How to Upgrade Your Supply Chain to Save Money (And the Environment)

As businesses strive to become more sustainable, one of the biggest hiccups is, by far, their supply chain. There are many players and red tape needed to take materials and turn them into products that are then sent to your customers, and with all, that hassle comes cost – and that’s when you cut corners for the environment. The good news, however, is that upgrading your supply chain to be more sustainable can save you money, meaning you can do better for yourself and the environment. Not sure how? Consider these top ways to upgrade your supply chain today.

• Adopt Regenerative Practices

Regenerative practices and design is the simple concept of leaving the world better than how you entered it. If every business used regenerative principles at its core, businesses wouldn’t take from the Earth, they would help the planet flourish. Now, regenerative systems may seem like they cost more, but that’s just the upfront cost. If businesses don’t adopt regeneration as a core principle, resources are only going to get more scarce, and with that scarcity comes skyrocketing costs. 

• Streamline Packaging to Reduce Volume and Weight

Another way to upgrade your supply chain and help the environment and yourself is to streamline your packaging to reduce the volume and weight of your shipments. By using lightweight materials and reducing the size of your packaging, you can reduce the amount of space your products take up during shipping. This can help reduce transportation costs and lower your carbon footprint. Additionally, by reducing the amount of packaging you use, you can reduce waste and associated costs.

• Use a Sustainable Shipping Management Company

Using a sustainable shipping management company can help businesses reduce their environmental impact and save money. These companies specialize in finding the most sustainable and cost-effective shipping methods for businesses, such as using electric trucks or optimizing shipping Seafreight routes to reduce carbon emissions. By working with a sustainable shipping management company, businesses can reduce their carbon emissions outright and do better for the environment by supporting carbon capture initiatives that help make every product shipped carbon-neutral.  

• Use AI to Minimize Unsold Stock

Unsold stock is a nightmare for you and for the planet. Unsold stock not only takes up valuable storage space but also leads to wasted resources and increased carbon emissions from shipping and production. Think there’s no other option? Think again. AI can analyze decades worth of information and help you better forecast demand so you can minimize unsold stock and reduce waste. This can help improve the efficiency of the supply chain, save you money by avoiding building and shipping stock no one wants, and reduces your environmental impact all at once. 

• Create Products with Circularity in Mind to Reuse Materials

Finally, creating products with circularity in mind can help businesses reduce waste and create a more sustainable supply chain. Circular products are designed to be reused or recycled rather than thrown away after a single use. By designing products with circularity in mind, businesses can reduce waste and improve their sustainability. You can often get these materials back for free, and since they’re already at their target destination, you can cut down on shipping costs.

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