Driving impact with sustainable products

As a result, the assessment clustered products into four main categories: Challenged, Straight Performers, Contributors and Pioneers. To be classified as Pioneer or Contributor, a contribution to at least one of the four key dimensions had to be proven through relevant documents. “The assessment revealed that products classified Pioneers or Contributors already make 19 percent of our current portfolio,” says Sjoerd. “Using these insights for business steering and innovation processes, will significantly help us to further transform our portfolio. Our assessment sets us on the right track, which now also has been proven by an external audit.”

The results of the assessment create a clear understanding about the contribution and performance of each product and help to anchor sustainability as an integral part of our business strategy. In addition, it provides even more transparency for our customers and supports the transformation towards new solutions enabling emission reduction and circularity.

How the methodology is brought to life 

"After the methodology had been developed and carefully cross-checked by our internal experts, the IT infrastructure was set up in SAP to enable proper assessment of each and every product we sell,” explains Sjoerd. Once the ability to categorize all products was built into this tool, the actual assessment could start. “Product development and sustainability specialists from each business unit went through their products to decide on the category and, if required, upload the proof documents required to justify their evaluation.” The software tool made sure that Sjoerd and the central team could track and trace what people decided and helped collect the proof documents in a structured way. Thousands of products needed to be assessed, so it was imperative to double-check if there was sufficient quality of proof documents and whether assessments were done according to criteria. Once in place, the approach was confirmed by an external audit."

With 19 percent of our entire portfolio making a significant contribution to sustainability, our Adhesive Technologies business is in a good position compared to the industry. “But we need to continuously step up our efforts to remain cutting edge. I believe in 10 to 20 years we need to have completely transformed our entire portfolio,” Sjoerd says. “We need to grow the share of Pioneers and Contributors against criteria that will become even more challenging in the future. With our portfolio assessment we now have the compass at hand to turn sustainability into a real business driver.”