The latest SAP cloud software SAP Responsible Design and Production is the first product of the ‘Plastic Cloud’ project, an initiative by SAP in collaboration with industry leaders, partners, regulators, and not-for-profit organisations that aims to boost the circular economy and solve the pressing plastic waste problems through data and intelligent technologies.
SAP’s commitment to helping organisations not only run better but transform into intelligent, sustainable enterprises stands firm with the back-to-back launches of solutions that drive end-to-end sustainability across business operations. Following the official release of SAP Product Footprint Management– a cloud application running on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) that captures products’ environmental footprint across the value chain– in September, the software enterprise has launched another offering to add to its portfolio of sustainability-specific software solutions.
The cloud-native solution SAP Responsible Design and Production, which was earlier revealed at the SAP Sustainability Summit in April, has been officially made available to accelerate businesses’ sustainability efforts in building a circular economy. Co-developed with Accenture on SAP BTP, the latest platform enables producers to embed sustainability when designing products as well as comply with plastic taxes, public commitments, and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations, a policy that outlines producers’ responsibility in the proper post-consumer products management.
Scott Russell, a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and head of Customer Success, stated that people utilise two times the number of resources that the planet can regenerate per year. Emphasising that organisations can take action in creating a sustainable enterprise, he said:
“Business can play a crucial role in keeping value in our systems for longer through a smart, responsible product design that reuses resources rather than disposing of them. There is inherent complexity in designing products that eliminate waste and use responsible materials, but SAP Responsible Design and Production tackles that complexity and offers a ‘gold-standard’ solution to our customers, helping to deliver circular products and achieve a regenerative economy.”
Latest SAP Cloud Software for Sustainability
SAP Responsible Design and Production empowers businesses to better manage materials and regulatory data to develop sustainable products. The new solution offers enhanced visibility on material flows as well as enables producers to keep track and meet evolving ERP regulations. It enables organisations to calculate obligations, including EPR fees and plastic taxes, in key markets by allowing them access and integration of enterprise or third-party system data with the latest global regulations.
Designed for cloud deployment, SAP Responsible Design and Production helps businesses maximise their SAP investment with the capability to connect to SAP S/4HANA with extensive reuse of existing business logic, data, and structures.
Here are some of the key features of SAP Responsible Design and Production:
- Support complex product and packaging data management with the reuse of existing primary data, structures, and business logic in SAP ERP and SAP Product Lifecycle Management
- Monitor and comply with global regulations and plastic taxes by applying reporting requirements based on organisational configuration
- Drive strategic collaboration and deliver obligations with the help of SAP Document and Reporting Compliance
CEO of Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Morlet, explained that the three principles of the circular economy driven by design are: eliminate waste and pollution; circulate products and materials; and regenerate nature.
“Digital solutions play an important role in the transition to a circular economy. They enable businesses to embed circular practices across their operations, from designing products to reduce waste from the outset, to tracking the lifecycle of the materials they use,” he highlighted.
As an exemplar of driving technology innovation while embedding sustainability across business processes, SAP was among the 44 organisations recently awarded the inaugural 2021 Terra Carta Seal for their exemplary transition business plans to becoming net zero on or before 2050.
Our own TRP (Talent Resource Planning) platform, InsideSAP Careers powered by Availery, supports sustainable SAP project management through green recruitment and offsets the project’s carbon footprint by planting trees for every talent acquisition.
