Växthusgasutsläpp i Ericssons försörjningskedja : Kan regionalisering av leverantörer reducera klimatpåverkan?

Sammanfattning: Several categories of emissions are presented in Ericsson ́s sustainability report, among them emissions from product transportation is the largest one within Ericsson ́s own business. However, it is only a part of the transportation flow that is included in the report. The sustainability report covers transportations from distribution centers to customer sites, but now Ericsson will expand the range to cover a larger part of the supply chain, from first tier suppliers, through production, to customer sites. The change would provide Ericsson with better visibility and control over the supply chain and therefore enable the possibility to find new solutions the reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One strategy to reduce product transportation greenhouse gas emissions is regionalization, which Ericsson is already implementing for the production sites. Moving forward they also want to evaluate the possibility to regionalize the external suppliers. Therefore, the aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of a regionalized supply on product transportation from first tier supplier to customer sites, with focus on greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation data including weight, distance and transport mode was collected. Calculations was then done on an aggregated level and did not get into details regarding vehicle utilization or fuel usage. Data collected was inadequate in some part of the supply chain and the gaps were filled with assumptions based on initial interviews. The current emissions for the part of the supply chain that goes from suppliers to distribution hubs was calculated to 30 000 ton CO2e, but with regard to sensibility analysis the true value of emissions is higher. Further, the total current emissions were calculated by adding the new calculatedpart with Ericsson’s reported numbers, which gave the total emissions in the flow to be 169 000 ton CO2e. After the benchmark was established the effect of a regionalized supply was examined. Ericsson has divided the world into three supply regions, the America region, the Europe, Middle east and Africa region and Asia and Pacific Ocean region. The same regions were used to regionalize the suppliers. The suppliers that were located in a different region than the receiving plant were moved to a location that were deemed appropriate by interviews. In the America region the suppliers were placed in Mexico, in the Europe region the suppliers were placed in Romania and in the Asia region the suppliers were placed in China. With the regionalization of the suppliers the total emissions were reduced by 4 % regarding the baseline. Another conclusion from the regionalization was that the supply chain became less emission efficient because the transportation work by truck increased and decreased for boat. The results contain many uncertainties mostly because the regionalization is happening in the part of the supply chain that is mainly based on assumptions to begin with. Based on interviews regionalized suppliers would entail increased costs and loads of initial work, but shorter lead times. The interviewees also said that it is the mechanical components that is appropriate to regionalize since they are heavy, cheap and easy to produce compared to the electronical components. The electronical components were not deemed possible to regionalize. In summery Ericsson can expect reduced greenhouse gas emissions if they regionalize their 1st suppliers, but the size of the reduction needs further examination. Especially better data is needed to establish the benchmark, something that Ericsson will continue working on.