IFS Applications to help manufacturers go green

It’s slightly depressing that the effort this company, and others, have put in to encourage and enable green thinking is coming to fruition when manufacturers will say they can least afford it. Nevertheless, IFS says its software will provide manufacturers with “unprecedented control and transparency on the environmental impact of their operations”. The tool also offers a standard methodology to help them control costs and meet the need for compliance with environmental legislation. IFS vice president of product and marketing Thomas Petersson says users will be able to configure IFS Applications to capture environmental impact information throughout their businesses just as easily as they configure their financial systems to capture cost. “Existing components within IFS Applications that capture financial cost will now be able to monitor carbon monoxide, lead, sulphur and other environmental impacts as an additional cost,” says Petersson. “For example, users will be able to assign different carbon footprints to various methods of transport, helping them see the environmental, as well as the financial, cost of shipping materials by train versus truck, and compare the carbon footprint of local versus offshore sourcing,” her adds Petersson says the new application will support IFS customers around the globe who are under increasing pressure to comply with upcoming environmental legislations, such as Europe’s EuP Directive, the Environmental Liability Directive and the EU Restriction, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, as well as Australia’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulation and the US Climate Action Partnership’s recently proposed ‘Blueprint for Legislative Action’ against climate change.