SAP today announced two new products that will make clever use of cloud technology to improve supply-chain management and regulatory compliance for manufacturers.
The new products include the Product Stewardship Network and EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand. Both are based on the idea of sharing information so that it only has to be collected once – data about supply-chain materials, in the case of the Product Stewardship Network, and data about environmental safety regulations, in the case of the EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand.
The Product Stewardship Network is a network that enables manufacturers and suppliers to collaborate and collect information more easily about the substances in their products.
“Think of it like LinkedIn for product compliance,” says Dieter Haesslein, vice president of sustainability solution development at SAP. “Basically, companies can connect with each other and keep them updated” on what’s in their product.
Currently, it can be difficult for manufacturers to get a detailed list of the materials in their suppliers’ products, mostly because suppliers are overwhelmed with these types of requests, he adds, with some SAP customers receiving thousands of these enquiries a month.
With its Product Stewardship Network, SAP hopes to cut out those thousands of emails – and countless hours – by giving suppliers a place to publish that information once for all of their partners to see, instead of having to send it separately to everyone.
Basic membership – which enables suppliers and manufacturers to connect with each other, share product data and get regulatory information — is free, but SAP is also offering additional services – including mass uploads of product data, bulk supplier invitations and tech support – starting at $160 per month.
At Adapt2 Consulting, we are looking forward to widespread adoption of SAP’s Environmental Compliance (EC) Solution – something that has been around for a while but doesn’t get much airplay. When the mandatory carbon reporting thresholds come down, organisations will have to adapt to this very quickly.
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