Unilever wins global sustainability innovation award 2014
The Unilever Supply Chain Company was the global winner of the 2014 Sustainability Innovation Award in recognition of our new Transport Management System (TMS). Using the information enabled our team to improve the loadfill of inbound transports in North America by 10% and increase the loadfill of our primary European transport by 3% within just one year.
Unilever reduced total vehicle kilometres driven by 10% across key global markets in 2013 compared to 2012. Implementing the TMS across our global network is making it a critical part of Unilever’s every day operations.
Using secondary truckload to further reduce road miles
Secondary truckload is the movement of finished goods from our distribution centres to our customers. We wanted to ensure that these trucks were full in order to reduce carbon emissions and save on costs. So we analysed the top 10 retail customer transport routes and top four sales and marketing customers. We created databases to monitor loadfills, and developed action plans for each route, sharing information with our customers. The project delivered cost savings, reduced carbon emissions from having fewer trucks on the road and truck loads increased. Customer service rates also improved.
Low CO2 transport technologies
We are also looking at new low CO2 transport technologies and undertaking pilots to test these technologies eg battery-powered vehicles. In 2012 in Rome, we trialled a hybrid electric van for our ice cream deliveries. The test demonstrated potential CO2 emissions savings of up to 70% a year compared to a diesel van.
In Spain, meanwhile, we are piloting a technology that allows double temperature truck deliveries by isolating our chilled products from the ambient ones in cross-category deliveries. The technology enables us to combine deliveries of chilled and ambient products without wasting energy to cool the non-chilled products.
First compressed natural gas truck hits the road
In November 2014, our North America supply chain operations started a pilot with one truck that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel. It produces 11% less CO2, 95% less particulate matter emissions and 35% less nitrogen oxide (combustion gases that cause air pollution).
It is cheaper and the CNG’s price also fluctuates less than diesel. In December 2014, North America added 11 additional trucks into service on the current route. The route stretches from Pontoon Beach, Illinois to Jefferson City, Missouri; approximately 270 miles for the round trip. 50-60 more trucks are planned across the wider US network in 2015. We plan to add a further 300 trucks by 2018. This will have the potential to cut our fuel bill by $12 million and reduce CO2 emissions by 6,000 tonnes over three years.
Our North America team also signed an agreement with fuel company US Oil to directly serve Unilever’s needs for CNG.
We are leading the transition from diesel to CNG in North America. In March 2014, we brought together interested parties – including carriers – to showcase the technology and clarify common misconceptions such as fuel efficiency, driver acceptance and engine power.
Other pilots are running in India, Argentina, Russia and Europe. Brazil has already completed its pilot. China and Mexico will start theirs in 2015. There are challenges to rolling out CNG trucks including worldwide infrastructure, technology, and the availability of engines and filling stations. Driver skill is also critical as this is the single largest factor in fuel efficiency. Alternative solutions will be explored for other countries – such as liquefied natural gas in Europe – depending on how the local energy market evolves.