Infor Nexus doubles down on collaboration and data coordination

Note: This Q&A originally appeared in Sourcing Journal and can be found in the Sustainability Report 2023. 

When it comes to sustainability, no one government, company or person can solve the challenges alone; it takes coordination from many different parties and people to reduce waste, lower CO2 emissions, drive better outcomes for factory workers and improve the planet. Collaboration is key, and networked platforms like Infor Nexus bring together data from multiple sources to help companies manage their supply chains and work together to solve these problems. 

Here, Brian Carelli, VP, Sustainability, Infor Nexus, discusses how the company is aggressively pursuing partnerships with other sustainability solutions, and doubling down on how important it is to collaborate in this space. 

Sourcing Journal: How will technology, and Infor Nexus software specifically, help clients comply with current and future environmental regulations? 

Brian Carelli: In many cases, compliance with environmental regulations requires coordination with multiple parties in your supply chain. Infor Nexus’ networked platform helps customers collaborate with their trading partners to assure compliance. For example, our Document Exchange product assists with Customs clearance, assuring that the right documentation is present to comply with national environmental regulations. With our Trading Partner Management (TPM) application, buyers assign questionnaires to their suppliers to assure they're complying with regulations. 

When vendors are out of compliance, buyers assign Corrective Action Plans and all parties collaborate to solve the problem together. We also have an application that coordinates material testing between finished goods manufacturers and testing facilities. This app assures harmful chemicals aren’t present in children’s apparel, as is dictated by law. Sustainability is becoming an ever-larger component in the decision of how and from where to source. At Infor Nexus, we bring your data into one place, so you can assure your business is as efficient and sustainable as possible. 

How can Infor Nexus’s end-to-end supply chain visibility drive better outcomes in sustainability for companies?  

B.C.: Driving sustainable outcomes and improving ESG scores require a big picture view of your supply chain. Infor Nexus combines data from a company's enterprise systems, their suppliers, forwarders, carriers, and other facets of the supply chain, giving our customers the insights they need. We provide a carbon emissions dashboard, so companies can better understand the impact their shipments have on the environment. Better inventory visibility across the supply chain reduces the need for expedites, reducing CO2 emissions. Ensuring better planning and transportation management lowers the number of air shipments needed, reducing CO2 emissions.  

Our Trading Partner Management application helps customers audit suppliers and take input directly from factory workers to drive better social outcomes. We assure that suppliers comply with regulations, by enforcing business rules at each step of the process. For example, if a finished goods supplier has not provided evidence of where their raw materials were sourced from, we can prevent them from shipping goods until they've complied. 

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) is causing disruptions in supply chains today. How will Infor Nexus help customers with this challenge? 

B.C.: If a container is held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a UFLPA concern, Infor Nexus users can instantly identify the goods in the detained shipment and determine the best course of action. We are also developing an app to address UFLPA detentions specifically. When goods are detained, a user can quickly identify the POs involved and route a request to the finished goods supplier, asking them to provide supporting documentation. The T1 supplier provides evidence and, in turn, fires a request to their supplier(s), uploading the T1-to-T2 POs from which the goods were manufactured. The T2 supplier repeats this process with their vendors and so on, until sufficient evidence has been provided to dislodge the goods from detention.