Using digitalization to determine the carbon footprint of supply chains
Our experts at thyssenkrupp work every day to make our Group more sustainable. One of them is Márton Máté Tóth. As Operational Excellence Leader in Eastern Europe, he drives sustainability projects and ESG measures at thyssenkrupp Materials Services. For example, the Product Carbon Footprint Calculator (PCFC), which determines the emissions of entire supply chains.
Speaking about his role as Operational Excellence Leader at thyssenkrupp Materials Hungary, Tóth says he contributes to business excellence in a broader sense. The area covers four topics: Operational Performance, Quality, Operational Health and Safety, and ESR, which stands for Environmental and Social Responsibility. When the PCF calculator was introduced at thyssenkrupp Materials Services in Juni 2022, this topic also became part of his daily work.
"I lead a group of colleagues who are responsible for these four topics in addition to their general tasks," explains Márton. The team plays a crucial role in driving progress across all four areas. The measures undergo regular audits for review and further development.
Transparency through digitalization: first measure emissions, then reduce them.
But what does operational excellence mean? An example to demonstrate this is by using the PCF Calculator. The Product Carbon Footprint Calculator helps companies make their products more sustainable by providing information about the emission levels of their products. This allows companies to identify areas where they can make improvements. Tóth and an international team have found a way to do just that. The PCF calculator is able to calculate the carbon footprint for every thyssenkrupp Materials Services product and can also do the same for the customer's product portfolio along the entire supply chain – digitally, quickly and easily.
This makes climate protection initiatives measurable, as the greatest savings potential in each supply chain can be reliably identified for an emissions reduction strategy once the data has been collected. thyssenkrupp Materials Services has already been able to fully integrate the calculation logic into all company-relevant processes. The tool is now gradually being implemented in other areas and at various locations.
Product carbon footprint calculator – a flagship project of the Business Excellence Team
"But getting there was not so easy" explains Tóth. "For the carbon footprint calculation, the biggest challenge was to simplify the different product groups so that an emission value could be calculated for each product in our portfolio in the first place." The fact that all the little details and information that go into this data will ultimately make a difference in our future is what fascinates Tóth about his work. "The accuracy of the data is critical to making our customers aware of the supply chain and how important it is to have transparency about their own carbon footprints."
Numerous processes and players are involved along the production and supply chain of a product. By precisely determining the carbon footprint of these individual steps, adjustments can be identified and processes can be specifically optimized.
The effort required to collect all this necessary data was considerable, as each business unit of the material trader and service provider had to provide its own specific data from the supply chain. But it was worth it: the system for calculating the product carbon footprint has already been independently audited by the international classification society DNV. The great strength of the PCFC lies in its flexibility. This is because the service can be individually adapted to the needs of customers, whose requests often differ greatly from one another.
No digitalization? No reduction in the carbon footprint!
Automation and digitalization play a key role in the development of the product carbon footprint calculator. "Processes can no longer be optimized without automation and digitalization," emphasizes Tóth. According to the expert, whenever you have a problem to solve, you should not just focus on the solution in isolation, but also consider how it can be supported by digitalization. "Because the collected data can be used not only to solve a single problem, but often to improve the entire process" - and that is operational excellence. Various agile projects are currently working on continuously increasing the degree of digitalization and thus making the processes more and more attractive.
Only the digitalization of numerous processes along the supply chain makes it possible to calculate the carbon footprint accurately. For Márton Máté Tóth, automation and digitalization are therefore essential for operational excellence.
Business excellence requires attitude
For Márton Máté Tóth, the biggest challenge in his job is not a technical one, but his own attitude and approach: "In my role as Operational Excellence Leader, it is important to understand that you work with colleagues who have different priorities in their day-to-day work." That's why the success of a project such as the Product Carbon Footprint Calculator depends on how he approaches people and shapes the collaboration. The most important thing is to adopt a helpful attitude and communicate the importance of the task in an understandable way, explains the expert: "And the best way to do that is to have meaningful projects that not only help the individual, but will also improve the entire company in the long term."
Márton Máté Tóth and his colleagues have used the PCF calculator to drive forward the measurability and reduction of our emissions at thyssenkrupp in a very concrete way. You can find more exciting sustainability projects and "green jobs" in our Stories.