A new study out of IFS North America, triumphantly reports that almost 77% of manufacturers conduct their business these days in a setting characterized by customers demanding they report on the environmental impact of their activities.

Green Trend Growing

Moreover, more than 80% of respondents feel that green supply chains will become more important to them over the next three years. Manufacturers cite social responsibility, mandates by their companies and pressure from customers as the principal forces driving this trend. Whatever its impetus, crow the authors, this development is a good thing, given the increasing “norm” this suggests is emerging on this front.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

But the IT revolution falls critically short in application, with a massive 87% of survey participants conceding that at least some of their supply chain data are still being handled in hard-copy form. A mere 5% rated their ERP software as “excellent” in its ability to handle green supply chain data. Fifty-four percent called it “poor” or “not at all helpful.”

For those manufacturers who engage in the sharing of their environmental data with customers, the great bulk (28%) continue to enter information from hard copy into spreadsheets, into supply-chain management solutions (16%) or into ERP solutions (20%). A quarter of respondents use purely paper-based solutions to manage this information. And a paltry 12% employ a system that allows their trading partners electronic access into their environmental and materials data.

On top of that, some 43% of respondents shrugged when asked of what types of functions their enterprise software is capable of in regards to its ability to track and share those environmental factors involved in their green supply chain initiatives.

It’s like 1982 out there, and it’s a disconnect, say the study’s analysts, that could prove a serious challenge for the days ahead.

Navigating the Path to Green

Without a system of integrated ERP functionality that can promise comprehensive environmental footprint management along the entire value chain—from the procurement of raw materials through to their eventual utilization—the manufacturing industry will eventually stumble in its journey along the green path. Without it, organizations cannot responsibly analyze their operations from the holistic perspective that will afford the critical big-picture view of their environmental influence.

The study called ERP Solutions in the Green Supply Chain and Multi-Mode Manufacturing, was conducted last December interviewing more than 200 executives, from whose manufacturing operations’ revenues exceed $100 million. It was undertaken in a bid to better understand how business software applications like ERP and EAM impact an organization’s efforts to green up their supply chains.

According to this research, based on a survey of more than 260 manufacturing software decision makers, almost half are not currently equipped with the enterprise technology they need to adequately manage their environmental footprint. Further, went the study, another 28% have only limited capabilities.

Specifically, the study asked manufacturers to report back on to what extent their extant enterprise-wide software allows them to account for the impact of their company’s activities on the environment in the arenas of carbon footprint, solid waste, air and water pollution, product lifecycle and product end-of-life influence. Not surprisingly, the smaller the company, the less set up it revealed itself to be on this front. Only 20% of those responding companies reporting between US$250 million and US$999 million in revenue said they were tracking “some environmental measures” with their enterprise software, while 36% with US$1 billion or more in revenue said they already had this capability.

Managers have an eye on this kind of thing these days and well they should. As much as the pursuit of profits should provide motivation for a company’s growth and development, so, too, should the pursuit of a modest and manageable carbon footprint.

Internal efforts notwithstanding, there are lots of options available for folks keen to reduce their mark. Livclean is a carbon-offset provider based in Mississauga, Ont., that follows through, in a cleverly conceptual kind of way, on the financial value that those with an eye on the scene have attached to reducing carbons. Springing from an acknowledgment that change costs money, this organization rewards corporate efforts to reduce or sequester carbon emissions with the opportunity to sell the benefits to other operations that want to similarly offset the cost of their presence on the planet.

At 360, we’re on this.

Thanks to strategic and selective partnerships with the best software providers in the business, our enterprise software offerings already allow for everything from customer relationship management to financial control, from employee time tracking to inventory administration. And our full suite of business management solutions helps companies maximize sales efforts, expand relationships with customers and vendors, improve workflow efficiencies, reduce customer wait time, more effectively manage costs, enjoy more comprehensive access to accurate and up-to-date information, and, natch, increase profitability.

Up next: an enhanced option to track carbon usage, a software feature the IFS study found a full 83% of manufacturers consider somewhat or very important, and 63% would like to see their enterprise resources planning software vendor include as an embedded feature.

I’m keen to explore this path a little further. Travel it with me.