Where does your iPhone come from?

03
MAY
2011

Author: Jordan Early - Categories: CSR & Green, Global Sourcing

Where does your iPhone come from? China...? Wrong. Well, yes, but that's only part of the answer… try Taiwan, Thailand, the Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia, Switzerland, South Korea, the Philippines, Japan (including earthquake-affected Kanagawa Prefecture) and the US. How do I know this? A new website I've stumbled across told me. www.sourcemap.org audits the entire supply chain for certain products, tracing back through each component part to identify where it came from, the environmental impact of its production and how it got into your iPhone.

Sourcemap is an interactive database that allows users to view and track the origins and environmental impact of the goods that they consume. Through an open-source format users are able create and edit maps (using a Google-maps-style platform) that visually display the supply chain for a particular good - be it an Ikea bed or a pot of instant noodles. The carbon footprint from associated manufacture and transportation processes are also displayed.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know by suggesting that supply chains, now more than ever, are stretching to the far corners of the globe. However, what I find interesting about this website is its ability to educate a consumer market that is becoming more engaged and concerned about the origins of the goods that they buy are and the environmental costs involved in production and transportation.

The visual map element of the site is thought-provoking to say the least. A quick glance at the sourcemap for an Ikea bed shows transportation lines spreading from Germany (hydraulics) to Russia (pine and steel) to China (particle board and foam) and as far as Africa (cotton). Only once the huge number of component parts and the vast distances that they are required to travel are positioned on a map do you begin to build an understanding of exactly what it takes to produce the goods that we consume.

While the site seems to be casting stones at international supply chains and their environmental impacts, perhaps organisations could utilise it as an opportunity to display positive improvements that they have made in terms of local sourcing or carbon emission reduction schemes.

Either way I think it's a great site and I implore you to check it out.

Comments

Paul Perera

Wed 4 May 2011 13:39

It is a great resource for all industries, within Aerospace, we are often finding our supply-chains developing on a global basis and seeing it in a visual format is very helpful. What this leaves me to question is will the next generation of aircraft after the 787 Dreamliner, be sourced from India, Russia and Brazil? And how are the sourcing teams going to establish the quality and quantity of supply given the learning from the disaster of the 787? Global leadership skills will be called into question, and focus on developing products in-country to meet time, cost and quality will be left more with the procurement professionals than ever.

Jonathan Webb

Wed 4 May 2011 16:37

Interesting website. Given the enormous complexity of all the (apparently) simple products, I wonder whether this is necessary. Is the management of these long, diverse and complicated supply chains costly in of itself? Perhaps the savings in running simpler (if costlier) may also offer benefits?

Thu 5 May 2011 00:19

Paul, correct me if I am wrong, but weren't the issues associated with the 787 in some related to fact that the supply chain spread the breadth of the globe?

Assembled in the USA, parts and pre-fabrication occurring in Japan, France, Sweden, South Korea and Italy (the source of the greatest disruptions for the project, the ill-fitting horizontal stabiliser).

This runs nicely into Johns point around the cost/benefits of running such a global supply chain. Perhaps if Boeing sourced or fabricated closer to home there would not have been such long delays (and increased costs) in the launching the new airplane.

Thu 5 May 2011 00:21

Further to your point Jon,

I think the challenge here is that organisations, more often that not, don't manage their entire supply chain. Component parts further down the chain are often managed through 3rd party arrangements. In essence we are looking at the supply chain of our suppliers.
I agree that these long supply chains are unwieldy to manage, but at moment the cost benefit is still there, making the practice ultimately worthwhile.
What remains to be seen is the lasting impact of consumer behaviour towards these arguably unsustainable supply chain. As consumers become more green conscious we might see purchasing patterns shift towards organisations with shorter, greener supply chains.
Time will tell I guess. The big question is how much more are consumers willing to pay for a green product? at the moment it's not much.