GB/T 43902-2024Green manufacturing - Green supply chain management in manufacturing enterprises - Implementation guide (English PDF)

3 Terms and definitions

3.1 Green manufacturing attribute: the resource and energy, ecological environment and health and safety characteristics of an organization, a process, a product or a material. Taken from GB/T 28612-2023, 3.4.

3.2 Life cycle: the consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal. Taken from GB/T 24040-2008, 3.1.

3.3 Material: the collective name for the substances and articles used in the product life cycle. Taken from GB/T 28612-2023, 4.1.11. 3.4 Reverse logistics: the process of planning, implementing and controlling the effective flow of raw materials, intermediate stock, final products and the related information from the manufacturing, distribution or consumption node to the recovery node, the disposal node or an upstream node of the supply chain, for the purpose of value recovery or proper disposal. Taken from GB/T 28612-2023, 4.4.1.

3.5 Green attribute information, also called green information: data and knowledge relating to green attributes. Taken from GB/T 39256-2020, 3.2. The printed English term for the entry is given as reverse logisitics, the spelling shown on the page.

4 General

4.1 Green supply chain management reaches across the enterprise product and its whole life cycle and across the upstream and downstream parties of the supply chain; the basic framework is shown in Figure 1.

4.2 Before implementing green supply chain management the enterprise is advised to understand the domestic and foreign laws, regulations, policies and standards on green, low-carbon and sustainable development and the requirements of interested parties; the basic knowledge and requirements of green manufacturing and green supply chain management; the basic features of green supply chain management, namely that it rests on the product life cycle and the circular economy, that it weighs the economic, technical and sustainability aspects of the product and its life cycle, that its content covers the green manufacturing attributes of the product and of key materials together with the green information of the life-cycle processes, that the policies, standards and stakeholder requirements are dynamic and need periodic identification and updating, that it involves suppliers, logistics providers, distributors, end users and the recycling, dismantling, reuse and waste disposal enterprises, that reverse logistics is managed alongside forward logistics where applicable, and that green information is managed and disclosed as necessary; and the opportunities and risks that implementation may bring.

4.3 The priority content and stages are set according to the purpose of implementation, the industry and product type, the position of the enterprise in the supply chain, the important management content, the requirements of interested parties, and the green design, production, supply chain and inspection or testing capability and management level of the enterprise.

4.4 Green supply chain management is merged with the existing business processes, management systems and information systems of the enterprise, the green manufacturing attributes being managed as part of product quality characteristics; separate procedures and documents may be established, or the requirements may be folded into the existing supply chain, quality, environment and energy management systems. 4.5 Performance evaluation and continual improvement may be carried out together with the other management systems of the enterprise.

5 Content of green supply chain management

5.1 Before implementation the enterprise needs to know what green supply chain management covers and to select the priority content for its own situation. The content covers the green manufacturing attributes of the products and materials across their life cycle, the green information the enterprise manages, and the supporting content, and the enterprise defines the scope and priorities from the whole product life cycle.

5.2 The green manufacturing attributes of an end product include the type, total quantity and efficiency of resource and energy use and the environmental impact of a unit of product over its life cycle, such as carbon footprint and water footprint; the service life, durability and recyclability of the product and its health hazards and safety; the technical advancement of the product functions and performance and the energy consumption, pollutant emission and carbon emission during distribution and consumption; and the pollutant emission, carbon emission and resource recovery efficiency at the scrapping and recovery stage. For materials the attributes include supplier compliance and emissions, the sustainability and stability of the material source, the life-cycle environmental impact and resource and energy use, and the scarcity, degradability, hazardous substance content and toxicity of the material.

5.3 Internal green information includes information from product design and development such as green indicators, green design schemes, the list of key controlled materials and the standards for prohibited, restricted and controlled substances; green procurement information; green information from the production process, covering energy and resource use, hazardous substance storage and use, pollutant emission and control and waste disposal; green logistics information including reverse logistics; basic information and databases such as laws, technical standards, green materials, green processes and life-cycle environmental impact data; and management and organizational information. External information comes from suppliers and service providers, from recycling and disposal enterprises, and from what the enterprise itself discloses to recyclers, consumers, regulators and other interested parties, such as sustainability or environmental, social and governance reports, dismantling information, product carbon and water footprint data, hazardous substance content data and statements on recyclability, reuse, remanufacture and recycled material content.

5.4 The supporting content covers green design tools and databases, green manufacturing technologies, processes and equipment, the necessary inspection, testing and measuring instruments, and the matching human resources, production environment and information management systems.

6 Investigation, analysis and decision-making

6.1 Before implementation the enterprise gathers information, investigates its internal and external context and analyses the necessity, the feasibility and the possible opportunities and risks, so that top management has a basis for deciding on the policy and the plan. The policy and the objectives are the key link, the objectives being quantifiable, measurable and assessable, and the enterprise then plans the system, draws up the implementation scheme and plan, and fixes the scope, content, requirements, priorities, workflow and timetable together with long-term and short-term plans.

6.2 The needs analysis looks at the legal, policy and market context and collects national and local government policies, the regional, industry and product requirements for green manufacturing, the green manufacturing attribute requirements of users and purchasers, a market analysis of supply and demand for green products, knowledge, technology and standards on green manufacturing, corporate social responsibility, low carbon and sustainable development, and the green manufacturing level and supply chain management practice of enterprises in the same and neighbouring industries. The feasibility analysis looks at the enterprise's own products, production processes and upstream and downstream organizations, the management level of the enterprise and of its supply chain, the priorities and difficulties of implementation, the objectives, costs, risks and opportunities, and the problems and shortfalls found by earlier performance evaluations.

6.2 (continued) The opportunity and risk analysis identifies, analyses, evaluates and determines the risks to be addressed and sets out measures to reduce them. The opportunities listed are raising the green manufacturing attributes of the products, lowering costs and increasing returns, becoming a qualified green supplier, improving environmental performance and green sustainable development. The risks listed are production stoppage or supply interruption caused by environmental non-compliance or other reasons at suppliers and service providers, suppliers and service providers unable to meet green procurement requirements, and over-dependence on a core supplier.

6.3 On the strength of the investigation, top management decides whether to implement green supply chain management, then sets the policy according to GB/T 33635-2017, 6.2.1, taking account of the sustainable development objectives and social responsibility of the enterprise, the green manufacturing attributes of its products, activities and supply chain, and its green development direction. The objectives take account of consistency with the policy, the risks and opportunities for the business and the supply chain, compliance with regulations, policies, standards and stakeholder needs, the fit with the internal and external context, measurability against the green manufacturing evaluation indicators and the green supply chain evaluation standards, and staged targets such as a yearly increase in the proportion of green suppliers.

6.4 The implementation scheme and plan are drawn up so as to make green supply chain management run efficiently while disturbing the existing organizational levels and business processes as little as possible, and they take account of the operating scope, tasks, objectives and implementation steps of the green supply chain, the reorganization of the business processes of the node enterprises, the adjustment of the internal organizational structure and the design of coordination mechanisms with the node enterprises.

7 Implementation preparation

7.1 Preparation covers securing leadership and support, adjusting business processes and organization, completing the documented information, raising software and hardware capability and raising staff capability.

7.2 The coordinating and supporting role of top management may include deciding, after investigation and analysis, to implement green supply chain management and to set the objectives, content and policy; coordinating the relations and resources of the internal departments and the external parties; providing and maintaining the funds and facilities needed; providing the staff needed; giving employees suitable information so that they are motivated to carry out their responsibilities; securing internal and external information exchange; and providing the process improvements, supporting facilities, testing and information management needed.

7.3 Top management may review the internal and external business processes bearing on green supply chain management and adjust the work or the processes as needed, keeping the objectives consistent with the development strategy of the enterprise and keeping the operating scope, tasks, structural adjustment and process reorganization consistent with the objectives of the green supply chain.

7.4 The enterprise identifies the green manufacturing attributes of its products and its list of key controlled materials and adds, updates and manages the documented information on the basis of its existing management system, integrating or creating procedures according to GB/T 33635-2017, 6.4.2. Documented procedures may cover green design; identification of the green manufacturing attributes of products and materials; control of hazardous substances; risk identification and management; green procurement; green evaluation of suppliers; supplier management; production process control; inspection and testing; treatment of waste and pollutants in production; product use and maintenance control; emergency preparedness and response; product recovery, reuse and scrapping; reverse logistics management; quality, environmental, occupational health and safety and energy management; information traceability and disclosure; and social responsibility, public opinion and public relations management.

7.5 Software and hardware capability is built up step by step against the development strategy, the green supply chain objectives and plan, the green manufacturing attributes of the products and materials and the green information. Control extends to the use, maintenance, upkeep, overhaul, renewal and modification of infrastructure and equipment, and the enterprise considers its infrastructure, production process technology and equipment, the technology and equipment for inspecting and testing green manufacturing attributes, logistics facilities and equipment, the production environment, and the channels, facilities and equipment for product recovery. Databases such as knowledge bases, case bases and green data may be built, green design tools developed and an information management platform set up with reference to GB/T 39256.

7.6 Staff capability is raised by defining the education, training and experience needed in key posts, by management documents and measures that make internal staff carry out the policy and objectives and understand their responsibilities, by training and recruitment of management and technical staff, by obtaining and maintaining the certificates or licences for equipment operation, and by supplier management rules with incentives and penalties that improve the coordination and control capability of the supply chain parties.

8 Implementation and control

8.1 Once preparation is complete the enterprise carries out implementation and control according to the scheme and plan, making sure that the important content and key stages are controlled, that the processes and documents are reviewed, executed and monitored, that results are measured or evaluated, recorded and kept, and that problems are fed back and corrected in time. The work may be organized by stage as green design, green procurement, green production process, green distribution, and recovery, reuse and disposal, or it may focus on particular stages or parties according to the requirements of purchasers and other interested parties.

8.2 Green design covers product, process, packaging and logistics design. The green manufacturing attributes may be designed and managed as one of the quality characteristics of the product, with the green design inputs, requirements and outputs folded into the design and management workflow. Where a green product standard exists or the purchaser has stated requirements, design follows those; where no standard exists, the green indicators are set through life-cycle assessment according to GB/T 24256 together with the relevant policies and industry requirements. The green manufacturing attributes of products and materials are identified and verified according to GB/T 39259 and a list of key controlled materials is drawn up.

8.4 In the production process the enterprise considers advanced green process technology and equipment that raise resource efficiency and reduce or avoid the generation and release of pollutants. The control measures listed include production assurance, process control and inspection and testing of the green manufacturing attributes of the product; lean production with optimized processes and plans that cut material consumption, shorten process time and raise labour efficiency; engineering and procedural controls that prevent and treat toxic and hazardous substances, reduce noise and control dust; lower energy consumption and carbon intensity per unit of product through waste heat recovery and the development and use of new green energy; and green production management rules and management models. Monitoring of the green production process is advised, with optimization and modification of the process where necessary.

8.5 Logistics management covers the forward and reverse logistics of internal production and external distribution, the basic requirements being given in GB/T 33635-2017, 7.4 and in GB/T 43145. The enterprise is advised to use standardized, energy-saving and environment-friendly logistics equipment and facilities, to take account of product characteristics, quality and the applicable laws, policies and standards when choosing a reverse logistics model and building the system and network, to collect, organize, store, transmit and apply logistics information and to account for the pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions of the logistics stage with reference to the method of ISO 14083, to offer recovery of products and packaging at the sales and after-sales stage and design the reverse logistics routes according to GB/T 43145, to use environmentally compliant technology and equipment that reduce emissions during after-sales repair, and to give preference to green, long-life, recyclable and recycled materials and to guide upstream suppliers, so as to raise durability, repairability and reusability and reduce the total volume of reverse logistics while raising the collection and actual recovery rates.

8.6 In recovery, reuse and disposal the enterprise takes the measures needed to avoid harm to human health and the environment and contamination of other articles, and may set its own methods and criteria to avoid losses from improper disposal. The order of treatment is reuse, remanufacture, recycling, energy recovery and harmless disposal, the method being chosen according to the technology available and the actual situation; GB/T 43145 gives the basic requirements for scrap collection, dismantling, reuse, remanufacture, recycling, energy recovery and end disposal.

9 Information management

9.1 For the green information content it has identified, the enterprise defines the categories and the requirements for data acquisition, calculation, statistics, reporting and disclosure, and keeps, updates, adds to and manages the corresponding documented information; where applicable it is advised to build an information management platform for the green supply chain according to GB/T 39256. It establishes a defined information control process and controls internal and external information exchange through the information management system.

9.2 The enterprise may plan and complete its green supply chain information management rules and documented information, and may build a closed-loop management system covering the whole product life cycle; the documented information that may be established, or merged with existing management documents, is listed in Annex A.

9.3 In setting up the information process the enterprise considers its own nature and scale, its important green supply chain management content and the nature, needs and expectations of the interested parties, and the process steps considered are collecting information and carrying out surveys, including information from interested parties; identifying the parties to the exchange and their needs; selecting the information to be exchanged; choosing suitable means and forms of exchange; and evaluating and periodically confirming the effectiveness of the exchange process.

9.3 (continued) Internal exchange covers the functions and levels of the enterprise, and a process may be set up so that information from all levels can be exchanged. External exchange covers green supply chain partners and interested parties, and the information exchanged with them is expected to be accurate, reliable and verifiable. Green information traceability and disclosure are managed according to GB/T 43903 as needed, and where confidential information touching national security, commercial secrets or patents is exchanged, the enterprise may apply confidentiality measures and state that it has done so.

10 Monitoring, measurement and performance evaluation

10.1 Through monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation the enterprise judges whether the green supply chain management objectives and requirements have been met and whether the management and control system is effective.

10.2 A performance evaluation procedure is established and applied, setting the methods, criteria and workflow for monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, the timing, and a suitable set of performance indicators. Monitoring and measurement are expected to cover all key stages within the enterprise and at the upstream and downstream parties that may affect the control of important green factors.

10.4 Following the basic method and requirements of GB/T 39257, the enterprise may use internal audit, management review, second-party evaluation and third-party evaluation to assess the achievement of the objectives and the operation of green design, green procurement, green production, green packaging and logistics, green sales and after-sales, and recovery, reuse and disposal, the indicators being selected from GB/T 43914 and GB/T 39257 and refined as appropriate. The evaluation may confirm that all key management content has been identified, that the activities, products and services are compliant and continue to meet stakeholder requirements, that production and management processes run and are controlled effectively, that operational and environmental health and safety risks in the supply chain have been identified, and may assess the green production processes and level, the resource and energy efficiency of the product, the share of recycled material, other green manufacturing attributes, the proportion of scrapped product recovered and reused, the level of disclosure of green information, and the opportunities for improvement. 10.5 The evaluation process, workflow and report requirements are given in GB/T 39257.

11 Continual improvement

11.1 Continual improvement is a recurring activity aimed at raising green supply chain management performance and runs through all the processes of that management. To keep the management working over the long term, the enterprise adjusts the running processes in real time as the external inputs change, those inputs being policies, regulations, standards and the requirements of interested parties, and it monitors and reviews the running processes.