The Beginning of a Greener Supply Chain

I have been working in the Aerospace industry for three years, and it is exciting times. With new technology and products developing at an exponential rate, the industry is doing its best to reduce its carbon footprint.

Aerospace has been expanding at a high rate since 2000. It is a fact that the rate of growth in the aviation sector matches the rate of growth for global GDP. The Aerospace industry has no place to hide for carbon footprint contribution. As it continues to grow and add millions of customers year on year. The graph below shows how resilient the Aerospace industry is.

Despite financial crises and economic downfalls, the Aerospace industry remains strong. Ever since man first took flight at the end of 1903, we have never looked back. However, our persistence to continue expanding has led to its contribution of around 5% of the world’s climate warning problem.

This would place Aerospace at sixth in the world across all countries as a contributor. You would think with all the advancements in technology, the industry would be doing a better job. And quite frankly, I think it should be.

The resources are available, and it is possible to do better. However, resources do not build themselves, people do. So, if we wish to see a change in any industry for climate change, we must make the strategies people focussed.

We have the right problem, and it is defined. But we have the wrong strategy, people and message. And this is what needs to change.

Right Problem, Wrong Strategy

It makes the most sense to focus on the thing contributing to the carbon footprint, that is the plane. We spend so much time focussing on the tweaks you can make to save X amount of fuel and so forth. But, the product is not the problem. It is the people.

The strategies used to reduce carbon footprint are too product heavy. Yes, the product is important, and it is the biggest contributor to the problem. Yet, if we wish to see real change, we need to make the goal people focussed. This means starting with us.

The supply chain starts with the designers and people in the office typing away. This is the very beginning of the process, and we seem to miss this out.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The great quote above by Aristotle reminds us that we experience an illusion in everything that we do. The whole always appears greater than the individual bits put together to make it. It is the same with our products. We contribute more to the carbon footprint of the product than we think.

Every meeting we hold and every coffee we make contribute to the problem. When we make our strategies product focussed, we let people forget that they are part of the problem. From beginning to end, we need a supply chain which keeps people at the centre.

It is in our best interest to begin forming strategies to reduce carbon footprint across the supply chain. This way, people become more aware of their contribution. And are not separated from the problem they contribute too.

Right Problem, Wrong People

Unfortunately, not enough people are passionate enough to learn about climate change. You will be surprised how little engineers know about the carbon footprint. Few care about it at all. But, these are the people who are meant to be solving the problem.

I find this to be absurd. The people who are creating the technologies to solve the problem know hardly anything about it. We are then left with misinformed individuals who are not very driven to solve the problem.

We can not expect people to be motivated to solve problems that appear to not affect their lives. This is why problems like famines and floods get swept under the rug unless you are the person affected by it.

Another problem is we have an ageing workforce in the Aerospace industry. The average age for an Aerospace engineer in America is about 49. People are thinking about retirement, not solving the next generation’s problems.

“You can not teach an old dog new tricks.”

I have found the quote above to hold in this industry. As a young engineer in this field, it is hard to communicate with my seniors my new ideas. They are very stuck in their ways because they have lived through the successes.

Trying to change their strategies and ways of implementation seems nonsensical to them. Because of course, that is always the way they have done it, and it has come with much success. The problems that have come with those successes are no longer their problem. Instead, they are left for someone far off in the future.

But, if the strategy was people-focused, the problem could not be deflected. Product focussed strategies allow us to deflect our problems. We could say things like, more research is needed, or it is not economically feasible currently. However, people-focused strategies deal with the here and now.

It would be up to every person in the industry to do their best to contribute, not just the end product.

Right Problem, Wrong Message

The message is loud and clear, it saves the planet to save humanity. But again, the message is product focussed. Not that the world or humanity are products, but they are presented as prizes to be won. To see changes, we need to make the fight for climate change intrinsic rather than extrinsic.

We all have intrinsic motivators to which push us to do innate things. These are things like, form friendships, help someone and stay healthy. Our intrinsic motivators can be overcrowded when replaced with an extrinsic reward. This is called the overjustification effect.

To motivate people to contribute towards a cause, they must feel intrinsically motivated. And that intrinsic motivation comes from giving the right message to the people.

We know that reducing carbon footprint will help the planet and help companies operate sustainably. But these are not intrinsic motivators. These are the rewards for the work we will do. Once again, we need to make the goal for a sustainable future intrinsic.

This means not focussing on the product, but instead, the journey to get there. And part of that journey is us. We need to start asking the questions of what message we wish to portray. If we want people to be motivated, we need to make the message people focussed.

The message should encompass families, friendships and romantic relationships. We need to bring it closer to home. Right now, the message seems to be addressing something far off in the distance from us. Things like, “Save the Planet” or “Save Humanity” are great messages concerning the mission. But do not concern our everyday lives.

So, if we want people to feel motivated to act on this great cause. We must bring the message to each individual. The message must make us feel connected and close to the goal. We can then realise that the small actions we take today can help the overall mission tomorrow.

Closing Thoughts

The problem is, the global call to reduce CO2 emissions has never been a people focussed call. This is the fault of anyone. Much of the data we have to confirm CO2 emissions are rising come from the products we use, not us.

But if we can begin motivating people to take small actions to help climate change, these effects will knock on along the supply chain. The 1% principle tells us that making small marginal gains leads to massive results in the end. We need to begin encouraging this 1% approach. Whilst intrinsically motivating people through strategies, people and the message.

If everyone involved in the supply chain could find a way to reduce their emissions by 1%. I am sure we would have leapt in progress. It is not all about the product, it is about the people involved. And we all have a part to play in improving the world today for a better tomorrow.