Step Change in Agri-Food Logistics Ecosystems – or Project SCALE, as it is better known – has been engaging with food and drink companies across North-West Europe for the last three years in order to develop new tools and frameworks to help improve their supply chain sustainability with a focus on improving the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of social, environmental and economic performance.

After six successful transnational conferences (held in the UK, France and the Netherlands), hundreds of presentations, workshops and seminars and having engaged with over 1800 key decision makers within the food and drink industry, the Project is nearing a conclusion and the results are in.

The process has at times been both challenging and rewarding for the Project Partners – Cranfield University, DHL, University of Wageningen, University of Artois and EFFP – who have used their combined commercial acumen and academic expertise to not only create tools and frameworks but also to identify the key barriers and enablers often encountered on the quest for improved sustainability.

To ensure these valuable lessons and tools are not lost after the Project closes in September,  SCALE, which is partly funded by INTERREG IVB North-West, has launched the Sustainable Food Chains Platform (www.sfcplatform.eu) which features all Project outputs and learnings.  

Free to access and use, the Sustainable Food Chains Platform contains the Sustainable Food Chains eBook which outlines the SCALE Journey and hosts all the tools and frameworks in the Knowledge Library section. These include:

• The Canvas which allows a business to assess a number of ideas very quickly; dismissing those that don’t work and helping to select those that are worthy of further and more detailed exploration. 
• The Sustainability Assessment Framework which can be used to redesign supply chains aiming to improve overall performance.
• The Collaboration 4 Sustainability eWorkbook which facilitates the launch of a collaborative initiative focussed on TBL aspects between two or more organisations taking into account the complexity of working across a network of organisations.
• The Supply Chain Risk Assessment tool which focuses on the risks specific to the food industry and encourages management teams to be more proactive in mitigating potential issues.
• The Collaboration Planning tool - an aid to decision making, it allows for multiple scenarios to be created and compared, which includes triple bottom line criteria and can be tailored to individual circumstances.

The Sustainable Food Chains Platform has also joined with key organisations across Europe to ensure the key learnings and tools are disseminated as far as possible. The organisations include the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Food Storage and Distribution Federation, vLm (Vereniging Logistiek Management) and Green Freight Europe.

Denyse Julien, Senior Lecturer at Cranfield University explains: 'The past three years have been very exciting and the Sustainable Food Chains Platform features an impressive range of tools and analysis which can help a business fundamentally improve their supply chain competitiveness. Equally important are the lessons we have learned on the way and these together with our relationships with leading supply chain organisations across Europe will we hope help engender a meaningful step change in sustainable logistics in the years to come.'


Further information is available from www.sfcplatform.eu