A Sustainable Supply Chain

By Colin Read, May 7, 2009

Clinton County is once again on the leading edge of economic trends. Like our neighbors to the north, this area is investing heavily in a sustainable supply chain.

Eyefortransport, an organization that supports transportation, logistics and supply chain practitioners, recently released the results of a survey of 250 North American supply chain executives. They report that a sustainable supply chain is at the forefront of executives' concerns, and is fast becoming the first priority for many companies. The survey showed that 59% of respondents are implementing energy efficiency improvements, 42% are redesigning logistics networks, and 39% are measuring or reducing emissions.

The North Country has always been aware of its important strategic location. It is part of a robust and sustainable supply chain that connects Canada's manufacturing regions in Quebec and Ontario to suppliers and markets in the Northeast. The history goes back centuries, to traders who navigated the St. Lawrence River (now Seaway), Lake Champlain, and the Hudson River. The War of 1812 was even fought in part to secure this vital North-South trade route.

Now, the trade route is by highway, but the strategic significance of an efficient transportation channel is no less important today. Transportation and warehousing are growing in this region at a predicted rate higher than the New York and national averages, and shall continue to grow over the next decade (see charts below).

This region also benefits from the recent effort from Canadian industry to emphasize lean and efficient transportation networks. Long a home for Canadian industry expanding to the United States, Clinton County has also been quick to adopt the Canadian ideal of sustainable and efficient supply chains.

A sustainable supply chain has become paramount for a number of reasons.

First, global competitiveness mandates efficiency and demands a sustainable, robust, and reliable production channel. This is critical as the scale of trade is exploding, and will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

Second, increasing commodity prices, and especially energy prices, demand firms produce with little wasted resources.

Third, producers now know that their customers have almost immediate access to other producers. Gone are the days of a captive customer.

Finally, many end users are demanding from the market green values that require a leading edge firm to minimize its carbon footprint.

There are many ways a firm can demonstrate these sustainable values. Just-in-time supplies, optimized inventories, enterprise resource planning systems, efficiency accounting, and other key performance indicators are employed by those companies on the leading edge of sustainable production. And of course, the bottom line directly measures the success of producers able to employ the gamut of techniques designed to wring efficiency out of their supply chain.

Some new Clinton County manufacturers are leading this movement by example. For instance, the Canadian manufacturer Nova Bus created 300 new direct jobs in Clinton County, but also created hundreds more jobs through its insistence in local suppliers that can operate in close proximity to the new bus manufacturing plant.

One of the first to take up the Nova Bus challenge was SpencerARL, a firm that practices lean manufacturing in its provision of logistics and assembly services. Their capabilities in painting, packaging, logistics, warehousing, and distribution sets a new high mark in locally sustainable and lean production.

Another company, B3CG Interconnect, was already wired into the Nova Bus sustainable supply chain. It was a natural extension for them to locate another facility very near to the new Nova Bus location. Their facility in Clinton County replicates the lean supply chain advantages it has already realized with Nova Bus in Saint-Eustache, in the Province of Quebec.

Not only do these new manufacturers and distributors bring hundreds of new jobs to the region - they also place Clinton County in the forefront of sustainable supply chains, both in practice and in theory.

In parallel to these new initiatives, the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh's School of Business and Economics has created a new global supply chain major. This major, a first in the SUNY system, offers our local industries an opportunity to work with faculty experts in the sustainable supply chain. The program also affords manufacturers access to a steady stream of supply chain management graduates and interns.

Recognizing its strategic relationship in the local sustainable supply chain web, the business school recently worked with the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce to secure a major grant for the first annual Sustainable Supply Chain Conference. This conference, scheduled for the SUNY Plattsburgh campus from May 19 to 21, 2009, brings leading experts from across the nation together to discuss sustainable and global supply chains.

These various initiatives demonstrate something that the North Country has practiced for the past few years. This is truly a global and sustainable supply chain region.

Colin Read is the director and a regional economist with the TDC Institute for Development and Economic Analysis and is a Full Professor of Economics and Finance at SUNY Plattsburgh. Dr. Read will be presenting a workshop entitled ’ÄúWhat Does it Mean to be Green? Sustainability as the New Driver of the Supply Chain" with Professor Santosh Mahapatra at the upcoming Global Supply Chain Management Conference at SUNY Plattsburgh.

 

Sector Analysis - Wholesale, Warehousing, and Transportation:
U.S., New York State & Clinton County, 2002-2018

 

Basic Information

2002 Industry Jobs

3,308

2018 Industry Jobs

3,980

Total Change

672

Total % Change

20.32%

2007 Average Earnings/Worker

$47,878

 

 

Industry Change Summary


Description

2002 Jobs

2018 Jobs

Change

% Change

EPW

2007 Establishments

Regional Total

3,308

3,980

672

20%

$47,878

258

State Total

764,442

824,824

60,382

8%

$65,764

55,194

National Total

12,236,144

14,639,333

2,403,189

20%

$63,301

915,931

Source: EMSI Complete Employment - Fall 2008

 

Industry Breakdown


 NAICS Code

Description

2002 Jobs

2018 Jobs

EPW

2007 Establishments

48-49

Transportation and warehousing

2,041

2,321

$44,236

137

42

Wholesale trade

1,267

1,659

$53,030

121

Total

 

3,308

3,980

$47,878

258

Source: EMSI Complete Employment - Fall 2008

 

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