Autor: Stefan Doch

The sustainable implementation of efficient processes requires a corporate culture that ensures continuous optimization. In order to achieve this level of operational excellence employees’ capabilities must be developed with regard to the identification and active pursuit of improvements. For this purpose, lean management principles and tools have to be implemented at all hierarchy levels (lean thinking). In many instances, learning factories have proved to be an appropriate platform to support this process of transformation. For the first time in Germany, this concept has now been transferred to the process industry with its special requirements by realizing a learning factory within a pharmaceutical company. The procedure of planning and deploying this industry-specific learning environment with the identified success factors are discussed in this paper.

Increasing customer demand and legislative regulations on sustainability lead to growing pressure on companies to provide transparency on the negative social and ecological effects of their business activities and those of their suppliers and service providers. A broad strategic integration of sustainability, incorporating economic, social and ecological aspects, enables companies to gain a competitive advantage. Several standards provide support for the measurement and reporting of ecological and social indicators, though the quantification of social sustainability still remains a challenge. For improving sustainability effectively, the scope of measurement and target setting has to include supply chain partners like suppliers or service providers. Top performing companies include sustainability criteria in their procurement processes for logistics services to reduce their transport-related emissions effectively.

The evidence of the ecological sustainability of logistics systems is increasingly expected by customers inside and outside the supply chain. Companies can affect their carbon footprint at different strategic levels: products, structures, processes and technologies. The potential use and evaluation of technologies and their contribution to improve ecological sustainability while taking into account economic conditions are the subject of this paper.

The internationalisation of business activities has numerous impacts on global supply chain structure. Certain Supply Networks will have special logistics requirements. The orientation on the selected production network structure can be a first structuring approach. For global logistics that means that instead of standardized logistics principles a situation dependent reaction on the specific challenges of the international activities of a company is needed.