Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains

Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains

We are proud to be the lead advisor to the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains—a World Economic Forum (WEF) initiative designed to achieve a better tomorrow. Together, we support industry leaders working to build resilient supply chains and transform their manufacturing processes to reshape the future of industry. Our close collaboration supports sustainable growth to foster a new wave of economic and social prosperity worldwide. 

The 2020s have ushered in many challenges. A worldwide pandemic, geoeconomic warfare, and a climate action hiatus have proven severe shocks to the global system. But where there is a will, there is a way to make things better and the manufacturing industry is uniquely positioned to address the big challenges of our time. 

Kearney believes we can come together to ask ...

“How can manufacturing pivot to aid the creation of a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive society?”

“How can supply chains transform to retain value?”

... and find the solutions to make life better for everyone.

Our mission

The Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains focuses on enabling more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive manufacturing and supply ecosystems through leveraging the latest technology and innovation. More than 150 organizations across 15 industries, together with national governments, academic institutions, and key stakeholders in civil society, are now part of its growing network of thought leaders, changemakers, and experts committed to driving positive change.

Our collective aim is to support knowledge sharing, meaningful dialogue, and strong relationships across multiple sectors including healthcare, consumer goods, transport, logistics, and the automotive industries in order to design globally coordinated responses to crucial issues such as net zero.

Our impact

Innovation
We unlock and deploy innovative products, technologies, and business models to create new value and positive impacts on society.

Sustainability
We support companies to drive sustainable and profitable growth, achieve carbon neutrality, and meet their ESG commitments across value chains.

Inclusion
We empower manufacturing workers through new opportunities and support both companies and citizens to strengthen their competitiveness. 

Click below to follow our latest insights for the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains.

 

Centre for Nature and Climate

Sustainable Aviation Fuel—Airports of Tomorrow

Kearney is proud to announce a new partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the subject of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—an integral part of the forum’s flagship aviation decarbonization initiative, Airports of Tomorrow. 

More than 50 leading corporations and global NGOs have now joined the forum’s community of stakeholders across the aviation ecosystem to achieve net zero and Kearney is fully concentrated on supporting the scale-up of SAF production capacity to reach 300 by 2030.

Five years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) revealed that the world must reach net zero by 2050 if it is to limit global warming to 1.5°C and combat the existential threat facing our planet. Research shows that global air transport is responsible for 3.5 percent of all potentially reducible emissions from human activities. Since flying is so crucial to the way we live now, innovative solutions must be found—and one is the creation and utilization of bio-based and synthetic fuels.

Demand for sustainable flying and SAF has never been higher. SAF can now be produced from a wide variety of sustainable feedstock, ranging from used cooking oils to forestry residues and even carbon captured directly from the air. On a regional level, the EU has mandated that 2 percent of all produced aviation fuel must be SAF starting in 2025 as part of the ReFuelEU legislative package, while the United States Inflation Reduction Act includes a “blenders credit” for each gallon of SAF sold.

Kearney looks forward to bringing together national governments and industry leaders for roundtable discussions to help mobilize capital and produce a range of case studies on successful SAF implementation. Together, we can combat climate change and save the planet for the future of humanity. 

Consumers Beyond Waste

We are proud to partner with the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Consumers Beyond Waste project—a multistakeholder initiative facilitated by the WEF’s Future of Consumption platform. This initiative brings together 40 other leading corporations, global NGOs, and major municipal governments to develop and promote innovative alternatives to the traditional single-use consumption model.

Consumers Beyond Waste focuses on reuse and durability—in other words, packaging and products that can deliver value over multiple use cycles.

A major factor in this proliferation of trash is humanity’s over-reliance on single-use packaging and products. Half of all global plastic production is for single-use applications. To get a sense of just how ephemeral a “single use” can be, consider that the average working life of a disposable plastic shopping bag is all of 15 minutes. What happens to all of that waste? Literally nothing. Less than 10 percent of all plastic trash has been recycled.

There is a better way. Innovators from business, government, and the nonprofit sector are beginning to demonstrate that reuse-centered consumption is both viable and value-generating. In fact, there is mounting evidence that a reuse-driven consumption system—a type of circular economy—would not only solve our waste and resource problems, but also create significant financial benefits that do not exist in today’s linear waste-removal systems.

A shift from linear to circular consumption would save an estimated $706 billion a year throughout the productive economy and generate global benefits worth $4.5 trillion—an amount almost equivalent to the entire GDP of Japan, the world’s third-largest national economy.