Bayer: driving a sustainable supply chain
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of healthcare and agriculture. Its products and services are created to benefit people and improve their overall quality of life. In tandem, Bayer strives to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power.
Through Bayer’s products, the organisation helps to address the modern world's biggest challenges. This includes global population growth, an aging society and the necessity to make efficient and sustainable use of resources.
Sustainability drive
To meet the challenge of harnessing a sustainable supply chain head-on, Bayer merged two industry initiatives - the “Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative” (PSCI) and “Together for Sustainability” (TfS). The organisation drives collaboration with PSCI and TfS to create new sustainability standards for Bayer’s supply base. Both initiatives are key parts of Bayer’s long-term commitment to achieving sustainability in the supply chain.
Through the initiatives, sustainability assessments and audit results of suppliers are exchanged via IT platforms. By sharing this data with several customers, it decreases the number of double assessments and audits while also substantially reducing the time spent, resources used and overall costs. This allows for both sourcing and supplying organisations to allocate resources more efficiently and to mutually improve sustainability standards in global supply chains of their respective sectors.
Speaking on sustainability objectives on the company’s website, Werner Baumann, Chairman of the Board of Management (CEO), Bayer AG, commented: “By making sustainability an even stronger part of our strategy and operations, we aim to achieve long-term returns and generate a positive impact for society and the environment. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and the Paris Agreement, the company has set ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030.”
In our interview in June’s magazine with Michele Palumbo, Head of Supply Chain Management at Bayer S.p.A. (Italy)., he discussed Bayer’s ‘GreenPallet’ which saw an effort to produce 75,000 new wooden pallets every year from recycled plastic.
“Instead of being wasted, the pallets return to the warehouse,” says Palumbo. “This has allowed us to avoid a huge amount of wasted wooden packaging, as well as tax payments for the waste. As a result we have saved, more or less, €1mn per year.”
Read our interview with Bayer in June's magazine here!
