Gisele Bündchen Makes Supply Chain Sexy Again

By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex

Okay, so I need to apologize about the click-baity title, but we were talking about this video in the office and this line was too good to resist.

It came out of a video interview on Charlie Rose (here if you want to watch) that a colleague saw and brought to our attention. Because it’s not everyday that you’re watching TV and the words “supply chain” jump out at you.

Supply chain really came into the video when Paul Hawken, an author Bündchen was partnering with and being interviewed with, was speaking about reversing global warming and how sustainability in supply chain is a factor in reducing carbon footprints. Sustainability is a major factor that we at MHI are taking a look at, with a keynote on the topic and Solutions Center dedicated to Sustainability at ProMat 2017.

So what’s the zam-bow-y point that I wanted to use the click-baity title to bring you in to read? 1) Supply chain is everywhere and 2) sustainability is important, especially within supply chain. Since we touch so much of the world and the goods people use, even small moves in sustainability both help the environment and set an example for those who receive our products.

Sustainability is important just for itself. I think we can all agree: Smog=bad, massive landfills=bad, No green to produce oxygen=bad. But these are good reasons for any person, organization, company, etc to make sustainability a priority. And we should definitely do it for these reasons. But since supply chain touches so many in subtle ways, there is a power that can be used to be a greater influence.

People notice when packaging is different (like when the grey Walmart bags came out and on the bag it said it was to use recycled bags) or when delivery methods change (pilot bike delivery programs like UPS eBike). When people know its to create a sustainable supply chain that’s better for the environment, they take notice, even if it’s just something that floats in the back of their mind. And that’s a pretty powerful tool we have to wield.

Now, you can write this off as the ramblings of a young *gasps* Millennial *gasps* tree-hugger *gasps harder* but data points to this being an important factor in life quality for the foreseeable future. If we can’t breathe, it makes it pretty difficult to enjoy life.

Even if you don’t want to do it for the sake of y’know, living longer, it looks great as a corporate policy. Want Millennials (who by the way are ~22-35 years old) and Gen Z (what you’re really thinking of at ~3-20 years old) to buy your products. Slap ‘environmentally-friendly’ and ‘sustainable’ all over it (and be telling the truth). It’s important to us ’cause we gotta live here for another 80 years.

But we gotta do something. And if it takes Gisele Bündchen calling supply chain sexy for you to make a change, I’m sure she’d be happy to do that.

P.S. We think supply chain has always been sexy…

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