B47 Sustainability Data Manager Simplified
Translation Manuscript
Sustainability is very important to us. As a company with scientifically based products, westrive to precisely record information on the carbon footprint of our packaging.
Because we reject any form of greenwashing.
In cooperation with NTT Data Business Solutions, we have developed a solution that allows
us to manage data for packaging materials.
Sustainability is too important to just do it in good faith.
This is where data transparency along the own value chain and the supply chain takes place.
Exactly this is the theme of the project, the pilot project with Dr. Kurt Wolff.
We are a family business in its fourth generation.
Since our foundation in 1905, our focus has been on research and the scientifically provenbenefits of our problem solving innovations for hair, skin and teeth.
We needed a solution to store very detailed information of our packaging material.
The target was to use this data to calculate the carbon footprint, using our tubes as a starting
point.
Our immediate reaction was: "Not another database! Let's integrate this data into our existing
SAP system, where already most production and supply chain relevant master data aremaintained."
The main challenge was, in a regular SAP bill of material, there only exists one material item,
one position, and we build another layer below the existing SAP item.
This granularity makes it possible to manage the components of the packaging material andlink attributes to the master material as well as the components of this material.
At the moment we managed the existing data in a decentralized system. Some of it wasavailable in Excel tables or Word documents. However, this could not be analyzed, and thedata was not complete. The new solution with NTT DATA contains all the data for packaging
materials and their components in a central database. In addition to all technical data, thedatabase also contains all the necessary sustainability data. Additional products, attributes andfeatures can be added by the user at any time. In future, we as a company will be under theobligation to publish a carbon footprint. This is part of our sustainability reporting obligations.
The solution is very easy to set up and we can enhance and expand the product data model as
our business requirements change, just with a few clicks. Very important from an IT
perspective, the solution runs on our current SAP system but can be used in future releases
as well.
With our solution you can manage your sustainability attributes like recycling percentage orthe seals of quality. You also can calculate your product carbon footprint by taking theemission factors of the materials ingredients on one hand and the materials weight on theother hand. The user interface is split in two parts.
On the upper hand side, you can put your material attributes in and on the lower side you canfill the data of your components and ingredients.
We have already achieved a lot but this is not the end yet.
We are already working on further developments to expand the solution and have drafted
concepts to extend its functionalities. We avoid redundancies and eliminate the need for
additional non-SAP software. We want to enable our customers to fulfill their reporting
requirements and avoid emissions in a systematic way. This data transparency is an important
aspect in considering the product carbon footprint at all stages of its life cycle.
Of course, this pilot project is a small step toward greater sustainability, but a very importantone.
Data transparency is the basis for measuring our behavior and this is exactly where our IT
solutions starts off.