Systems for asset and facilities management have the most potential to make manufacturing businesses greener, according to a study by Infor. In the UK, 40% of senior IT decision ranked EAM (enterprise asset management) IT highest, while in France the figure was 43% and in Spain 70%.
By comparison, only 17% of UK, 20% of French and 21% of Spanish IT professionals thought that business intelligence (BI) and business performance management (BPM) technologies should even be included.
"These findings tell us that … to drive real and tangible business improvements you have to get to the immediately actionable operational issues, such as energy consumption and carbon emissions generated throughout your supply chains," comments Andrew Kinder, director of solutions marketing at Infor.
"Looking further down the list, you see areas cited, such as product design and life cycle management, production planning and scheduling, and transportation and logistics planning," he adds.
And by way of explanation, Kinder proffers: "Companies are interested in pursuing a sustainability strategy because of the business benefits it can bring and these benefits are more tangible in the operational realm."
His view: "Lowering energy usage through asset management, lowering carbon emissions through supply chain management and designing products for sustainability in the first place are the real areas for focus. Changes made in these areas will drive the green agenda forward and have the added benefit of contributing to competitiveness and the bottom line."
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