• Linkdin

Interview with Leonardo Bonanni

Leonardo Bonanni
Leonardo Bonanni
Founder
Sourcemap
Sourcemap

Disclosure is ultimate aim of traceability and transparency
Founded in 2011, Sourcemap is a New York-based supply chain transparency company helping consumers and companies trace products to the source and ensure standards are met at every step of the way. Founder Leonardo Bonanni discusses with Paulami Chatterjee, the importance of supply chain transparency, how Sourcemap enables companies get their supply chains certified and future plans of the company.

How did Sourcemap come into being?

Sourcemap started as my PhD project at the MIT Media Lab in 2008-the initial goal was a Wikipedia for supply chains so that consumers could understand the source of products and their social and environmental impacts. We were the first to use online mapping and crowdsourcing for supply chain modelling, and I discovered this one month after my defence when the Tohoku tsunami of 2011 caused major disruptions to a number of global supply chains. That's when our first customers requested the technology for their own use. As it turns out, companies had never mapped their supply chains, especially the indirect-suppliers' suppliers-which number in the tens of thousands. Since then, we've learned what companies need in order to map their end-to-end supply chain and developed a unique supplier social network. It works like Linkedin-a  company invites its suppliers, who then invite their suppliers, and so on until every product can be traced to the source. Our customers use this technology to identify risks, respond to disruptions, and find opportunities for value creation at every stage of their supply chain. Today, we count some of the world's largest food and beverage and apparel companies among our clients, and for many of them like Timberland, Vans, Mars and Hershey's-that means they are proud enough to disclose their supply chain publicly. 
 

Do consumers really care about supply chain transparency down the line? Isn't there a need to educate the end consumer too?

The number one driver of supply chain transparency is HR-companies want to hire the best people, and the best people want to know they're working for a company with a good supply chain. The number two driver of supply chain transparency is reputation-companies want to make certain that their suppliers and their suppliers' suppliers are living up to their standards, and that could mean tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of suppliers. Conscious consumers also care about supply chain transparency, but what resonates best with consumers is transparency about key issues they care about-they don't have time to wade through the entire supply chain; so each brand should select its priorities and communicate transparently about their initiatives in select areas.

Any guidelines that a company like yours provides to consumers? Shouldn't the certifications for manufacturers and education of the consumer be a parallel exercise?

Certifications provide a basis for companies' sustainability efforts. We elp companies certify their supply chains, and we go beyond that to set company-specific standards that are more ambitious and brand-aligned to gain a competitive edge.

How open are companies to publishing details of their supply chains online?

Very-supply chain disclosure is the ultimate aim of any traceability and transparency for all of our customers, which include most of the largest food & beverage, apparel and cosmetics companies.

What percentage of companies today are adopting a transparent supply chain worldwide?

While it was virtually unheard of ten years ago, today most food and agriculture and apparel companies practice some form of supply chain transparency-which is great. Our focus in the coming decade will be to bring on board the rest of the consumer goods sector: personal care, electronics, automotive and the rest.

How is the data collected on ground and put into your supply chain platform? What are the parameters taken into account?

We use the most appropriate technology to make supply chains transparent: sometimes that means blockchain, but most of the time it means a connection to existing supply chain management systems like SAP ERP, various kinds of PLM, or even Excel. In supply chains that are still managed on paper we provide a free Android app with a very simple supply chain management software that saves time and even works offline.

Is it ever possible to reach a point of true transparency in the entire supply chain- from water and soil to shelf?

Absolutely! Supply chain transparency is just a matter of best practices: a lot of industries already have real-time visibility into each product and know exactly when the parts arrive, the product is made and when it reaches a customer. We're simply extending this technology to the raw materials side of the supply chain, where there is a much greater opportunity to save money, improve quality, and have a positive impact on people and the environment.

Which are the major companies that are your clients today? Which major countries are on your radar?

We work with most of the largest apparel and food and beverage companies, and you'll find Mars Inc, Hershey's, The North Face, Timberland and many more listed on our website. Because Sourcemap is used to map the most critical supply chains of dozens of the world's largest companies you'll find us in over 80 countries today, including most of West Africa, Southeast Asia and Central and South America.

How is leather traced today? How would Sourcemap's new tool change that?

The biggest leather buyers are aerospace, automotive, furniture and footwear companies-and most of these have no visibility into where the cattle is raised that supply the leather. Our software enables a company that knows nothing about its leather sourcing to map it down to the tanneries and slaughterhouses within weeks, and to the farms within three months. It's a game-changer for companies that want to be certain their leather sourcing isn't contributing to deforestation.

How has covid-19 disrupted supply chains worldwide?

The global pandemic has impacted every company uniquely, and it's made every manufacturer and brand realise how important it is to map their supply chain, and be in touch with their suppliers-and their suppliers' suppliers. So, they can make sure everyone is ok and help get everyone back on track.

There are quite a few players that have jumped into the testing/certification fray? How do you keep up with the competition and how different is your process from the rest?

Certifications are fundamental to sustainability, and our software complements certifications by collecting data from every participant in the supply chain, verifying the results, and auditing them. We're scaling up the frameworks they built and enabling every single product to be verified as sustainable.

What has been your growth story? What are your future plans? Any new collaborations in pipeline?

Sourcemap is a fast-growing company-100 per cent growth for each of the past two years-and we intend to keep growing as more and more brands realise the importance of tracing their products to make sure they meet their standards. Just this year we've expanded our work with Bluenumber, which enables us to ensure workers in the supply chain are fairly paid, and with Double Helix, which verifies much of the wood, paper and pulp that goes into products and packaging, and with Scantrust, which brings a unique QR code so that customers can be connected with the source of products without any risk of counterfeiting. Stay tuned for more exciting developments in 2021.
This article was first published in the December 2020 edition of the print magazine.
Published on: 27/01/2021

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

Other Interviews

Kimberly Morgan and Rik Veltman
Chief Commercial Officer & Fashion Technology Evangelist
K3 Business Technology Group PLC
 
Fritz Legler
Chief Marketing Officer Textile
Stäubli International AG
 
Pratik Gadia
Founder and CEO
The Yarn Bazaar - Filosha Infotech Private Limited