Business

Our view on sustainable business

A customer’s point of view:

Pierre Robert Group is distributing basic underwear, socks, hosiery and wool garments in 4000 grocery stores in Norway and Nordic from our online shop. Since the launch of Pierre Robert textiles in 2006 we have had a continuous focus on sustainability and responsible sourcing in our supply chain and operations. Sustainability is included in our business strategy and we are committed to contribute to a more sustainable textile industry through our operations.

80% of a garment’s environmental footprint comes from/is within our part of the value chain and Pierre Robert Group strive to choose the options to reduce the garments environmental footprint. By prioritising less impact materials and design, production facility, processes, packaging and transport from our factories we strive to reduce the negative impact. That is why we chose Greenccarrier Freight Services to convert our cargo transport from truck to rail/train from our largest supplier, Calzificio Fap, in Italy. This contributes to a reduction of Co2 from our transport and we are very happy with the services and deliveries we have e experienced with Greenccarrier Freight Services .

Margrethe Vikanes CSR & Quality Manager Pierre Robert Good logistics is when you understand your customer and their business in the sense that you don’t think of their products as just boxes being moved from one place to another.

But instead, you put yourself in your customer’s shoes to truly understand their needs and solve their problem. This is a relevant aspect of the freight forwarder’s role in an increasingly digitalised world.

Carl Larsson Director Ocean Consolidation Services Scandinavian and Baltic Region

Acting according to the law is obvious to most companies, but acting ethically is not always as obvious. While the law is the key starting point for any business, acting in an ethical way means distinguishing between right and wrong, and then making the right choices. Our ethics underpin the decisions anyone in our company makes. We believe that working as an ethical business attracts and retains customers, investors and employees.

Long term partnerships

Working in the Greencarrier Group means complying with laws, ordinances, regulations and other requirements – as a minimum. But we actually want to do more than what the legislation requires from us.

We strive to be a fair and honest business partner. To our help we have our policies and code of conduct. But as a value driven company it also means that we should be able to distinguish right from wrong and choosing the right conduct based on our values. That is why we work with our culture and values, and often work with partners that share a similar mindset.

As mentioned, our vision is top of mind for sustainable logistics solutions. Sustainable of course means having the environment in mind when we suggest a customer transport solution. But sustainable also means that we want to build relationships for a sustainable long term partnership with customers as well as suppliers.

This means that our top priority is to care for our customers, listen to their needs and solve their supply chain challenges. new activities that support innovative and sustainable transport solutions.

Denied Party Screaning

In the world of global trade there are ongoing changes through sanction lists and regulations in the EU and US as well as within various national and international organizations. These are constantly monitoring and updating several blacklists of companies, countries and even individuals that are potentially (or admittedly) linked to corruptive practices, terrorist activities and threats to national security.

This leads to the necessity for all the companies doing international business (like ours) to proceed with a Denied Party Screening (DPS), for checking and validating of those organizations, entities, and persons - we and our customers - do business with.

It is extremely important that our customers experience a professional handling when something happens that is not according to plan, therefore we have developed support systems to handle deviations in an efficient and correct way.

We also want to be a competence partner within different fields to our customers and partners, and have the ambition to inspire them to take an even larger responsibility for the environment. It is our responsibility to ensure that the shipments we are handling are not sanctioned goods or involving any illegal parties as per above.

The DPS process is a joint responsibility for everyone involved in our daily business and is a ca vital part of our “License to operate.”

During 2021 we launched a new E-Learning mandatory for all our employees about DPS and we established a DPS Complicance Team.

Erik Sjöström Supply Chain Innovation Manager Greencarrier Freight Services, International

Freight Forwarding – an industry in rapid transformation

COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the importance of good logistics and speeded up the transformation of the industry. How has the pandemic driven the change within logistics? What will we see more of forward?

In 2021 Greencarrier Freight Services’ Innovation Manager, Erik Sjöström, participated in Sweden China Trade Council and talked about the rising shipping costs, logistics trends, changes during COVID-19 and how to break internal organizational silos.

We had a short chat with Erik about the takeaways from the webinar. a function, having personal contacts as a guiding star. I think freight forwarders will develop more towards being a knowledge partner in the future, especially when managing complex, global supply chains in turbulent times. At the same time, I believe we will see a lot more digitalization for standardized, regular flows that are more reliable.

Firstly Erik, what is your role as Innovation Manager?

– My role is about transforming good ideas into concepts and logistics solutions that bring value to our customers, which in logistics is centered around sustainability, responsiveness, reliability, cost, speed etc.

What will we see more of after COVID-19?

– We are heading towards a rapid digitalization of the freight forwarding industry. In general, megatrends such as digitalization, sustainability and automation will be accelerated and consolidated, while the pandemic itself will blow over. Many other industries have been digitized and changed rapidly in recent years, but in forwarding there is still a lot of manual work. I think we will see a great transformation.

How has the pandemic driven the change within logistics?

– The industry has previously focused on mass production, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. When COVID-19 arrived, we realized that we might need to look at what we mean by a good logistics chain. It’s not just about cost efficiency, but also about building agility and robustness.

During the pandemic, customers have also demanded more knowledge and help to analyze what the changes mean for them. How have you experienced this?

– Customers have had the need to talk to someone to understand what this disruption means to them in their own industry, and here we have really been able to fulfill

What tips do you want to give companies out there?

– You need to optimize based on the value flow and think more holistically, meaning different departments within your company need to know what other departments do. Often, those who work with sales for example, have no idea what is happening at the logistics department in-house, or if it is turbulent on the production side in China. This has become even clearer during the pandemic. A ”You need to think more key to optimizing a chain is transparency, and that everyone in it knows holistically, meaning different what’s going on. departments within your Do you have any hands-on tips on how people internally should gain company need to know what other departments do. a more holistic view? – Sit down in the same room and measure the flow across functions, then things will start to happen for sure. This applies not only to departments within the company but also to the dialogue with your partners. If you build long-term trust between the players, it is much easier to help solve the problems that arise. This applies not least to us freight forwarders. This is nothing new, but still very current and important.

You often talk about preparation when you talk about logistics Erik, but what does this mean?

– In the restaurant industry, it is called “mise en place” – to prepare everything you can prepare. Then you must adapt depending on the situation, but if we take in what we know and prepare, we can faster adjust to what is needed by the situation. We have an incredible amount of data today, but at the same time we are incredibly bad at using it and visualizing it so that everyone understands. Companies who are best at quick changes, including green solutions, will be the winners in the long run. COVID-19 is absolutely affecting us, but the long-term trends such as AI, electrification and urbanization are here to stay and must be included in companies long term strategy. Take a step back and look at the whole picture, rather than get lost in the details.