Integrated Circular Supply Chain Management

Sustainability has been a buzz word in every discussion on all forums for many years now. Recently, the discussions around sustainability have become loud as well. With the drastic changes to climate pattern, accelerated depletion of natural resources, increasing costs of doing business, all eyes, noses, ears, eyebrows turn towards a much under rated bunch of people that business professionals refer to as supply chain people. But the funny thing is that the supply chain fraternity have been working on sustainability and process optimization in form or the other long before these buzz words started trending and hash-tagging.

Circular Supply Chain (Fig 1) is an amazing concept of sustainable supply chain sustainability through which it opens the possibility for an organization to revisit it’s linear and traditional supply chain and identify the avenues of recycling and reusing the waste and thus reducing the carbon footprint.

My only issue with Circular Supply Chain concept is that it is still stuck in the traditional thinking, i.e., it is inward looking and confined within the organizational boundaries. In the age of technology and connectivity, why supply chain must be constrained within the boundaries of the organization?

As it is known fact, that in today’s world in this global competition, it is not the companies that compete with each other, but it is the supply chains that compete. Stronger and more connected the supply chain of an organization, the more value it can generate by its consumers. But then a question arises, why compete and why not be more collaborative and why not break the boundaries and be truly connected within the Circular Supply Chain?

This is where my rusty cogs in my brain started crackling and turning and helped me look beyond the traditional circular supply chain.

Gives me immense joy to contribute to the amazing world of Supply Chain and introduce the concept of Integrated Circular Supply Chain (Fig 2).

Figure 2 Integrated Circular Supply Chain

We, at Supply Chain Talks, have been working on a technology solution to support and strengthen the overall supply chain sustainability and allow organizations to reduce potential waste, and thus contribute more actively toward lowering carbon footprint. Our goal was and shall remain to provide an easy to adapt and workable solution that break downs boundaries across organizations and industries and truly establish an integrated circular supply chain model.

In the Integrated Circular Supply Chain, we have modified two elements and added an additional element to the traditional Circular Supply Chain. Have discussed briefly on these three elements below.

Technology: At the heart of the Integrated Circular Supply Chain Model is technology, and that establishes digital connectivity, encourages transparency and accountability, and potentially integrates supply chains at all levels.

Repurpose: Further, the model moves beyond recycling as the circular step, and we introduce the concept of Repurpose. This basically means that the material, in any form, may be re-used, recycles, or re-directed both with the supply chain or outside the supply chain to other supply chains

Scrap: Generating waste goes against the concept of sustainability. Thus, within the Integrated Circular Supply Chain Model, any material that is not needed is not be waste but can be designated as scrap and disposed out to specially companies or entities that deal scrap handling and reprocessing.

We are excited that our model of Integrated Circular Supply Chain shall redefine supply chain sustainability in the years to come and shall open a new era in totally integrated supply chains.

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