Today, customers assume that products, services and supply processes are secured and compliant on social and environmental performance. If your organization is still struggling with this then don’t bother with the rest of this article!!

Just meeting the requirements will and can never be good enough for your customer or your competitiveness. The phrase Capacity Capture is being used to describe activities that find and unlock new sources of value and waste elimination in a business and its supply chain.

Capacity Capture can be exemplified through the sharing economy that we are all now entering.  The examples below provide fertile ground for your customers to use their resources in more efficient and effective way:

• Peer – Peer, Crowdfunding etc: lending and borrowing that cuts out the middle men and their fancy offices, expensive suits and expense accounts.
• Renting office space by the hour instead of onerous and wasteful short/medium/long term lease agreements
• Regular use of car hire on a by the minute charge or driverless Uber type transport instead of 48 month auto leasing agreements or heaven forbid actually owning a fast depreciating asset like a car.
• Food cooked by your neighbour – local, fresh, tasty and low priced.

So how are the traditional businesses that have been with us for decades able to secure their future within a business environment that challenges their old and actually quite wasteful business models?

These traditional businesses now need to generate positive values. There are now examples on how companies have developed their product, service and supply chain to eliminate waste and provide positive value for their customers, suppliers and communities:

• May 2016 saw Nissan launch a scheme allowing UK-based owners of the Nissan LEAF car and e-NV200 electric van models to sell back their vehicle battery’s stored energy to the National Grid.
•  IKEA work with vendors and their communities to secure the benefits from a Supplier Development Programme. The final output from the process is a low priced, quality product. However, along the way; energy and water consumption are reduced, pollution is tackled, factory workers enjoy higher salaries and safer working conditions through the development of clean, efficient and lean production.
• São Paulo-based Banco de Alimentos launched Reverse Delivery, an initiative in May 2016 to harness the power of the thousands of delivery drivers that return empty-handed after dropping off food. Participating restaurants (there are currently more than 35 signed up) ask the customer if they want to donate any food. The driver then collects the items from the customer when they deliver the meal and take it back to the restaurant, where it is picked up by Banco de Alimentos.
• Adidas investing in automated footwear factories located in their developed markets. Manufacturing each pair of running shoes according to individual customer orders placed by smartphone. Reducing the lead time, inventory and environmental footprint whilst increasing local employment opportunities in the local community where the operation is based.

When looking at your operation and its supply chain ask yourself if any of the new business models could help you, your suppliers or customers to reduce or eliminate waste, and more importantly actually generate a positive value for the communities and stakeholders involved in the supply of your product or service.

Don’t just think in monetary terms: Tap into the sharing economy and its powerful desire to have better communities and social values with the creative approach of CAPACITY CAPTURE.

Doing ‘good’ business will be good for your business.