Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) mandates and compliance efforts are becoming the catalyst for driving a more sustainable economy and hopeful future. They’ve become a rallying cry from investors, employees, consumers and business partners to take action. The mantra that we are all in this together has taken hold with ESG becoming the ethical barometer for our time.
But the scope of such an undertaking is massive! ESG now encompasses a broad range of environmental issues including lowering carbon emissions and achieving Net Zero, as well as supporting social and governance issues, such as diversity and inclusion, a decent living wage, fair taxation, and supply chains.
We are seeing government and regulatory bodies trying to collaborate and agree on a consistent set of standards that businesses can adopt to develop their strategies and reporting outputs. This reminds me of the famous saying from the late Peter Drucker, “what gets measured gets managed,” and “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
At the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, progress was made but we now have over 22 ESG standards available. Here lies the biggest challenge ahead—what metrics do we use, how we report them back, and what are the bottom-line implications for businesses, etc.?
These are still early days in the development of ESG standards, but it certainly feels like we are at an inflection point as a society. Whatever standards emerge (energy use and consumption, waste management, how materials get developed, etc.), companies will need to pull and view data from across their entire supply chains to be successful. They’ll need to see the “complete picture” before taking action or run the risk of what some are calling “green washing”.
Collecting Data to Drive Intelligent Automation
XpertRule can help play a critical role in helping companies support ESG standards and compliance. We empower intelligent manufacturing and smarter factories by leveraging AI-enabled technologies to drive more efficient use of resources. We’re able to take manufacturing data from sensors, actuators, control models, shop floor, etc., into existing dashboards or custom build to specific requirements.
Our XpertFactory software goes beyond mere data extraction to digitally capture human expertise and apply machine learning from data to automate and improve any manufacturing process. This transforms plant manufacturing by making it easy to streamline and audit the decision-making process. We can even proactively detect and respond to events, which improves the quality and yield of manufacturing, while leading to better overall equipment effectiveness. The result for manufacturers is improved quality of goods, increased uptime, and greater operational efficiency, all which help enable ESG success.
Partnering with Booth Welsh to Support Environment 4.0
The XpertFactory offering is key to supporting our partners at Booth Welsh and their Environment 4.0 initiative. This initiative from Booth Welsh showcases how emerging technology can deliver tangible results in efficiency, performance, mitigation, and waste reduction, while also delivering a positive impact on profitability. It puts technology at the forefront of any ESG initiative as both our companies work towards transforming the manufacturing sector through better utilization of the 5Ps—people, plant processes and products to drive better profits. With the latest ESG push, we are now ready to add one more “P”—for planet and sustainability.
Trillions of Dollars at Stake
The challenge and the opportunity with ESG are enormous. Today, ESG assets surpassed $35 trillion in 2020 up from $30.6 trillion in 2018 and $22.8 trillion in 2016 reaching a third of current total global assets under management, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Association.
If you are trying to get a handle on your ESG journey, we’d like to hear from you. XpertRule is here to help amplify the impact automation projects can have within an organization because every workflow decision can be automated, tracked, audited and modified. The end-result is our customers gain a deeper understanding of their workflow and manufacturing processes which can be acted upon to drive greater operational efficiencies. Over the next few months, I’ll be writing more on ESG compliance in the future but in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out at icrosley@xpertrule.com.