The Lean Sustainable Supply Chain

Lean, Green Supply Chain is Key to Lower Costs, Improved Profitability
LEAN Sustainable Supply Chain Strategies Detailed in a new book by Robert Palevich. Efficiency applied to the supply chain is just the beginning for enterprises looking to maximize profit and minimize environmental impact.

“The Lean Sustainable Supply Chain” reveals the benefits of combining lean and green concepts with forecasting and business IQ to establish a world-class supply chain that drives both profitability and sustainability.

“Competition today is not only with your competitors at the market level,” says Palevich. “It begins at the supply chains where 50-80 percent of cost is embedded before product goes to market. As you increase integration of suppliers in the supply chain, you increase gross margin return on investment. This allows you to sell better quality at a lower cost.”

“The Lean Sustainable Supply Chain” condenses innovations from Palevich’s 30 years of IT and supply chain experience in a multi-billion dollar hardware cooperative, detailing the technologies and process improvements that generated more than $45 million in savings.

Palevich introduces the essential concepts of lean, green supply chain management and offers comprehensive case studies to make them relevant. These real-world examples and the associated data are proof the book’s concepts are more than theoretical; they are practical and produce measurable results.

Warehouse management systems, RFID and transportation management systems are just three of the many strategies Palevich details. He documents their impact on cost control, how they reduce CO2 emission and energy use, even how lean and green supply chains limit the amount of highway damage by optimizing materials handling.

This book empowers managers to understand the relationship between 20 related technologies and their relationship to efficiency and profitability. Palevich simplifies that challenge with sample formulas to calculate the potential impact on your company.

“The Lean Sustainable Supply Chain” is published by FT Press, an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., and is available now at Amazon.com.

About the Author: Robert Palevich directs the Business Enterprise System and Technology (BEST) Center at the Richard T. Doermer School of Business at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He formerly served as Global Director of supply chain and e-business at Do it Best, Corporation. Palevich holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial management from Purdue University, and an MSBA and MBA from Indiana University.