12
| P2P Magazine | Autumn 2015
01732 759725
PROCUREMENT
become key to staying competitive.
By identifying key performance
indicators (KPIs) and checks,
procurement teams can be confident
that their efforts are contributing to
on-going reductions in carbon emissions.
It also allows them to report accurately
on progress and persuade those at board
level of the significance of this focus.
Such an approach helps incorporate
sustainable procurement into the overall
culture of an organisation and minimises
the risk of it being merely for show.
Continuous reviews
Maintaining a sustainable supply chain
is always going to be a challenge,
particularly for large businesses.
Using the performance checkpoints
outlined above will ensure that your
supply networks are, at the very least,
monitored every year and that approved
vendors provide sufficient value.
Businesses shouldn’t be afraid to seek
further consolidation in the supply chain.
Any supplier has a responsibility to tailor
its service to the needs of customers or
risk losing out to the competition.
Becoming more sustainable is not
just an ethical obligation; it can also help
you maintain a competitive advantage.
For example, consolidating your supplier
pool so that fewer deliveries are made
and ‘green’ alternatives are sourced where
possible can reduce your environmental
impact and save money.
Ignoring the growing importance of
sustainable business practice is no longer
an option.
Tailor sustainability to
meet business specifics
It can be all too easy to jump on the
bandwagon when it comes to reducing
a commercial carbon footprint
through procuring products with
green credentials.
However, knee-jerk reactions are
never ideal, and to maximise the impact
of sustainable procurement it is vital
to establish a firm framework of the
potential savings that can be made in
line with a wider sustainability strategy,
as well as a timeline of progress.
Lay the right foundations
The supply chain can make up a significant
proportion of a business’s carbon
footprint. It is therefore important to
quantify how much of an overall impact
your business has on the environment
and, where possible, to make changes to
the procurement process accordingly.
Before putting checks and controls in
place to improve the green credentials of
the supply chain, your business’s overall
sustainability strategy and objectives
must be checked. Setting measurable
targets can help you benchmark success
and ensure progress doesn’t slip.Without
aligning tactical efforts to an overall
strategy, efforts can become disjointed
and fragmented.
Consolidate your supply chain
Buyers within your business should first
examine the way in which goods and
services are procured and the number of
suppliers used.
Failure to address this can have a
negative impact on procurement costs
and prevent you from streamlining
the number of deliveries being made.
Using suppliers that can source multiple
categories of products and services
locally will enable you to reduce the
supply chain’s environmental impact
and drive cost savings.
When looking to consolidate
a supplier network, buyers should
identify companies with an eco-friendly
approach to business, for example
ones that position sustainable product
choices more readily than competitors
or are forward thinking in how they
make deliveries. Your buyers must be
ready to challenge suppliers about their
approach and seek alternatives to any
that aren’t prepared to adapt their
service to suit your requirements.
Ensuring efforts are in line with
industry standards
Sustainable business is far more than
a box-ticking exercise. Instead, it has
Nigel Crunden, business specialist at Office Depot, argues that there
is more to sustainability than just buying green products
Nigel Crunden,
business specialist,
Office Depot
Take care when buying printer consumables, warns KYOCERA
KYOCERA Document Solutions is urging
businesses to take greater care with printer
cartridge procurement following evidence that
the company’s growing success in the UK is
attracting the attention of compatible supplies
manufacturers and counterfeiters.
Jonathan Robbins, consumables & spares
manager at KYOCERA Document Solutions, told
PrintIT Reseller
magazine that about 10% of the
consumables used in KYOCERA devices are now
compatibles made by third party manufacturers and remanufacturers.
End users use compatible supplies to save money, but Robbins
warns doing so could be a false economy. He cites research by TUV
Rheinland comparing the performance of KYOCERA devices fitted with
genuine supplies to those using compatibles.
“The machines fitted with compatibles had a number of problems:
some actually caused damage – one third party toner damaged
four developer units in two printers; three out of four compatible
toners caused machine downtime, compared to none of the genuine
cartridges; third party supplies produced up to 73% more waste toner;
and there were up to nine times more non-usable prints when using
compatibles,” he said.
For Robbins, these findings highlight the fact that using cheap third
party supplies could end up costing more in the long-term.
He adds that users of genuine supplies with an eye for a bargain
should also take care when buying consumables. In particular, they
should steer clear of offers that look too good to be true as they are
likely to be counterfeit supplies.
“Compatibles are made legitimately and they have the
manufacturer’s name on the packaging. However, a counterfeit toner
is made to look genuine. The box will look exactly the same as genuine
consumables; it will have the KYOCERA name on it and KYOCERA toner
codes. People buy counterfeit toner because they see an advert for
genuine consumables at a very low cost, but anything could be inside
the toner. Some we’ve analysed have contained charcoal and iron filings.
Just think of the damage that would do to your machine,” he said.
Jonathan Robbins
