A supply chain manages the flow of material and information from the supplier to the delivery of finished goods to customers. A “sustainable” supply chain emphasizes environmental, social, and economic performance from procurement, planning, and managing the flow of materials, to the services provided to customers.

Eastman’s sustainable supply chain is focused on continual improvement and value creation in all aspects of the transformation of raw materials into finished, packaged products:

Measure Supplier Performance

Supplier performance measurement is a key process for Eastman’s procurement groups responsible for sourcing direct raw materials, energy supplies, indirect materials, logistics and other corporate services.  Eastman can drive improvement in supplier performance as well as ensure supplier commitment to sustainability in the supply chain. Supplier metrics as well as initial supplier selection criteria are used to manage service economic, and environmental performance of our global supplier base.  For example, measuring transportation incidents for logistics service suppliers  and including supplier commitment to Responsible Care^® enables Eastman to select and use more responsible, safer carriers and material suppliers.  Additional measures include delivery reliability, complaints or non-conformances and claims.

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Maximize Payload Quantities

Eastman attempts to maximize shipment quantities for both inbound and outbound shipments:

• Use tri-axle chassis to transport marine containers to the port.
• Take advantage of larger rail hoppers cars to ship product.
• Maximize incoming quantities for key raw materials like wood pulp, methanol, glycerin, and others.

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Develop alternative methods of supply

Eastman’s Procurement group has a team of employees dedicated to finding alternate methods of  supply.  Eastman exchanges like and unlike products both domestically and internationally with other producers to eliminate unnecessary shipments of products via truck, rail and ocean going vessel.  Eastman exchanged over $500,000,000 of products in 2008.  Another example of an alternate method of supply program is setting up joint logistical service agreements with co-producers which reduces the number of tanks required to store products at distribution centers and allows for more efficient product transportation.  The Alternate Method of Supply team is also involved in reprocessing a variety of by-products, wide-spec material, and contaminated finished goods via 3rd party converters who recover/convert materials that would otherwise be destroyed as waste.

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Develop supplier solutions

Eastman works closely with suppliers to develop long-term solutions to issues.  Solutions are driven through the use of root cause failure analysis to ensure the primary cause of the issue is identified and the solutions developed address the primary causes.  As an example, Eastman worked with a logistics carrier to determine the root cause of leaking trailers and implement a solution. The solution was shared with other carriers to ensure there were no leaks with other shipments.

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Improve Packaging

Eastman’s Supply Chain has a packaging team committed to improving packaging including promoting reusable packages, recycling, and reducing packaging materials.

Examples of past or on-going packaging initiatives include:

• Reduced the amount of material used in polypropylene bags while maintaining the strength and the volume.
• Reduced the paper in corrugated packaging.
• Reduced the steel in steel drums for products that are not transported long distances.
• Supported a supplier in reducing the waste stream of exterior coatings.  Heels remaining from exterior paint drums will be combined to produce a coating that is then applied the bottom of all steel drums.  Eastman supports this supplier in their initiative to improve environmental impact.
• Use recycled bulk bags for a customer with a closed loop recycling system.
• Use returnable package for yarn products.
• Replaced fiber drums, that typically must be land filled, with other package types.
• Use flexitanks (sea bulk container filled with a thick bladder) rather than drums for marine shipments of non-regulated chemicals.

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Use Renewable Materials

Eastman’s commitment to sustainability is demonstrated in material and service sourcing strategies.  Global Procurement is charged with sourcing materials that are less expensive, renewable, and secure.  A key and critical raw material for one of Eastman’s major product streams is renewable cellulose.

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Redesign and optimize supply chain network

Supply chain network optimization is a key contributor to supply chain sustainability.  Eastman’s objective is develop the most efficient network that has the right balance of cost, service and capital investment.  We are using technology to model options that provide a desired network of suppliers, service channels, storage facilities, transportation service providers, and distribution centers that support our global manufacturing operations.  Technology enhances the capability of making profitable and sustainable supply chain management decisions for a complex network.

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Develop customer solutions

Eastman routinely partners with customers to develop solutions which support our sustainability goals.  We proactively share knowledge with our customers and distributors around product and packaging  strategies, logistics network optimization options, alternative methods of sourcing, etc.,   Our objective is to shorten supply chains, reduce waste, improve productivity and minimize consumption of energy. 

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Use “Lean” and “Six Sigma” for process improvement

Eastman is very focused on continual improvement across all our supply chain disciplines.  We employ both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies in our focus to improve processes, reduce waste and increase productivity.  For example, we recently used Lean Office events to implement paperless processes across our order fulfillment activities.  This resulted in improved employee productivity, less use of supplies such as paper and ink, and less waste generated.

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Manage investment recovery

Environmental Protection: 
Eastman identifies surplus assets which can be redeployed within the corporation or sold externally for future “functional” use.  This avoids the disposition of these assets to scrap yards or landfills.   On-site auctions, open to the community, are also used for surplus equipment.  A new initiative for on-line auctions is also being launched.

Economic Development:
The goal of the Investment Recovery team is to “maximize” the corporation’s return on surplus assets through redeployment and sales efforts

Social Equity: 
Eastman often partners with local schools and universities to donate requested equipment and materials when available.  

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Ensure global compliance

Global compliance is a key component of Eastman’s Supply Chain strategy. Compliance is critical to a sustainable supply chain.  We comply with government and trade regulations for the area of operation.  The following is a sample of organizations or initiatives that impact supply chain operations:

• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Responsible Care
• Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (SOX)
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001)
• Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT)
• Federal Railroad Administration
• REACH (EMEA region)
• Customs (various countries of operation)