Mapa Spontex completes its CSR strategy with FRET21

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The subsidiary of the Newell Brands group is making its CSR commitment official in 2020 and is already integrating the logistics link. Mapa Spontex is committed to the FRET21 scheme to reduce its transport GHG emissions by 5% by 2022.

Every little step counts in a comprehensive CSR approach. For Mapa Spontex, a subsidiary of the Newell Brands group, which specialises in consumer and professional cleaning and protection equipment (protective gloves, cleaning tools, etc.), FRET21 is one of the milestones on the company's environmental journey, which has set a number of objectives to be achieved by 2025. We have always had a continuous improvement approach, but we have accelerated it since 2020 with the formalization of our CSR strategy," explains Hélène Piverd, CSR manager at Mapa Spontex. At that time, we adopted the system supported by Ademe and AUTF, for the France and Europe perimeter ".
Various levers have been identified to achieve a 5% reduction in greenhouse gases from Mapa Spontex's transport operations between 2020 and 2022. The company's logistics plan is relatively simple: goods, produced mainly in Europe (60%) and Asia, are transported to a central warehouse in France, the brand's birthplace. From there, the protective equipment intended for the general public is sent to the mass distribution circuit, and those intended for professionals to wholesalers and other specialist outlets. In 80% of cases, these products are sold in France, with the remainder sold in Europe and also for export.

Getting closer to the consumption basin
To reduce the carbon footprint of its transport, Mapa Spontex worked with the teams at FRET21 to model the GHG reductions of three actions. The most significant of these is the relocation of the logistics site from Crépy en Valois (60) to Réau (77). " By moving closer to our consumption centre of gravity, we are saving about 20 kilometres to travel, which means 23 tonnes less CO2 emitted each year," explains Charles-Henri Daras, logistics and transport manager at Mapa France.
This move was also an opportunity for the company to change its logistics provider, its IT system and its order preparation process for products intended for professionals. Indeed, for professional protective equipment, the Mapa Spontex logistics team wanted to be able to send several orders on the same pallet, which was impossible with the previous organisation. Each order triggered a shipment, even if another request was registered at the same time by the same customer," explains Charles-Henri Daras. From now on, the WMS (Warehouse Management System) used by our service provider and the update of our ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) allow us to optimize order preparation, and therefore the Filling Rate in the courier vehicles that we charter, with one more pallet per truck. These various changes have enabled the company to reduce its transport GHG emissions by almost 15% for its European parcel flows.

Service providers and customers in the loop
In addition to these CO2 savings, the FRET21 tools offer teams the opportunity to engage in dialogue with the transport service providers who handle flows to mass distribution. At the end of our commitment in 2022, 70% of our transporters will be charters and 30% will have the Objective CO2 label, whereas there are very few at the moment," says Maxime Rames, Supply Chain Manager for Mapa France, who imagines a second, more transverse and complex commitment. We could work on mutualisation, modal shift, inbound transport...".
But for certain subjects, it will be necessary to convince the customers of the great distribution. " For example, they refuse for the moment the pallets made up of several orders, regrets the Supply Chain manager. But now we have figures to present to them thanks to the action taken on the preparation of orders for products intended for the professional market. If they want to continue to reduce their carbon footprint, they may end up accepting our proposal. In the meantime, Hélène Piverd intends to use this first experience with FRET21 to extend the logic beyond France. We see this approach as a pilot project, which we could duplicate in spirit to other of our subsidiaries around the world," she says. Our aim is to improve each stage in the life cycle of our products, to protect users, employees and nature.