Tapping supply chain execution apps for carbon insights

While several new software vendors have arisen around enterprise carbon accounting and carbon management, established supply chain management (SCM) software vendors also are in the mix when it comes to carbon management. With SCM apps, those with an “execution” bent tend to have an inherently strong tie to carbon trends.

In particular, supply chain execution (SCE) software vendors who offer transportation management and warehouse management functionality have a close tie to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because those apps are used to plan and manage the movement of goods. Wouldn’t it be something if SCE vendors did more to give users some decision support tools to tap all that execution data to spot useful emissions trends? It turns out that RedPrairie, one of the largest SCE vendors, is doing just that by adding emissions dashboard functionality to its “Performance Management” set of business intelligence (BI) capabilities.

According to John Russo, VP of Performance Management for RedPrairie, the emissions dashboard captures trends gleaned from transportation management data such as which routes and modes of transportation are being used. By looking at factors such as the type of trucks used for routes, the dashboard can display some carbon trends, he says. “The analysis could show the carbon impact of choosing one type of truck versus another, and look at trends such as emissions per pound of product shipped,” he says.

The dashboard would use averages from vehicle manufacturers or carriers for emissions per mile, rather than real-time communication with trucks on the road, says Russo. But when such averages are pegged to an enterprise’s real execution data, he adds, “it provides a way to look at carbon trends over a period of time.”

The emission dashboard will be part of the next release of RedPrairie Performance Management, due out in September, says Russo. The trends will focus first on transportation data, though in the future, data from warehouse management could provide a foundation for calculating the carbon impact of lift trucks use and other types of material movements within the four walls of distribution centers and warehouses. But since the big fossil fuel impact is on the open road, the dashboard will concentrate on transportation-related emissions first. Some users have expressed interest in an emissions dashboard, but there are no early customers to announce, says Russo.

The development of an emissions dashboard from an SCE vendor goes to show the range of vendors increasingly involved with carbon management. Manufacturing intelligence and plant automation software vendors have a natural tie to emissions trends from plant processes and equipment, while SCE vendors have a close tie to GHG emissions from the movement of goods. Then there are vendors who offer network design and supply network optimization tools. It all goes to show that addressing the carbon management challenge is not just a matter of looking at what the ERP software giants have to offer, or the more specialist start-ups. There is a pretty broad spectrum of software vendors who are working on ways to help manage carbon emissions.