Vital stats: GXS and Verizon tackle eco-friendly trade
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/18/2008 8:58:00 PM
Supply chain automation has many benefits—particularly in cutting down on paper-based transactions.
In fact, each electronic document sent via GXS Trading Grid, a B2B integration services platform powered by Verizon Business Managed Network Services, represents a paper document that no longer has to be printed, enveloped, or delivered.
The process of making paper uses wood, energy, fresh water, and chemicals.
GXS processes more than four billion electronic transactions per year. Assuming one transaction represents two sheets of paper, the potential paper savings generated by companies currently using GXS services equates to:
• 223 million pounds of CO2, the equivalent of taking 22,820 cars off the road for a year or reducing gasoline consumption by 42 million gallons each year;
• 132 thousand tons of wood, saving the equivalent of 912,000 trees;
• 1.5 trillion BTUs of total energy consumption, the equivalent of that consumed by 16,496 homes per year; and
• 745 million gallons of water, the equivalent of filling 1,129 swimming pools.
More important is the potential for environmental benefits if each of the estimated 40 billion B2B transactions undertaken worldwide each year were automated. The environmental impact would be equivalent to saving:
• 2.3 billion pounds of CO2, the equivalent of taking 206,672 cars off the road for a year or reducing gasoline consumption by 434 million gallons or 8.9 million barrels of oil;
• 1,386,667 tons of wood, the equivalent of 9.6 million trees;
• 15.3 million BTUs of total energy consumption, the equivalent of about 168,633 homes per year;
• 7.6 billion gallons of wastewater, the equivalent of about 11,553 swimming pools; and 911 million pounds of solid waste, the equivalent of about 32,548 garbage trucks.
“B2B e-commerce solutions can have a very powerful positive bottom-line impact for businesses and the environment,” says Steve Kiefer, VP of industry and product marketing at GXS. “There is a perception that environmental responsibility costs money. While that may be true in some cases, the benefits of supply chain automation include both cost-efficiency and energy-efficiency. Social responsibility also can increase corporate productivity, profits, and public reputation.”
Supply chain automation also can yield financial savings for customers. According to Boston-based Aberdeen Group, for a company that processes 500,000 invoices per year, the cost to process a manual invoice can be reduced by 60 percent or more when automation is implemented. Companies can realize even greater savings and reduced environmental impact by automating other supply chain documents such as purchase orders, payments, and advanced ship notices.
Environmental impact estimates were made by GXS using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator. Additional gallons of gasoline calculations were made by GXS using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
