“Anthesis developed a custom tool that enables us to efficiently collect material content and sustainability data from our supply chain and integrate it with our product bill of materials. We now can systematically digest and report on regulatory compliance and sustainability data.“
Sarah Scott
Compliance Engineer, Microsoft
Objective
In 2020 Microsoft committed to ‘zero waste’ by 2030 and also set Cloud Responsible Packaging Goals, to ensure its cloud hardware packaging meets global regulatory compliance requirements and creates minimal environmental impact. Additionally, as the compliance landscape changes rapidly with emerging worldwide packaging regulations such as Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP), Microsoft wanted to integrate new functionality into its compliance platform to better track and measure sustainability.
Project
Anthesis worked with Microsoft’s internal teams including Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering and Cloud Supply Chain Sustainability and external stakeholders such as Contract Manufacturers and European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to build a solution with the following capability:
- Capturing material content and sustainability data for packaging from suppliers
- Validating the collected packaging data against a packaging specification
- Reporting on sustainability data to demonstrate corporate sustainability goal are met
- Reporting on material content to ensure regulatory compliance requirements are met
Regulatory and Sustainability Data
- Statements of compliance for Microsoft Restricted Substances Specification H00594 and
- Environmental Requirements for Transport Packaging M1157586
- Chemical composition
- Material Type based on ECHA and IEC 62474 lists
- Recycled Content (pre-consumer)
- Is reusable?
- Is recyclable?
- Is compostable?
- Is single use plastic?
- Baseline dimensions
Our process included:
- Supplier training webinars and helpdesk
- Data validation protocol
- Email workflow
Technology involved:
- Excel Packaging Template compliant with IPC-1752A
- The Compliance Map
- Power BI
Project Outcome
- Capability to collect packaging data from global supply chain using single request and template
- Ability to validate packaging data
- Ability to obtain packaging data for carbon and waste calculations
- Ability to facilitate supplier emission reduction planning
- Ability to submit SCIP dossiers to ECHA
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis
