Puma Begins Study of Its Supply Chain Carbon Footprint

PUMA North America, a producer of footwear, apparel and accessories, has contracted with Damco, a provider of supply chain and freight forwarding services, to map the carbon footprint of its Sportlifestyle brand’s supply chain operations into North America.

According to Helmut Leibbrandt, senior vice president of warehousing and operations, PUMA North America, the study will help the company improve its environmental footprint and main its carbon-neutrality for 2010 and beyond.

The study will track PUMA North America’s carbon emissions generated through product delivery cycles over a one-year period. The data will be monitored from the point of cargo ownership at foreign ports to the United States, through the distribution centers to customer warehouses and store locations. It will encapsulate all transportation modes including ocean, air and trucking.

In addition, Damco will provide a new product offering—the Supply Chain Dashboard, which will allow PUMA North America to monitor its emissions more proactively over the remainder of the year, and into 2011.

This study is part of PUMA’s overall five-year target of reducing carbon, energy, water consumption and waste by 25% by the year 2015.

PUMA North America plans to incorporate the use of solar panels to store energy to power its Los Angeles, Cal.-based warehouse facility. The plan is to take the facility 100% off the grid. To further reduce its carbon footprint the warehouse is using electric and propane based machinery, which emits significantly less than their diesel counterparts.