Big Ideas in Supply Chain

Navigating sustainability challenges in semiconductors: With Deloitte's Michelle Dumais

Episode Summary

In the semiconductor industry where rapid innovation and faster product life cycles add ever-changing complexities throughout the supply chain, tackling sustainability and carbon emissions is no easy feat. As a manager within the supply chain management practice of Deloitte Consulting, Michelle Dumais understands the responsibility of making end-to-end supply chains more earth-friendly through ESG initiatives and reducing scope 3 emissions. Joining Michelle is Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, VP of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis, to discuss the importance of strategic sustainability planning for supply chain professionals, data-driven conversations, and why collaboration is critical to address these challenges.

Episode Notes

How do you operationalize sustainability in the semiconductor industry where rapid innovation and faster product life cycles add ever-changing complexities to the supply chain?

For Michele Dumais, Manager within the Supply Chain Management practice at Deloitte Consulting, it’s all about driving data, collaboration, and ensuring supply chain practitioners are involved in strategic planning. Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, VP of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis, joins Michelle to discuss the challenges of improving sustainability within the semiconductor industry. They discuss practical strategies to incorporate sustainability into existing capabilities and processes, the evolving role of AI in harnessing data and how everyone from engineers to suppliers can make an earth-friendly impact.

• Michelle says one of the biggest challenges semiconductor organizations face when it comes to embracing sustainability is properly managing big data throughout the different supplier tiers to address the biggest sources of emissions. It becomes especially tricky on a global scale because there are different ways to collect the data and questions regarding standardization. [06:15]
• Michelle says that it’s particularly difficult for semiconductor organizations because scope 3 emissions usually occur outside of a supply chain’s internal operations, but the good news is companies are starting to review the data through advanced dashboards for increased visibility, and AI can help create suggestions on how to best use that data to move toward sustainability goals. [8:53]
• To begin operationalizing sustainability initiatives, Michelle states that companies should begin with four main areas: getting the right data; alignment with their internal team to work towards a sustainability strategy that isn’t siloed; assess their capabilities and update processes; and look at readiness in terms of having the right talent, processes and technology in place. [12:55]

To hear more from Michelle and Polly about navigating sustainability challenges in the semiconductor industry, listen to our Big Ideas in Supply Chain Podcast.

To learn more about the work Michelle is doing at Deloitte Consulting, you can follow her on LinkedIn.