Juggle that carbon: IBM releases a tool for managing the impact of corporate supply chains

The services team at IBM Global Business Services has developed a software application for helping companies collect, analyze and manage the impact of their supply chains when it comes to carbon footprints.

Called the Carbon Tradeoff Modeler, the application does things like help an executive understand and balance the tradeoff between adopting a carbon emissions reduction effort and supply-chain metrics such as the ability to deliver products on time. A module called the Carbon Management Analysis Tool points out where emissions and costs can be achieved simultaneously.

Among the factors that the software can follow are packaging options, alternative operations ideas, alternative methods of transportation and fuels, and overall sourcing policies. So, if your company is thinking about switching lot sizes, you can test what impact that might have on transportation requirements and associated emissions.

Here's the whole skinnyon the software, in IBM's words.

IBM has also provided the link for a white paper on ideas for carbon management practices (Mastering Carbon Management: Balancing Tradeoffs to Optimize Supply Chain Efficiencies), which can be found here.

Also wanted to mention a couple of other new technologies from IBM that were announced a few weeks back during its IBM Business Partner Leadership Conference. They include an update to the IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager, which (as it might sound) keeps tabs on power consumption in data center and lets IT managers make adjustments to affect usage levels. The software works with sensor technology from SynapSense, which I've written about a couple of times.

The other thing worth taking a look at is an energy-efficiency benchmark tool that wasn't developed by IBM but that it recommends businesses use to compare their power profile with other companies. The tool (produced by The Bathwick Group) can be found at this link.