P&SC LIVE New York – Amanda Davies, Mars Snacking Keynote

Kickstarting Day 1 of Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE New York Amanda Davies, Chief R&D, Procurement and Sustainability Officer at Mars Snacking took to the virtual stage to discuss sustainable futures. To Watch Amanda Davies speak at Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE New York, click here.

Embracing and implementing sustainability strategies 

With Mars taking an integrated approach to sustainability – covering procurement, research and development, and sustainability – the company adopts a top-down approach to its commitments as well as bottom-up involvement.

Amanda Davies explains that ensuring success when implementing strategies is more about performance than a promise. Bold ambitions are essential, but daily performance drives real change. Mars’ leadership is focused on delivering tangible results now, instead of just making future promises. 

"What's even more important is that every single day you wake up as a leader and understand how you're going to drive that performance that will allow you to get to that ambition," says Amanda. 

"We are the last generation of leaders that have time to act on this important topic before it's too late."

Sustainable sourcing, product development and collaboration

Amanda also discusses Mars’ focus on Scope 3 emissions which represents 70% of the company’s footprint in the extended supply chain. As such, building strong, intimate relationships with partners is crucial for achieving shared sustainable goals. 

Amanda stresses the benefits of extending the invitation to suppliers as collaborative partners rather than simply giving instructions to create shared commitments and collaborative advantages.

Overcoming challenges

When it comes to sustainability, Amanda highlights that it's balancing multiple layers of responsibility is the biggest challenge. Taking into consideration consumer desires, material availability, and sustainability impacts. Other challenges include data quality and integrating all these factors.

"Having the data in a single source of truth, that means that you can understand all those various components together, is a real challenge," says Amanda.

To overcome these challenges, Amanda explains that it is important to break down bold targets into meaningful milestones that are measurable. Accountability and regular inspections are key to ensuring progress.

Finally, Amanda notes that others looking to integrate sustainability into procurement and supply chain operations should make it personal, focus on performance not promise, and prioritise partnerships. Authentic commitment and collaboration are essential for impactful sustainability efforts.

To watch all our speakers on-demand, click here.

More to come in 2024…

Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE will host two more events in 2024:

• Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE London 
• The Global Procurement & Supply Chain Awards

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