A new digital platform, CarbonVue, will track the carbon footprint of every individual manufacturing operation—each “make or move” step—using a mass balance approach to produce an absolute measure of carbon per kilogram of product, akin to a calorie count on food. Manufacturers need to cut carbon emissions to meet the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target, but they currently lack a way to manage carbon alongside cost, quality, and service in real time across their entire supply chain. Poor collaboration between companies also blocks progress, because sharing sensitive cost data is often impossible. CarbonVue solves this by using carbon measurement itself—independent of cost but a direct measure of efficiency—as a neutral point for negotiation, allowing partners to reconfigure supply chains without revealing financial information. If successful, the platform could transform how UK manufacturers manage both productivity and emissions simultaneously. It will be tested by Tata Steel, GKN, and Babcock International to optimise product flow and supplier collaboration. The project aims to provide a validated industrial reference that accelerates the route to market, potentially catalysing the slow progress toward a low-carbon, more productive manufacturing sector.
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This project will be led by SupplyVue, with the support of CarbonChain and WMG to develop a new digital platform, CarbonVue, for adoption by UK manufacturers. It will provide visibility of carbon in the end to end supply chain, enable integrated real time carbon and productivity management, and provide a framework to foster greater collaboration, in order to reduce carbon emissions. The core innovation in this project is a system that will attribute carbon impact to each individual supply chain activity (every make or move operation), using a mass balance approach to generate an absolute measure of carbon per kg of product -- akin to the calorie measure of food. Manufacturers face a major challenge to deliver the UK's Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 commitment. Achieving Net Zero by 2050 will require businesses to make carbon a central tenant of managing their supply chains, adding to the classic management of cost, quality and service. Supply chain efficiency and carbon emission management need to be managed together, but this joined-up capability is currently not available. Poor supply chain collaboration is a barrier to end to end efficiency and low carbon cost. Our novel approach to improving supply chain collaboration is to use the measurement of carbon: independent of cost, but is a measure of efficiency, and can act as a point of arbitrage. This will enable conversations on how to re-configure the supply chain without having to share sensitive cost information. Unifying the supply chain partners against a common low carbon goal. CarbonVue will be tested by Tata Steel and GKN to optimise the flow of product between their businesses, showing how better collaboration can empower suppliers to add value for better outcomes for all. Babcock International will provide specific insights for product development from their sector and their position at the top of a supply chain with many SMEs, in preparation for a future deployment project. The need for the UKs' manufacturing sector to be more productive and to reduce carbon emissions is a clear imperative but improvement is slow and needs a catalyst. This project has that potential, but the approach needs to be proven. The funding from InnovateUK will enable this project to proceed, will make the development more efficient and effective, and provide a much faster route to market and scale by providing a validated credible industrial reference.
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