GINES VADILLO PIQUERES c7278007 BUSI773 - Green Supply Chain Management - 13985 - AUT - 202110 Exam 10th January (10:00-13:00) 1.Analyse the key technologies used by the case company and suggest new pathways and/or technologies that can enhance green supply chain practices? Omnichannel retailing, use of technologies by Morrisons. Morrisons main technologies are based on its digitising. They are making easy, accessible, and convenient services for customers. This company started a trial for using Scan and Go app, which makes the checkout quickie as easy for the customer. This technology can make packing materials reduction. (Digital receipts, Click and collect). Additionally, Morrison has implemented test digital shelf edge labels, which will automate price changes helping the business to be more lean, being able to work with simple software. This also will affect to the reduction of labels printing, providing a great carbon footprint reduction for the one-use paper as making easier the daily prices update for the workers. Another point is the investment in automation and robotics for production lines and grading technology. This is improving product flow and raw material yield, removing repetitive manual tasks that brings a more efficient supply chain that has a low food waste due to the precise technology. Moreover, in distribution they have increased the use of technology in their depots. This will directly benefit the use and transport utilisation that will reduce packaging what affects also to the green policy of this supermarket. Furthermore, during 2020 they introduced shelf-edge technology to around 200 of the stores – this technology draws cold-air back into the fridge and helps reduce electricity consumption. This a great improvement in the efficient use of electricity. A good way of making more efficient the supply chain in a green way is the Building Management System, which controls the use of electricity and gas associated with heating and ventilation. Finally, they are installing a ‘heat harvest’ technology, which uses heat from the refrigeration to provide hot water in store. This will help with the reduction in gas consumption also. My main recommendations are in relation with lack of reverse logistics technology in this company. First of all, the packaging management. This type of reverse logistics focuses on reuse of packing materials to reduce waste and the disposal. Morrisons could use this to get closer to the reduction to zero usage of one-use plastics. Nevertheless, this is not only about the customers, but this would also affect to the supplier’s policy, where reverse logistics for unsold goods handles returns from retailers to manufacturers or distributors. These types of returns can be due to poor sales, inventory obsolescence or a delivery refusal, that are the main approachable challenges for green supply chain technology. 2. Critically discuss the case company’s approach to managing the selected product or service’s life cycle and suggest how they can further reduce environmental impact. Morrisons says that are making their best efforts to reduce waste. However, there are still steps ahead to minimise it. They follow some strategies like investing in tools to increase forecasting accuracy or ordering only what they think we can sell and. I think that this is really important for the life cycle analysis of a food retailer, the products they manage have a really short life use and needs to be well manage reduce the food waste. They are already working with food reduction apps like Too Good To Go where they have sold over 100,000 ‘Magic Bags’, this saved almost 100 tonnes of food from being wasted in 2020. They also mention the need of methods for fresh food, this will be carried out through the ‘Unsold Food’ programme, where their stores are empowered to give surplus food to local causes or like sending it to anaerobic digestion to generate renewable energy. I suggest that they should also think about the food that has being sold on date, but the customers haven’t used and went out of date. This is another aspect of reverse logistics that could be implemented. A new method where following examples like the IKEA case study, at the end of use or life, the product comes back to the retailer and the company manages to give it another use, making greener the life cycle. 3. Critically evaluate the role of the case company’s suppliers in reducing case company’s environmental footprint? Morrisons has set a target to reach Net Zero emissions by 2040 as the best way to reduce their carbon footprint. To reach this they are stopping the emission of greenhouse gases. To get to these zero direct emissions they are transforming their stores or vehicles on the road. Good improvements like use of electric transportation or LED installation as the previously mention, the heat harvest’ technology. Morrisons is also running a five Megawatts of onsite solar power installed across 28 sites. They are also looking forward to the production of energy enough for the electricity needs of the shops, transportation vehicles and other energy needs. They are also undertaking a number of activities designed to reduce distance travelled and fuel consumed while delivering to our store’s logistics division. This includes careful scheduling to minimise mileage, longer semi-trailers, and using vehicle telematics systems to encourage drivers to reduce harsh braking, acceleration, and engine idling time. Finally, about farming, Morrisons have committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2030. This will cover products from the UK farmers sourced directly for their own brand products in beef, pork, lamb, potatoes, and eggs. This last environmental footprint aspect is important because the emission of this products have been challenging for big companies to reduce as the production is huge. My evaluation from Morrisons future plans and ongoing strategies to reduce the environmental footprint is that their taking it seriously as we can see by the emission targets that they have for the 2030 and 2040. I believe that will be a great achievement if they get to these zero emissions by then because its big size. It will also affect indirectly to other retailers and suppliers as these new methods will be used by them and the customer will consider following a greener company policy for the carbon footprint. 5. Analyse how case company is structured to meet its environmental sustainability objectives? What more governance measures and metrics can be put in place to ensure that case company can diffuse green practices across its value chain? As we have mention before, Morrisons take in seriously way the green measure for their next decades. They have set two targets for the years 2030 and 2040 that will force the whole Morrisons structure for a change to be zero emissions in a quick way. This structure to meet international agreements, like the EU 2030 agenda, makes Morrison look like a company with strong environmental sustainability objectives. However, there are still many steps ahead to get closer to the zero emissions, I believe that short term metrics should be utilised for making sure that the company is doing well on the way to reach these objectives by the 2030 and 2040. Yearly revisions of its green transformation could be made to assure this. Moreover, they should also think about the scope three for the carbon footprint. As there are many plans ongoing to improve Morrisons retailer procedures but there are not many plans to enhance and encourage their suppliers like farmers to move into a better environmental performance. They could follow strategies for this like the selection of greenest suppliers for their business, or the economic benefits for the ones that follow the best green policy.
