Sustainability in production, logistics and supply chain
Sustainability in operations not only offers the opportunity to make a positive contribution to society…
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How process mining makes your company more sustainable
Environmental awareness is currently increasing in all areas of public life. As a result, the demands on companies to make their business, logistics and production processes sustainable are also increasing. For this reason, many companies currently see the task of making their operational processes more efficient and environmentally friendly as one of their greatest challenges. Process mining is an ideal solution for this: An innovative, software-supported solution that enables companies to analyze and optimize their processes and ultimately make them more sustainable. In the following, I will shed light on the state of the art in the area of sustainability with process mining. I will present specific use cases for application in this area as well as my recommendations.
Companies that operate sustainably not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also have a better corporate image.
Florian Domeier, Consultant
Sustainability becomes a game changer for your success
At a time when the effects of climate change and environmental pollution are becoming ever more apparent and raw material prices are rising, the issue of sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Companies are faced with the challenge of designing their business processes in such a way that they meet both ecological and economic requirements. Sustainability is not only a moral obligation, but also an economic success factor for every company.
Customers and stakeholders expect companies to minimize their environmental impact and act in a socially responsible manner. Companies that act sustainably not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also a better corporate image. They can strengthen their position and benefit from a positive brand image. Sustainability is also an important factor in attracting and retaining highly qualified specialists in the long term. Professionals are increasingly looking for companies that share their values and have a positive impact on society and the environment.
Analyze business processes efficiently and comprehensively with process mining
Process mining is a software-supported solution that enables companies to visualize and analyse the processes that actually take place. With the help of process mining, companies can evaluate the extensive databases that have been stored in their IT systems, usually over several years. This data contains information about the flow of processes, such as ordering processes, production processes or logistics processes. Process mining uses this data to reconstruct the actual process flows and uncover weak points and potential for improvement. It therefore adapts flexibly to requirements and business models and can be used in almost all industries. If you want to learn more about the technology in general, I recommend our white papers on this topic.
Celonis Process Mining
One of the leading providers in the field of process mining is Celonis. Celonis offers the option of using apps on its own process mining platform. These apps are already developed applications that support companies in optimizing specific business processes. Standard connectors are used, which enable a quick and easy connection to the respective source systems. Ready-made analysis models can be used directly without a long development time. Depending on the use case, certain KPIs are calculated automatically and results are displayed in analyses. This means that results can be achieved with minimal implementation effort. The advantages of the apps are therefore, on the one hand, the user-friendly interfaces, which also enable non-technical employees to benefit from the extensive process analyses. On the other hand, the low implementation effort, which leads to quick results and analyses, is a significant advantage.
Sustainability with process mining
In the following, I would like to present three selected Celonis apps that can increase sustainability in your company.
Celonis app for reducing emissions
The apps for optimizing the supply chain have a direct impact on sustainability. Celonis offers a selection of several apps to reduce emissions from transportation. I would like to take a closer look at the “Shipping Emissions Reduction for a Sustainable Supply Chain” app, which Celonis has developed itself. With this app, Celonis has created a way of determining and visualizing emissions from transport and making reductions visible. The first step for a company that implements this app is to obtain an overview of the number and costs of deliveries on the four delivery routes of air, water, road and rail. In addition to on-time delivery and delivery costs,CO2 emissions are calculated based on the sender and destination addresses. The optimization of the delivery routes can then begin. Questions that we discuss with our customers at this stage include
- Is an order or delivery process often handled via air freight, even though a land route would also be possible?
- Why does the air route often have to be used: Is it an internal process that leads to the delay, so that only air freight meets the delivery date?
- Can individual raw materials, semi-finished products or finished goods also be purchased more locally – can the savings in transportation possibly compensate for higher purchase prices?
Once we have got to the bottom of the origins of the current situation, optimization approaches can be developed and implemented. The app not only reveals the positive effect on the economic efficiency of the supply chain, but also the reduction in transport emissions.
App from Celonis and EcoVadis for selecting sustainable suppliers
The second app I would like to introduce to you has a significant effect on the sustainability of your company as well as your suppliers and customers. For this app, Celonis is working with EcoVadis, the world’s leading provider of sustainability ratings. EcoVadis has already rated and awarded 75,000 companies in the four categories of environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Rothbaum is also certified by EcoVadis. The rating can now have a direct influence on supplier selection in the ordering process via the Celonis “Sustainable Spend Management” app.
When onboarding new suppliers and managing existing ones, companies can automatically ask them to be rated by EcoVadis. By embedding the ratings in the procurement process, buyers can make decisions to place more orders with the suppliers with the best ratings under similar conditions. In this way, the app helps to reward sustainable action and reduce orders to unsustainable suppliers.
If your company operates in the B2B environment, proof of sustainable action through certification can generate a competitive advantage. In any case, you can use this app to give preference to sustainable companies and thus contribute to a sustainable world.
The Rothbaum Sustainability Operations Cockpit to improve sustainability and reduce production costs
The Rothbaum Sustainability Operations Cockpit offers advanced analyses to improve corporate sustainability. It enables the calculation of emissions in production and logistics down to individual products, based on actual throughput times and energy consumption. The app also calculates production costs, taking into account energy, personnel and depreciation costs. Its aim is to create transparency and reduce costs and emissions at the same time. Companies can thus prove that products with low emissions are climate-friendly.
The Celonis app enables, among other things:
- 360° transparency of operational CO2 emissions
- Overview of production costs per workplace and product
- Increasing the productivity and efficiency of the system
- Improvement of the brand image
More apps for more sustainable business processes
In addition to these two specific examples, for which apps have already been developed, process mining offers further opportunities to make business processes more sustainable. For example, the technology can show where materials are being used unnecessarily or energy is being wasted. In one of our projects, for example, we determined the individualCO2 consumption in production for each individual product in order to find deviations between products of the same type. Based on these findings, it is possible to take targeted measures to reduce resource consumption.
This can increase both the sustainability and profitability of the company. Another approach is the comprehensive examination of the entire product life cycle using process mining. This approach not only increases sustainability during purchasing and production. It also contributes to resource-conserving shipping, a well thought-out scope and rhythm of maintenance and sensible reprocessing.
Summary
The challenges of sustainability and process optimization are closely linked, and process mining offers companies a powerful solution to address these challenges. By optimizing their processes based on data analytics, companies can not only achieve efficiency gains and cost savings, but also reach their sustainability goals.
Process mining enables companies to make their processes more transparent, efficient and environmentally friendly and thus make a positive contribution to sustainability. In conclusion, process mining is not only a tool for process optimization, but also a key factor for the sustainability of companies. By applying the technology, companies can make better use of their resources, reduce waste and implement more efficient processes. It is time for companies to consider process mining as part of their sustainable strategy and take advantage of this innovative technology.
Florian Domeier
Consultant, Hamburg
His focus is on process mining, LEAN production, process management and logistics planning. Among other things, he has been involved in projects for production optimization with process mining and conducted training courses following the introduction of Celonis.
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