In today’s global community, attention is increasingly focused upon our impact on the environment and protecting it for future generations. Consumers are adamant that modern supply chain partners work together as responsible caretakers of the environment and our natural resources. Commercial markets need to clearly articulate their sustainability actions and plans in response to the global community. The consumer’s interest in the forest industry’s development and deployment of sustainable practices has been a significant force. Over the past few decades, we have seen noteworthy progress by forest products companies on both a national and global level.
The global forest industry has collaborated to develop responsible methods of forest management, defined certification methodologies to assess the success of these efforts, and developed marketing campaigns to effectively communicate their dedication to sustainable forestry practices. The forest products industry has prioritized forest maintenance, reforestation, and new forest growth. Forestry producers take active strides to manage their forests to provide resources for their production, and they do so on their own and in partnership with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).
These independent organizations are actively setting standards and monitoring the management of forests to ensure forests are being maintained in a sustainable, responsible, and environmentally positive manner. These efforts have resulted in a significant increase in global forest coverage in the last thirty-five years.
Many partners in the forest product industry have developed and refined sustainability programs over the past 20 years and publish annual reports highlighting their efforts as responsible partners. Examples of annual sustainability reports and program details examples can be found at the following company links: International Paper, Suzano, Sappi, Georgia-Pacific, and Arauco.
The forest industry has recognized the importance of protecting the forest supply chain and has made notable progress to ensure the forests will remain viable for future generations. Pulp and paper producers support their sustainability programs in many ways. A few examples would be:
- Supplying mills with raw material from responsibility certified forests and forest managers
- Making efficient use of natural resources
- Recycling non-sellable products and byproducts
- Making products that are consistently recyclable lowering demand for new forestry material
- Making a strong marketing case for the value of using renewable products
Responsible, Renewable and Recyclable Forestry Products
Forestry products have advantages over plastics in many aspects. The key advantage is sustainable forestry products that are:
- recyclable (with as much as 68.1% of US paper products being reported reclaimed in 2018 for recycling)
- renewable (coming from resources derived from responsibly managed forests and recycled material)
- naturally biodegradable in a short timeline (minimizing damage to the environment when not reclaimed, as the material will degrade and integrate with the environment as a natural plant-based product)
MAJIQ Elixir and Sustainability
MAJIQ’s Elixir software supports the pulp and paper industry’s sustainability strategy from multiple fronts. First, in support of sustainability programs such as PEFC, FSC, and SFI, Elixir facilitates documenting and tracking certification status on product labels, in documents, and in reports. The application certification program values are set up in various areas of Elixir, including order, machine grade, and customer.
Elixir’s shared global data model provides accurate, real-time data for data-driven decisions. Elixir’s analytics module, leveraging Power BI (in partnership with Microsoft) provides the ability to analyze historical data patterns to efficiently manage resources.
Elixir’s planning and scheduling tool, MAJIQTrim, provides production optimization to balance customer service while at the same time managing resources effectively and reducing waste.
Elixir’s Transportation Management System optimizes load planning to ensure minimal waste of fuel and efficiently schedule and deploy transportation resources.
The forest industry’s sustainability strategies allow companies to provide products that meet the demands of their customers without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. This focus is now an integral part of the paper industry’s strategic actions and daily decisions. The MAJIQ Elixir system is aligned to support this long-term vision and support the fact that the best way to save a forest is to sustainably manage it.
