Case study: Quantifying supplier progress for Unilever's sustainability reporting with TELUS Supply Chain

“TELUS Supply Chain enables our suppliers to self-assess themselves against Unilever’s Code and identify good stories or areas for improvement.”

– Andrea Granier, Procurement Operation Manager, Sustainable Sourcing at Unilever

By 2050 global food production will have to increase to meet the growing needs of the world. This will have potentially damaging effects on the environment as raw material extraction, production and distribution processes expand to meet demands. For over a decade, Unilever has been working to manage its environmental impact. As part of their campaign to highlight its sustainability credentials to consumers, they enlisted the help of TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods.

The challenge: driving sustainability code with suppliers

Unilever sought to quantify their suppliers’ progress against the indicators in their longstanding Sustainable Agriculture Code – their 11-point sustainability program. For Unilever to achieve its ambitious growth and sustainability objectives, the company’s environmental impact had to be reduced throughout their supply chain – across raw materials, production process and distribution.

The solution: supplier assessment tool

To help achieve this goal, TELUS deployed Supplier Management Assessments, part of our TELUS Supply Chain as a self-assessment solution across Unilever’s fresh produce supply chain. Loaded with the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code (part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan – USLP) the tool is enabling Unilever and their suppliers to track and monitor progress and to create evidence-based improvement plans.

The results: more sustainable, agile supply chains driven by data insights

“TELUS Supply Chain allows us to spot trends in the industry which can be broken down by individual supplier, country and product,” says Andrea Granier, Procurement Operation Manager, Sustainable Sourcing at Unilever. “As a result, we are able to see immediately what and where the issues are and what needs to be improved. This is achieved at the click of a mouse instead of having to review mounds of paper.”

“Understanding that we have to make a real difference in sustainability terms and being able to communicate this through our brands is leading us to create new ways of working with our suppliers,” continues Granier. “By introducing the sustainable initiative to fresh produce, our communication down the supply chain has significantly improved. We now know how many suppliers we have, their locations and what they are supplying to us. This level of transparency is key to that drive for sustainability.”

“So far, over 230 of our key suppliers are reaping the benefits of TELUS Supply Chain and we are actively working with TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods on improvements and future implementations, such as the new online data collection and flexible reporting platforms.”

Meeting the needs of the future is not just about increasing production. It’s just as important to reduce waste, boost efficiency and continue to innovate and improve on the processes we already use.