensure the timely completion of work, it becomes more imperative that managers & respective stakeholders align the required workforce to ensure that the production timeline is easily met. The principle of resource allocation is to achieve the laid-out plans under the prerequisite factors of time, equipment, workforce & money available. Supply chain planning software focuses on the current workload to anticipate how the existing infrastructure will cope with the demand and suggests management if any upgradation is required. An accountable resource allocation courtesy of a forecasting process is ideal for maximum productivity.

• Sales and Marketing Strategies: When management decides its production, it also includes the period for which the sales are targeted. Such a timeline is usually finalized by studying the buying patterns of consumers in recent times. The stakeholders then decide on promotional activities and marketing strategies to ensure a maximum conversion rate. If a company fails to make the most of the customer demands due to lack of production, much of it will be tagged to the lack of research when it comes to studying market trends & customer behavior. Something that can be quickly sidelined with the use of demand analysis software.

• Risk Management: When all the planning is said & done, an SCM gets ready with an action plan but not without accounting for potential risk scenarios simulations. Risk in the supply chain is a possibility even though its probability might rank low, considering an exemplary supply chain operation. With data intelligence at the helm of proactive decision-making, an advanced tool mitigates the risk of taking a punt based on a stakeholder's hunch. It helps keep other risk factors in check, accounting for external factors (inflation, weather challenges) & internal factors (lack of skilled workforce, financial requirements).

• Decision Making: Aligning all the departments with the guidelines meant to achieve, the biggest win that underlines the importance of sales forecasting is all the pillars of an organization are on the same page with cohesive action contributing towards revenue generation. This includes personnel from marketing, finance, production & even human resources having their tasks cut out, eventually powering collaboration to maximize the potential market opportunity for an organization furthering its quest for a solid target user share.

With the above parameters set, a company sets itself up for maximum brand performance across the demography while catering to diverse users who preside in it and subsequently resting out the queries concerning “why sales forecasting is important.” With a business showcasing its quantitative edge with a sales forecasting process, it infuses itself with market intelligence & operational intuitiveness that position it as one of the key players in the industry.