Exploring the Relationship Between Technology, Supply Chain Sustainability, and Costs in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

Supply chain sustainability has become an increasingly important topic for corporations due to consumer demands, regulatory requirements, and employee retention and productivity. Since more and more stakeholders are beginning to care about sustainability, companies are looking at how they can reduce their carbon footprint without it leading to higher costs. Although sustainable supply chain operations are often associated with higher costs, new technology has surfaced within the last decade that makes this association come into question. This paper serves as an investigation on whether or not implementation of recent technology will not only make for more sustainable supply chains, but also bring cost savings to a company. For the sake of simplicity, this paper analyzes the topic within the context of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. The three categories of technology that were evaluated are artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and data integration systems. Internship projects and/or published case studies and articles were examined to explore the relationship between the technology, supply chain sustainability, and costs. The findings of this paper indicate that recent technology offers companies innovative sustainability solutions to supply chains without sacrificing cost. This calls for CPG companies to invest in and implement technology that allows for more sustainable supply chains. Shying away from this because of cost concerns is no longer necessary.