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Archive for March, 2009

Finding cockroaches in the business!!

March 30th, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results"...WCPrint Print

Last month I visited a large retailer, who had asked our company to help them with a problem. Their diminished response to market capability had been magnified by key information not being available until way past the use-by date. This was  threatening their ability to make timely business decisions and remain competitive.

This was the picture I got when I looked at how useful their information was when it was ready 3 weeks into the month.

Best Response Time Value

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Getting a handle on timely, accurate and useful data is a big issue in many organizations. I face this over and over again with clients. Even the very good ones, with lots of resources to solve the issues. still have problems. Those with large well organized data warehouses are particularly vulnerable as disparate information needs place demands on data delivery such that flexibility for change shrinks in time.

As we went about the discovery process to indentify bottlenecks, I was reminded of an experience I had at Chevron in 2002 when a project there uncovered some big issues in what they thought was good data. In that instance Chevron, had commissioned us to implement a large performance management system and planning workflow for their complex upstream exploration and production operations.

Early in that project we loaded 15 years of detail data into a backend analytical database. This included the next 3 year plan that had just been completed.  Although valuable data was visible early in the project, no formal business use was made of it until sign off and rollout strategies were completed. That meant it had it wait until all processes were competed nearly 5 months later.

About mid-term in the project,  as a routine, I was discussing progress with  the CFO.  He was the project’s chief sponsor and very switched on. At that meeting I tested a concern that buy-in was taking too long.

He just laughed and said, clip_image004"Your team  have uncovered so many problems in our data, I am not surprised people are hard to engage. They are so busy chasing the bugs that have come out from under the rocks you turned over ".

That was my moment of truth in what went on to be a most successful project. It also set the mould for delivery value management of many similar projects since.

Read more…

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Categories: Business Intelligence Tags:

Incentive Compensation Designs


Recently, I was  involved in some conversations with business leaders about incentives and compensation schemes that companies offers in today’s tough economic situation This discussion was also mindful of the debates around  AIG’s bonuses to 73 executives where reasonable. And it asked the question is “What is the normal incentive scheme that most companies uses” and “ which one of them fits with my company?”

In this post I will discuss just some of the key areas on incentives we  considered.

The first common option we discussed is the bonus based compensation linked to absolute target. This incentive is triggered by meeting the committed target (measures)

e.g. the manager’s bonus is paid in additional 10% of base salary if his unit’s earning grows by at least 10%.  This option provides clear performance expectation and is eventually a straight forward performance evaluation. However, this option reflects a downward bias to forecasts to create easier target value with no incentive to provide accurate forecasts beyond the specific time period. More or less being negotiations game resulting a longer forecast cycles.

image

The second option was incentive compensation linked to forecast accuracy, where bonus varies with accuracy of forecasts committed

e.g. the manager’s bonus declines by 5% for every percentage point of deviation between forecasted and actual unit’s earnings growth. This option highlights the importance of giving accurate forecasts, and shows that under forecasting can be as unfavorable as over forecasting. Also this option reflects a downward forecasts to create targets that are easier to hit with more accuracy, and nothing beyond that committed target. With no incentive to provide accurate forecasts beyond specific period as the first option.

In practice, how can we avoid forecasts bias? In South Western Airlines (1), they discovered that having incentive compensation linked to overall profits works.  Making bonuses a proportion of a profits earned e.g. a unit manager is given 0.002 percent of the total year profit. With this scheme, forecasts are done unbiased, the cycle take less time and the staff provides best efforts to achieve highest profit.

As an aside, when you look at the culture of this high Kudos and point to point airline that walks the talk on performance even today in the face of economic adversity. Their incentive motivation in their case also goes beyond the technical and embodies a dichotic culture that is based on Pee-wee’s Playhouse style fun and life style. This is well summarized in the Fortune reported quote from south west then CFO Gary Kelly

“Keeping a hawk’s eye on costs is just as much a part of the company’s culture as its silliness”.

However, a debate of which business unit or department should have what percentage depending on which “measure” is always a concern.

In some companies, measuring over head counts could be the solution. Total profit comes from every staff’s effort in generating revenue and reducing cost, so everyone should have an equal share. There could be possibility of “free-riders” problem if applied in large organizations

SNAG-0015

Allocation using percentage of annual revenue generated is also another practical scheme. By calculating the portion of revenue earn in each department over the total company revenue gives the percentage of incentive compensation for that department.

Allocation by number of computers is also another popular choice that measures the number of computer used in each department over total number of computers in the company.

And rarely, allocating by time sharing, given the estimated amount of time spent for each cost center/business over the total hours for the month for the department.

For all the options given, in a simple organization like the one shown above, things should be easy and straight forwards. But for complex and large organization, this is considered a tough task not to mention business dynamics and changes within the organization.

Therefore, the challenges would be;

1. Which incentive compensation is best for your organization?

The answer could be either a single option like the ones described above or a mixture of options depending on department properties

e.g. Business Units uses profit sharing and Service Units using resource allocation. This is reflected in employment benefit package given to staffs both currently on payroll and new recruits on either a quarterly or annual frequency.

SNAG-0016

2. How to achieve it?

With the provided resource and capability you have.(Avoiding mistakes yet still able to deliver on time). How do we do it today? Most companies rely on the good old spreadsheet like Excel. [See my Dec 2008 post Merit & Bonus] But does that answer all the bells and whistles problems you face every month end? How can you control and manage it while consolidation is done by a junior staff?

-0-

In summary the conversation concluded by saying whatever incentive compensation options are used they should be flexible enough allowing changes, yet still allowing control over results to meet business requirements. Although the conclusion may sound easy, in reality, it is very hard to achieve without proper infrastructures.

Everyone was also in unison that a sensible game plan for the business was needed with acceptable performance levels able to be measured. Then this can be linked in such a way so the rewards can be equitably balanced and shared as incentives.

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Is a CEO job now just a doddle?

March 20th, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

For CEO’s  and all C levels now, if you like a challenge, the ability to focus a business has never been so easy. Let me put it another way.  CEO’s I meet now are saying, with the so called good times gone, people are actually cutting the crap and just focusing on the business and quality to get results. So it is much simpler now. The great news for me is, as  I  lead in our advisor and service provider firm, our clients are finding this  too.

What I am seeing is happening at the human end is discussions around semantics quickly fail in most environments now if they don’t add value. And job protection rackets like bureaucracy screens are being exposed without much effort as the business end of integrated supply chain links customer systems to delivey with a deadly punch to the sloppy.

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For me the fun is now seeing a new breed of manager thinking join up the direct value and results of cause and effect effort. With the easy money for smoke and mirrors gone, we have not seen this for a very long time. With distractions and choices narrowed, it is also much simpler for customers too. So it is not surprising it is also becoming easier to talk to them sensibly too without fluff as an issue, when they want some real help.

But now more-so than ever market responsiveness by default means decisions are being made real-time or much faster but also on sound principles too. Which means planning, preparation and readiness are even more vital.  People are paying real attention these best practices as being so important now with lip service solutions that” do it for me” no longer an option to be considered.

Since my early days as a young accountant and business fledgling, I learned the things that are important are  getting the numbers fast to make decisions, shortening planning and budget cycles that get commitment and making sure sound information technology and processes are  in place to process transactions, so it all hangs together.  But most important overarching of all that I learned as a midle manager and later as business executive on the sharp end, was I needed  fast easy access to transparent decision based reports that linked operations and strategies well. 

These are all accepted best practices that every business person  knows they  must  have. And it is not even a question of need. If it is questioned at all  now it is mostly to move people and systems on that cannot delver to these expectations  And with market chnages of late, we are finding organizations who are not  up to par are now  running to get there to survive as they know seat of the pants thinking will no longer work.

The clever guys too are now using the simple fact based analytical tools that come with these tools sets to look for the money. And they are finding it too in spite of what you might read in the papers about gloom and doom. They are using them to move their ships as needed  from strategic to tactical mode to be more reactive to markets, from export to domestic markets to focus where demand has not evaporated, and to add pragmatics  to processes for more flexible styles to handle demand driven business changes. Many too are upgrading their capability for faster results so they can see what is happening quicker or to make sure they don’t lose what they have.

Most of the cowboys are gone too,  as conditioning for supply driven simplicity and integrity for growth has seen client based KPI measures striking that  sudden death I meantioned to delinquents.

Changing market conditions are saying there is a demanding different management skill. So I have to ask,  are fact based decisions styles of management at risk as a soon to-be forgotten habit, as we have moved qicukly to transition modes?. Of course not. The investments in this management genre has stuck well with the new breed of manager now emerging.  They have learned well how to use  fact based information as they have come through the ranks. And of course seasoned business leaders know it is way of doing things that works, no matter what business approach you use to  handle changed markets.

So for now the new world reminds me of the old world before the last 25 years of continuous change to simplify the complex and consolidate to grow  Then, like now, simple things worked and opportunities continued. What a breeze of a job I have. Now as I can just concentrate on my customers.

______________________________________________________________________________

Foot notes:

The picture in this off this U-Tube video about the Ford Motor company’s most advance assembly plant in the world.  It is  in Brazil and has robotics and world leader automated production line flexibility. The real story behind this revolutionary site with its own shipping vessels and  port is the close integration of the suppliers within the assembly plant. if you have seen it before it may be worth another look to get some ideas

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Gordon1998About The Post Author

Gordon Wood is Executive Director and Managing Partner at Sherwood Group Consulting, who are  performance management  advisors based in the Singapore Thailand and Australia.

 

 

 

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Maturity Model Risk Assessment


This week, I saw a pragmatic, yet simple engineering practice that made a business operation a performance leader. My brief was advising on Globally Harmonized Systems of classification and Labeling of chemicals and how it should be applied to package labeling. My scope was to give advice on best practices to design for an enterprise rack infrastructure. To give this advice my analysis required I consider the capability of the organization for change and the approach it took to manage it.

My client is multinational manufacturing company, with factories world-wide and Thailand where I had this assignment was one of the two best performing plants in Asia.

As I dug more about how they do things their Chief Executive told me their secret to this success,

“Our practice on expansion projects is to focus on issues that can be completed in a short period of time. “ The after making small investment to get results we build from there. Large projects for the time being anyway are frozen.”

With this knowledge I was able to assess the maturity change management which in this case was mastery level to plan incremental updates of the infrastructure.  

Recently, I had a workshop with a group of F&A department listed company in Thai Stock MarketCutting expenses and change habits could be viewed as first practice for personal finance, but as a CFO, where can you focus and control your budget?  The fact that month end trial balances could only be reported by mid of the following month is too slow for decision making. Go ahead and dig up your FA01 class material and review how to create break even analysis, by the time you figure which department is causing trouble to the company; you might end up losing your job. Time is the key here. Being able to know your figures and analyzing them before you go down the drain is how to survive.

 Managing short and sharp projects is also a key noted. Having large, big bang projects lead to nowhere. Another listed company we talked with experienced this as they were planning to revamp their entire accounting system just because the IT director wanted a big tick on his KPI, in the end the project failed – change of scope, lost of internal sponsorship and implementation took too long to notice success.

 So if you’re planning to do that big bang long run project you planned last year, may I wish you good luck, who knows, lighting strikes! How much can you make per second anyway?

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Making Decisions in Risky Situations

March 14th, 2009 Nada Mills 3 comments

We make decisions all day every day. At times we do this on automatic pilot. At other times the process is much more deliberate. We are mentally more engaged and weigh up the pros and cons.

No doubt we also take risks every day. Some would say the simple act of getting out of bed in the morning involves risk, although it is equally true that staying in bed incurs risk as well.  You might just miss the bus and the opportunity just passes you by.

Perhaps we simply do not think about the risks involved in our day to day activities and it is only scenarios that involve making decisions whilst at the same time as taking risks that really get us to sit up and pay attention.  Just thinking about taking a risk has implications of hazards or chance of bad consequences.

Some risk taking might better thought of as rash or reckless beahviour.   Young people are believed to be more likely to take risks perhaps through experimentation, excess alcohol, drug use and partying too hard.   Although we all know of young people who come through unscathed so  perhaps the stereotype of youth as reckless is not entirely justified.  We may need to consider if assessing risk is a skill that can be acquired. Perhaps some are more likley to pay attention to warning signals?

Do we ever consider the term risk as something that might have some reasonable outcomes rather than carrying with it the notion of excess and loss?   Is there such a thing as a reasonable risk? This notion certainly lives in the business world.  To be  empowered to take reasonable risk is suggested as a pathway to profit.   If there is reasonable risk how do we determine what this is?  And given there is unreasonable risk what are unacceptable levels of loss or harm?

There are many questions raised when considering decision making in the face of risk. We might want to think about  how much of a role our emotions play in decision making?  Do you listen to you gut feeling or try to overide this with a logical analysis? Alternatively we might want to develop some creative ways of thinking about risk.

Perhaps the  decision making models that researchers use  can help witb some understanding of the processes you encounter with the practical day to day circumstances you find yourself in?

And of course does an optimism about finding your way through the maze get safely home?

Your thougths on these issues are welcomed. Certainly the dialogue we have will be interesting.  I look forward to some lively discussion.

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Categories: Human Resources, Risk Management Tags:

Carbon Constrained World Reality

March 13th, 2009 Ralph Eastman 3 comments

In my monthly reading review for February, I raised some issues about climate change. The key points of this I now restate in summary:

A conference, in Dec 2009 in Copenhagen of around 170  countries as parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ((UNFCCC), , will meet for the last time on government level, before a climate agreement is to be renewed. Early agreement is needed there so countries can get the treaty through their domestic legislation in time for 2013 start.

To resolve obstacles to understanding further what this conference is all about, I did some more research and sought opinion of people with expertise in this area. One such specialist, Stian Reklev at the Point Carbon subscriber service, gave PerformanceController some very useful information. It especially clarified not only the issues that will be dealt with at Copenhagen, but in fact what it is all about.

Mr. Reklev had a very clear understanding of the main discussion points for Copenhagen. He also said "these are proving terribly difficult to get consensus on"

The points are:

1. Emission caps.

Under Kyoto, only countries defined as developed countries have actual targets. 30-something countries have emission obligations in the 2008-2012 period they must stick to: 26 of the EU countries, plus Japan, Canada (who’ll miss theirs and they don’t care), Australia, NZ, Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine. Plus Monaco and San Marino. Belarus is trying to get into this group.

When Kyoto was negotiated in 1997 it was agreed that it would be unfair to restrict the development of poor countries by slapping emission caps on them. However, some of them have developed a lot since then and are now huge emitters. China, India, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa in particular. Developing countries now emit more than half the world’s greenhouse gases (although in historical context they are still not responsible for the climate change crisis itself, and counted per capita they are still small emitters compared to rich countries).

So for now, rich countries want poor countries to take on mandatory emission obligations. Not as strict as their own targets, but mandatory ones in some way. Obviously, China, India etc are still reluctant to risk their economic growth by doing so, and argue that they should not take on mandatory caps as long as rich countries struggle to comply with their Kyoto targets.

For the US and Australia, for example, it seems difficult to take on stringent targets while their biggest competitors (especially. China) can continued increasing their emissions unabated. (Australia has now ratified Kyoto, but they have an extremely easy target).

Meanwhile, knowing that the targets under Kyoto is not at all enough to stop climate change, poor countries say rich countries must take on much stronger targets. The US emits more than 20 tonnes CO2 equivalent per capita. The corresponding number for China is 5, for India 1.5. They keep pointing their fingers at the west, demanding more action.

2. Who picks up the bill?

Everyone knows that if the world is to avoid climate change, developing countries must achieve sustainable growth. A huge amount of clean technology must be transferred from rich to poor countries. Many, but not all, agree that it is reasonable that rich countries pay for a significant amount of this (considering they made the mess in the first place, plus they can afford it).

What they’re trying to do now is find a technology transfer mechanism that everyone is pleased with. That is very difficult: everyone wants to pay as little as possible.

3. Adaptation.

While mitigation continues to be a hugely important issue, most scientists agree that some climate change will occur regardless. Africa and Asia are predicted to suffer the most of this (Vietnam will be absolutely devastated). You probably know about the sinking pacific islands.

So what developing countries are trying to do now is to raise more money for adaptation measures. Again, as soon as money is involved, things get very complicated.

So that is what the big discussions is to be about in Copenhagen this year.

And as I eluded to in my earlier post, The US President Obama will play a completely different role than Bush. That of course does not ensure a success. The issue of concern is they will manage to agree on something, but will it be anything really good.

In the meantime, developed countries will increasingly cap emissions at home. Most of them are prepared to pledge deeper emission cuts if a good international treaty is in place, but even without one they will go ahead and do something.

The EU has an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in place, and keeps lowering caps for the 12,500 participants. Australia will get one next year, NZ has plans (that are under review by parliament now).

The US is expected to pass an ETS bill some time the next two years. In the meantime, ten northeastern states have already launched a regional ETS. Similar programs are being developed among western states and in the Midwest.

So the carbon-constrained world is coming, even though some countries may choose to slack up a little during the recession. The question is if there is enough guts out there to make regulations that are meaningful.

For us Aussies we need to consider if the Australian government’s target (5-15 per cent cut in emissions from 2000 levels by 2020) all a bit useless. It will cost a fair bit but is significantly below what scientists say is necessary to avoid climate change. So what’s the point in putting in place legislation that isn’t going to do the job?

To be continued…

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Amazing Stitch in Time Innovation

March 8th, 2009 Gordon Wood 4 comments

Yes in this case the use of the word "stitch"  is very correct.  This refers to a photo stitch process that was used for this truly amazing photographic work by Julian Kalmar.  This shows the glory of the fully restored Piaristen Church in Vienna built circa 1715-22

My story here is about an innovative business photographer. He is not only a good at his craft, but he has also perfected a unique process to make this world first photo.

Aside from the process being used like this for valuable historical documentation, it seems has great potential many other areas such as selling. Learning, Industrial and Business processes.

image

To see for yourself click in the picture to take you to Julian Kalmar’s web site. When, I contacted him, Mr. Kalmar told me he is presently using a shared hosted service which is sometimes closed when there is heavy traffic. If so he asks you to please just try again later.  And believe me it is worth it.

And when you do, be sure you pan around his 360 degree views too look around and up & down and zooming in and so one, you get a sense of actually being there looking at all the beautiful detail.

Read more…

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What we were reading in Feb, 2009.

March 3rd, 2009 Ralph Eastman No comments

image As we research or just read for interest we find  interesting stuff on varied subjects. I collect them here and add summaries for context. Also as I have the power with the keyboard, I hope you will forgive me if I sometimes I get carried away and add my two coins worth . You must tell me if it is not what you want or even perhaps just delete my link.

For this who want to read on,  before you do here is a quote I like:

“”Saying you make my day, makes my day.”  Anon

Aussie Bush Fires:

25 We acknowledge and pay respect to those who lost their lives in the Australian bush fires on Feb 7 2009. Our sincere condolences go to all who lost family and close friends. Many more are still in critical care and all now have to recover and rebuild their homes and their lives.

We encouraged anyone who feels so inclined to donate via the  Australian Red Cross.

 

 

Take a look at the monsters on my post here >> 

Climate Crunch Time:

image

It seems that everyone is well aware that climate change is a key issue for us all. But sadly, very few of us in the ordinary walks of life, find it easy to sort through the information we get. But like it or not to claim back the planet the carbon constrained world is a new reality .

This month the US President Obama asked Congress to legislate to meet the 80% emission reduction goal. He gave them no choice with an alternative that  the administration would resort to use provisions being the existing clean air act. In my post about this in Feb US Climate Czar Acts! a point I made may put a roadblock in the way of understanding. My statement that the US is not going to ratify Kyoto is not a factor. In fact it is much to late for that as current Kyoto Protocol on climate change and global warming expires in 2012 .

What is more important is President Obama has a crucial role to play is in the negotiations for a new protocol for Jan, 1, 2013 start. A climate conference, in Dec 2009 in Copenhagen, of all the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ((UNFCCC), comprising around 170 countries, will meet for the last time on government level, before a climate agreement is to be renewed. International talks have been underway for some time, and the hope is that at least a rough framework on a new treaty will be negotiated in Copenhagen during the UN conference. Early agreement is needed there so countries can get the treaty through their domestic legislation in time for 2013 start.

This subject is vital for us all now to be more aware, so we were are doing research on the issues and seeking advice on considerations for ongoing adaption Anyone with a contribution on this is very welcome to add to this content.

Here is some more detail about the Copenhagen UNFCCC Conference >>

Carbon Labeling:

clip_image004Have you ever wondered about those funny black feet with numbers on them feet appearing on products.  In Asia you don’t see them much yet but they are coming. In Europe, North America and elsewhere they are now quite commonplace.

No, it is not a brand for footwear either. The symbol tells consumers the carbon emissions taken to make the product, so you can buy wisely, being aware of the impact it has on our environment.

In February we attended a seminar in Bangkok about a “Carbon Footprint and Labeling” project  The project, now in its formative stage, is jointly lead by the EU Commission users and Thailand-EC Cooperation Facility Program.

The seminar discussed how the project would proceed and some of the issues it would deal with. The scope includes understanding  measurement standards, setting guidelines for labels,  making recommendations for use and certification control. Check out the report on this by Dr Kitipan Kitbamroong, himself an environmental specialist.

Why Carbon Footprint Labeling? >>

 

Beating on a TOM TOM

imageIt seems like Microsoft have a new Toy and they don’t like anyone else playing with it for free. Moreover they say Linux have stolen it from them so no we can sit back and watch Linux wagons form a circle and the battle begin.

imageIf like my wife and millions of people in the last 2 years who got a Tom Tom in a their gift boxes, and now use it daily to get you from A to B,  this may interest you.

Read >> Is Microsoft finally taking Linux to court?

The most qualified job hunter

I like this man’s advice in his case study post

“Kevin’s heard me say a thousand times, “The most qualified job hunter is rarely the one who gets the offer?”  Yup that’s right.  It’s not a typo.  I’m not crazy.  The best positions go to the people who do the best job at positioning themselves as the best solution to an employer’s problem — once in they’re in the interview.  And that’s the rub. “

That is an extract from this well worth while post which goes well on as a case study for job seekers.

In the body one very “just get it “point he makes:

“Employers only hire when they have problems to solve. And they will only hire you if they can specifically see you as the solution to their problems.”

Sounds like Sales doesn’t it? So I  have added this to my recommend reading list for salespeople:  Maybe a bit more about job hunters pipeline management would be useful but I guess that is why and recruiters have job inventories.

Job Hunting Case Study: Kevin Watson – The Resume Makeover with before and after examples. see

Link here to check it out >>

I’m just John.. With a Guerilla CV

clip_image002I found this while reading some comments on a Linkedin blog.  If you are serious about getting a job, you cannot miss the shear subtly of this approach.

John S Rajeski sets a new the bar on and blows me away with his approach.

Link here is John S. Rajeski >>

 

 

Who’s Logged In

If you think it is just us young guys on the net have another look.

Baby boomers young and old are in there and even many older generations have taken to email by preference and to get information on such thing as health. Her is what looks like some good research work on this, It shows 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receives email.

clip_image002[1]

Interesting too that Teenagers, who use internet more for fun on the other hand are using email less. And ages 33-44 use it for shopping.

The article I got this information from expands commentary on all demographics and has a very useful graphical slide presentation to back it up.

The table below explains the definition terms used for the various generations.

image

 

 

 

 

Check it out>> 

 Home-Based Businesses Tips

This is useful stuff on home business I found in San Francisco Chronicle

These are the heading is covers

  • Naming Your Home-Based Business
  • What It takes to run a Home-Based Business?
  • Windows or Apple Computers for My Company?
  • Separating Your Home from Your Business
  • Balancing Work with Family
  •  http://allbusiness.sfgate.com/3473091-1.html

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    Categories: What we are Reading Tags:

    Why Carbon Footprint Labeling?


    imageWith my colleagues at  Sherwood Group Consulting, our sponsor, we attended a seminar about a “Carbon Footprint and Labeling” project.

    The project  now in it formative stage is jointly lead by the EU Commission users and Thailand-EC Cooperation Facility Program.

    The meeting advised on how the project would proceed and some of the issues it would deal with including measurement standards, setting guidelines for labels  making recommendations for use and certification control.

    This is initiative will draw on expertise and experience on already well advance constraints being exercised  in carbon aware markets and especially approaches taken by many large multi-nationals, including those in the food industries.

    Speakers were:

    Assoc Prof Vudtechai kapilakanchana – President Kasetsart University Thailand

    Samuel Cantell – First secretary of delegation of European Commission to Thailand

    Assoc Prof Dr ShabbirH – Gheewala JGSEE Thailand

    Mr Stephen Reeson – UK Food and Drink Federation

    Mr Claver Kanyarukoki  -Inst Nat Research France

    Dr Alumudena Hopsido – University of Santiago de Compostela Spain

    They all provided compelling reason for Carbon labeling and provided methodologies and approaches to costing. One of the bottlenecks highlighted by Mr Reeson was a general lack of good data for analysis and footprint measuring capability.

    Either the data was not recorded, or too much data was housed without proper storage and data mining techniques. This lead to lower confidence when quantifying carbon emission with questionable accuracy of the the total life cycle footprint counts.

    Many as is the project team, looking at ways to solve this issue with systematic multi-dimensional data capturing and warehousing together with analyzing capability using pre-built LCA/SFA modeling that is needed, regardless of the front end to do the calculation.

    There’s is also a plethora of so called calculators out there already that are mostly hooks to entice traffic to a site. Even Google has a carbon footprint calculator, gadget which does simple weighted calculations based on data you need enter to see a result as it then takes you to the authors’  propriety site.

    One innovation we have been investigating with some experts in France is, using simple BI tools to set up variable multi-dimensional model. Builds and testing in our laboratory, so  far,  have given us very satisfactory results to see if it may be quite easily used to determined and manage LCA hotspots and for labeling certification.

    The areas of carbon measurement and labeling is quite new in Asia so Performance Controller will continue to work with our our sponsor and others to report progress as is relevant. We also plan to establish as Carbon Footprint category and a register of experts people can contact in this web site.

    More on that as we progress.

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