Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, 130 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Science. 2014 Jun 6;344(6188):1124-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1248526.
Recent advances in the science and technology of global supply chain management offer near-real-time demand-response systems for decision-makers across production networks. Technology is helping propel "fast fashion" and "lean manufacturing," so that companies are better able to deliver products consumers want most. Yet companies know much less about the environmental and social impacts of their production networks. The failure to measure and manage these impacts can be explained in part by limitations in the science of sustainability measurement, as well as by weaknesses in systems to translate data into information that can be used by decision-makers inside corporations and government agencies. There also remain continued disincentives for firms to measure and pay the full costs of their supply chain impacts. I discuss the current state of monitoring, measuring, and analyzing information related to supply chain sustainability, as well as progress that has been made in translating this information into systems to advance more sustainable practices by corporations and consumers. Better data, decision-support tools, and incentives will be needed to move from simply managing supply chains for costs, compliance, and risk reduction to predicting and preventing unsustainable practices.
近年来，全球供应链管理的科学和技术取得了进展，为生产网络中的决策者提供了近乎实时的需求响应系统。技术正在推动“快时尚”和“精益制造”，使公司能够更好地交付消费者最想要的产品。然而，企业对其生产网络的环境和社会影响知之甚少。未能衡量和管理这些影响，可以部分归因于可持续性衡量科学的局限性，以及将数据转化为可被企业和政府机构内部决策者使用的信息的系统的弱点。企业仍然没有动力去衡量和支付其供应链影响的全部成本。我讨论了与供应链可持续性相关的监测、衡量和分析信息的现状，以及在将这些信息转化为系统以促进企业和消费者更可持续实践方面取得的进展。需要更好的数据、决策支持工具和激励措施，才能从仅仅为了成本、合规性和降低风险而管理供应链，转变为预测和防止不可持续的实践。
