The global technology company driving the future of energy towards sustainability P R O J E C T PA R T N E R
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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
The global technology company driving the future of energy towards sustainability Janaina Ruas Filiponi,
Europe Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability at SLB, on the company’s journey to embed sustainability into the supply chain function and the role the supply chain plays in its vision for a decarbonised, sustainable future.
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In the last century, global technology company SLB has evolved and adapted to the ever-changing demands of the energy industry, its customers and partners.
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ith a heritage of innovation behind the company, SLB positions itself as an early adopter and pioneer of new mindsets poised to tackle the dual challenge of guaranteeing energy security and affordability while reducing carbon emissions to meet our net zero goals.
focusing on decarbonisation and technology innovation to address the world’s energy needs and forge ahead with global energy transition. The new chapter for the legacy Schlumberger brand underscored the company’s commitment to decarbonisation, digitalisation, new energy systems and innovation in the oil and gas In October 2022, Schlumberger industries. SLB’s bold vision is to announced its rebranded name, SLB, accelerate the energy transition as part of the company’s new identity with sustainability at the core of its ambition. Here to tell us more about the supply chain digitalisation, innovation and performance underpinning SLB’s new chapter is Janaina Ruas Filiponi, Europe Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability. Janaina’s background is in engineering and she has been at the company for over 20 years, working in various departments, starting in operations and now business functions. Today Janaina heads up the supply chain department for SLB’s European operations and oversees the region’s sustainability endeavours. She orchestrates sourcing, supplier management, materials, logistics and regulations alongside taking charge of the internally focused sustainability strategies for that geography. The two main layers to Janaina’s role are intrinsically linked, since 5
enacting change with sustainability goals in mind almost always winds its way to a supplier, procurement policy or logistics strategy of some kind, she explains. “I’m personally very passionate about sustainability. As my awareness about overall sustainability developed, it made sense for me to start embedding sustainability into our supply chain discussions. For example, if we want to go ahead with changes to a solar project, switch the LED lights in our offices or transition our fleet to electric vehicles or electrical forklifts – everything was naturally linked to supply chain discussions,” summarises Janaina. It means we also get to work on our sustainability in terms of our ongoing community engagements and human rights policies across our supply chain.” SLB embraces innovation across the board as a global technology company and it is also particularly prevalent in the supply chain strategies it has been rolling out since the rebrand last year in 2022. “Innovation has been embedded into the DNA of SLB, for a very long time,” describes Janaina. “It’s built into the company and with the new chapter where SLB is being guided by sustainability, decarbonisation and a global energy transition, we understand that change 6
won’t happen without determined and focused innovation efforts. If businesses and companies continue to do things as they are today, the pace of change towards reducing emissions or reaching net zero will be too slow. Therefore, innovation and new mindsets are imperative. “So if we consider innovation at SLB from a supply chain perspective, our mission is trying to understand from the business and operations sides what our internal demands are and where we need visibility to recognise opportunities for improvements in terms of the goals we’re striving towards. Once we identify the places to focus on, we usually have a supplier linked to them.
“We work in the world of data, technology and AI. Everything can have better visibility, more innovative approaches and improved effectiveness”
“Just over two years ago, we introduced our Supplier Innovation Program (SIP). Here we engage with our top 15-20 suppliers worldwide and as a business, we challenge them to propose a win-win supply chain innovation for us both to adopt. “After we consider these presentations, we fine-tune our focus towards a few of the most promising proposals and start those projects on the ground. Not only does this catalyse innovation, but it also strengthens our relationships with our high-level suppliers and these relationships evolve into collaborative partnerships.
“SIP started as a global initiative but now we’re cascading it down to the regional divisions of SLB,” continues Janaina. “For example in Europe, we are rolling out the SIP approach to our specific suppliers. But supply chain innovation at SLB is not just limited to the global or continental levels, although the bigger picture perspective is of course crucial. We also explore innovation at a granular level and encourage teams to suggest efficiency improvements that affect our daily processes and operations. That can come in the form of a different way we do tasks or new approaches to apps and data with enhanced visibility. “We work in the world of data, technology and AI. Everything can have better visibility, more innovative approaches and improved effectiveness. We instil this mentality into our teams. Consider our operations in Europe where we have about 6,000 suppliers. If we aren’t embracing innovation 7
and efficiency in the supply chain department, missed opportunities and inefficiencies soon multiply out and interactions become more complicated across the board. We want our people to work on valueadded tasks with less time spent on menial or transactional tasks.” Janaina explains how digitalisation and performance are two core components of SLB’s supply chain innovation. “At one level we help our clients on their journey towards excellence in performance and digitalisation, so it makes sense for us to embrace them as a company as well,” says Janaina. “More specifically we are currently focusing on the digitalisation of our data. We have a tremendous volume of transactions every single day and if we weren’t digitalising this process, it would hinder visibility and have knock-on effects throughout the entire business. Digitalisation is key for our supply chain and company growth. “When it comes to performance, it is a mindset for us at SLB embedded into our brand and how our teams operate. So for instance, if we consider the supply tender process, today we are trying to implement new ways of thinking within the existing sourcing process. We’re building in factors such as 8
security, sustainability or energy consumption.” SLB champions sustainability by deploying advanced technological innovation, facilitating decarbonisation and striving towards new energy systems. But Janaina describes how these externally directed endeavours have been reflected by internal development as well. She highlights two major initiatives related to training and visibility that have been particularly impactful at SLB within its supply chain. “Even before our rebranding in 2022 and that shift towards greater emphasis on sustainability and the global energy transition, we recognised a need to improve our internal awareness in terms of sustainable initiatives,” states Janaina. “In the past two years, we’ve been working incredibly hard to develop our awareness and training related to sustainability. It was a huge, multifaceted effort to keep the entire business aware of our sustainability initiatives. “We started at a global level by developing formal training programmes with supply chainspecific modules. Over time we refined our training efforts and enhanced our courses by
partnering with universities and research centres to advance our awareness even further. “Many of our key stakeholders, managers and supervisors are being invited to enrol in these 2-3 month training programmes. “We’ve now turned our attention more broadly towards engagement to capitalise on this momentum, but in a fun, compelling way. We partnered globally with a science education platform that works with companies to highlight the subject of sustainability, based on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change data, but in an accessible and entertaining way. In our region we also launched a Sustainability
Roadshow where we engage in a fun and interactive way with a short inperson workshop focusing not only on the company global directions and priorities but also our own sustainability initiatives to reach all levels of the organisation. That has been successfully ongoing since June, involving several different countries. “The second pillar of our efforts towards sustainability centres on visibility regarding our emissions. As with any company, we have better control over our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions since they are internal. But it is the scope 3 emissions where the greatest potential impact lies. “Even though this is the most challenging area to catalyse change, 9
as a company we have committed to reducing our scope 3 emissions and partnered with CDP Worldwide to improve SLB’s environmental impact with external accountability.” Janaina describes how SLB has asked its key suppliers to disclose their emissions for several years now. “It's not an easy exercise and we don’t expect details from all our suppliers because some might not have the bandwidth or maturity for now,” she admits. “But it is possible for some of our key suppliers, and for the others, we built frameworks to help them advance their capabilities so they can offer insights. It's critical to work in collaboration with our key suppliers on that journey.”
Due to the global nature of SLB’s operations, Janaina explains that the company recognises its messaging related to sustainability needs to be adjusted to the diverse countries and cultures where they are based. “In my region we cover over 20 countries, so we created a framework where we could organise ourselves a bit better based on locations. We formed a sustainability SteerCo where we define the direction and priorities in each place. In turn, we adapted different communication strategies to approach our colleagues. To give better transparency and visibility in what we are implementing in the region, we developed an app where
“Teamwork has been an empowering force that propels many of our teams towards collective success”
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we provide visibility on all our ongoing projects, their status or progress and who is involved in them. “This has not only helped us to fulfil that internal demand from our people to have transparency in what was happening across the company, but also it has helped us to track the sustainability projects at a higher level. “We divide these endeavours into three broad categories. The first is our internal sustainability and emissions. The second is focused on the social side, in terms of our community and human rights work. The third pillar focuses on how we are helping our clients either on the new energy side or how to decarbonise their emissions. “With the support of many different teams in place, we put all these systems in place so we have transparency from the top down, but also the bottom up. For instance, on the same portal employees can upload ideas for new projects and volunteer themselves to participate in some of those projects. So our engagement is thorough and clear, and we can track what is happening. “Communication is a key element in any successful endeavour, especially one as complex as sustainability. Timely and transparent information sharing across teams and stakeholders is vital to fostering
collaboration and results. The more education and information that flows towards our teams, the more initiatives and ideas emerge, driving sustainable practices and resilience. “By leveraging the power of communication, I believe that we can create a more informed and motivated sense of community, engaged towards a more sustainable future. But Janaina reiterates that major projects like reducing scope 3 emissions and educating its staff on sustainability or deploying supply chain digitalisation and performance require teamwork, partnerships and collaboration. “Teamwork has been an empowering force that propels many of our teams towards collective success,” says Janaina. “To achieve many of those results, I’m lucky enough to work with a cohesive team and different stakeholders who have been instrumental in helping to achieve our aspirations. The more we work on collaboration across different teams, the more we are able to tackle challenges, overcome obstacles and achieve what would not have been possible without that synergy. “We cannot solve these profound global challenges by ourselves,” says Janaina. “These issues are very complex, and we rely on allies to help us. 11
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“Entro helped us understand our habits better and with their assistance we reduced our consumption considerably at our Aberdeen facilities in the first year – it has been a very successful partnership” “For example, we work closely with Entro – an energy efficiency company from Norway – to reduce our consumption at some of our facilities. We kicked off the project with them at our operations in Aberdeen, Scotland. We have a ‘no cure, no payment’ deal in place with Entro. They visited our sites and deployed their expertise to analyse where we could decrease our energy consumption. From there, we agreed that if they achieved a certain drop in consumption for us within a specific period of time, we would pay them a portion of the savings. “Entro helped us understand our habits better and with their assistance we reduced our consumption considerably at our Aberdeen facilities in the first year – it has been a very successful partnership. 14
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“We hope we can build on this partnership and expand it to other SLB facilities in Europe. “Another example of a productive and valued partnership is our work with Red Wing Safety. Red Wing is our PPE provider and we collaborate not only on safety but sustainability as well. For instance, we have been developing more sustainable
overalls and boots that will benefit both companies and work towards goals we are both trying to achieve – always keeping safety front and centre.” So what does the future hold for SLB? “I trust there will be a lot of exciting developments in the coming years,” says Janaina. “I envision further
“Red Wing is our PPE provider and we collaborate not only on safety but sustainability as well”
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growth related to energy security as this is such a crucial topic. But I also think we are well positioned with the right concepts and right mindset to grow in the right direction, helping our clients but also positively impacting the planet as well. There’s a tangible feeling of excitement here at SLB for this new chapter in the company’s rich history. We’re looking at promising new relationships with many different stakeholders, providers and clients that may evolve into collaborative partners – it’s very fluid and stimulating to witness and be a part of, especially on the new energy and decarbonising side of the company. “SLB is an innovative company, and we know there are a tremendous amount of opportunities for us to work towards. There is no way that the global energy transition and the drive towards net zero will happen without innovation and that’s embedded into our DNA as a company.” Learn more about SLB by visiting slb.com. 18
Personal passion meets professional purpose During the height of the Covid pandemic, SLB gave employees time off to help them cope with the demands and challenges of lockdowns. Janaina recalls using this opportunity to take on additional training and professional
development related to sustainability since it was a cause close to her heart. “At a personal level, I wanted to better understand the situation before us,” shares Janaina. “It opened my eyes and once you have that awareness, you can’t ignore it. It just so happened that at the time SLB was focusing more attention on sustainability and everything fell into place for me to embrace the second layer to my role related to sustainability beyond the underlying supply chain dynamic. “Beyond that, being able to be more aware of the sustainability cause and passing that to my family and kids has been rewarding. I’m a very proud mum of two and they started to talk more about the topic and take the small actions in our daily lives that shows their own early awareness about the theme.”
Book Janaina is currently reading Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More by Chris Bailey and highly recommends the
book to anyone grappling with all the information, priorities and distractions we juggle in modern daily life.
Wellbeing Janaina believes in finding ways to nurture well-being. “Our mental health is super important,” she insists. “Recently I’ve been more committed to making time for my mental health, which for me meant tweaking my schedule so I can exercise at the start of the day, every day, as much as much as feasible, even if on busy days that means only few minutes. My current year-to-date average daily is around 50 minutes per day. I’ve built this habit over the past year. I realised that if I make exercising a habit it is easier for me to actually keep track of it. Besides the physical benefits of the exercise, it also helps me to cope with so much information ongoing (i.e. such as online training, webcasts, podcast, etc) and overall has been incredibly helpful for my mental wellbeing.” Connect with Janaina
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slb.com
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