We suppose many business leaders squirm when thinking of what needs to be done to be able to comply with the upcoming EU regulation on digital product passports.
We suggest (in line with the famous advertising by Apple that you "Think Different").
Focus on the "needs to be done"-part of the first sentence.
If it "needs to be done", why wait? How about getting it done ahead of the pack and make use of the process to boost your business?
Be like MAX
How about "doing a MAX Burgers"? instead of squirming.
"Do a MAX Burgers", you might ask? What on Earth does that mean?!
MAX Burgers is a Swedish hamburger chain, privately owned, that started in 1968 north of the Polar Circle.
Long before most others, they started taking their environmental impact seriously.
The result? MAX Burgers has carved out a niche of their own as the fast-food chain of choice for those looking for quality fast-food with minimum environmental impact. For many, especially the growing community of vegetarians, they have become. the only acceptable fast-food restaurant. (see the fact box)
Further reading about MAX Burgers work on environment and sustainability:
Edge and resiliency
Committed, earnest, and stringent work to reduce the environmental impact of operations, the supply chain, and the consumption of products is not only good and responsible for the environment, it resonates with growing numbers of consumers. If you work as diligently and earnestly as MAX has done, how would your appeal with that growing segment of the market be affected? Would it reflect negatively on other segments? Excluding ardent climate deniers, we'd expect a general appreciation of the added attention to detail that such a commitment to product details leads to.
Such a position is also easier to defend and more profitable than many others. As it is both values-driven and signals attention to quality and detail, it is also more resilient, easier to defend.
Operational gains
We're pretty sure that the deep dive required to achieve this sustainability program of MAX Burgers has had positive impacts also on control, quality and costs. Digging into the supply chain and business operations in their entirety to collect and verify the environmental information gives insight affecting almost every corner of the business positively. Recipes, specifications, quality control, consistency, choice of and relations with suppliers. You don't need a wild imagination to envisage the scope of positive "knock-on effects".
Not only your own operations but the entire supply chain
The spotlight doesn't shine only internally. It encompasses choice and relations with suppliers of raw materials and components, choice of logistical solutions and partners – in both ends of the supply chain. To safeguard consistent adherence to your environmental commitments, you need to work with reliable and long-term suppliers.
And your employees
Simon Sinek has made the value obvious to most of us of businesses having a strong WHY that appeals to employees. And with WHY comes clarity and appeal of VALUES. Showing and engaging your employees in your commitment to sustainability provides a strong WHY and clear VALUES, a great boost for morale and engagement of employees. Do you know of anyone who doesn't see the value of having engaged employees? We don't.
No time to lose
We're not saying that the task is simple. It isn't. We know from our participation in several pilot projects for digital product passports.
What we're saying is that, since it's unavoidable anyway, you will benefit from an early start, by being first on the ball.
You will also benefit from leveraging our experience to help you with that early start.
When will you start? When do we start?
What will happen if you grab this unavoidable opportunity offered by the EU, the digital product passports, of tightening up your business operations, boosting your public image, and doing the right thing for the environment and generations to come?
How can you improve quality and consistency?
How can you strengthen relations with reliable suppliers?
How can you boost morale and employee pride in working for a business that takes responsibility?
What would it do to your image with existing and potential customers? How would that affect sales?
Do you think it might boost business development by identifying opportunities for digital add-ons to your existing offering?
Would you sleep better at night?
We're the ones cutting the edge
At Blue Cromos we combine our long experience from manufacturing and standards with cutting-edge skills in computer vision and data pipe.
We've used these skills to develop breakthrough solutions for product authentication; unintrusive, at scale, and ridiculously simple to use (but not to do 😉 ) as well as gaining hands-on experience with early solutions for digital product passports. Experience that we use to develop full-scale solutions and help the industry prepare for digital product passports.
We're cutting the edge of technology to make life easy for you.
Curious? Get in touch!
Do you want to learn more about how you can leverage our experience to "do a MAX"? Just get in touch here
Credits: Wallpaper Flare