With Alpes Supply Chain, BEVOLTA supports the Alpine industrial ecosystem in transition.

Thursday, 22 September, the Alps witnessed the birth of a new player within the local industrial fabric: the Alpes Supply Chain association, designed as a platform for exchange around societal and environmental challenges in supply chain. An initiative supported by BEVOLTA. Meeting with Jean-Baptiste Fleck, its co-founder.

"CSR issues – the corporate social responsibility – usually impact the supply chain in a 'top-down' mode, without the supply chain being spontaneously associated with these upstream reflections. However, the supply chain is a key lever of the value chain if we want to reduce a company’s environmental footprint. Based on this observation, we want to initiate a 'bottom-up' approach in collaboration with all the actors of the local ecosystem so that our professions are better recognized as drivers of the ecological transition. This is the mission set by the Alpes Supply Chain association.

- Does this initiative respond to a strong demand from players in the Supply Chain?

The conviction shared by the eight co-founders of the association is that these issues will continue to gain importance in society and that in terms of supply chain we have a lot to say!

It is a fascinating universe that is really starting to move, especially since the State is implementing incentive programs to reduce CO2 emissions. This will also be one of the themes of the conference we are organizing on 20 October in Annecy where we will engage several public programs.

- As a supply chain consulting expert, how did you come to these subjects?

I've been interested in this for a long time, having conducted a thesis on returnable packaging in distribution in the early 2000s. I then created the transport function within Groupe SEB where I was head of transport activities for ten years. I discovered that containers could be placed more on trains or barges. This was a big success with 90% modal shift for 10,000 containers per year. I love this example because it speaks volumes about the significant impact in terms of reducing CO2 emissions when deciding to align competitiveness with environmental challenges. This is just one among many examples to illustrate the tremendous potential offered by the supply chain.

What I observe today as a consultant, like my colleagues, is that there is a huge appetite in the supply chain ecosystem for these questions, where there is also much talk of innovation.

- The optimization solution publisher BEVOLTA is an official partner of the association. This is the first French publisher to adopt the Demand Driven methodology. Why was this partnership important to you?

As a consultant, we are always on the lookout for innovations that may interest the companies we support, so when we discover a solution that addresses both competitiveness and environmental challenges, we want to share it.

In this respect, the Demand Driven methodology – DDMRP – seemed particularly relevant to us as it allows companies, in an more uncertain context than ever, to better plan their flows based on real demand, better anticipate their production and thus reduce their waste. All while maximizing their service rate. Today this innovation still remains little known among the supply chain players who mainly use the MRP methodology.

We are very proud of this partnership which perfectly illustrates the impetus we wish to give through the Alpes Supply Chain association."

Visit the Alpes Supply Chain website to learn more about the association's upcoming highlights. More than twenty events are planned for the year, including conferences such as 'Reducing CO2 emissions' and 'HR Challenges in Supply Chain', industrial and logistics site visits, training on DDMRP in partnership with BEVOLTA or even on stress management, and finally collaborative workshops on various themes, the conclusions of which will be shared with members...

Haute-Savoie, a rich industrial ecosystem

There are 1,600 industrial companies and 600 transport logisticians. Notably in the Arve Valley where hundreds of screw-cutting companies are established, as well as watchmaking and sporting industry actors, structured around the Outdoor Sport Valley association. Several emblematic companies are established there, such as Staubli, SNR, Pilot, Botanic, Somfy, Groupe SEB as well as many SMEs and SMIs.

Statements collected by Ghislain Journé.