Episode Summary
“We do energy treasure hunts in our own facilities for our operations. It’s a great method. I’ve personally done 100 of them globally and some at our suppliers. We also did one for a customer, which was a lot of fun. We find them to be great opportunities for energy savings, water reduction, and carbon savings.”
– Al Hildreth, Global Energy Manager for General Motors
For many companies, the supply chain represents a significant portion of their carbon footprint. This means that in addition to investing in renewable energy sources and carefully managing the materials and process used in their operations, they have to collaborate with suppliers and customers to have the maximum impact on the environment.
Al Hildreth is the Global Energy Manager for General Motors and Lecedra Welch is the Program Manager of Environmental Sustainability at AIAG. They joined Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton to talk about:
- Going beyond opportunity identification to reach action planning, the step in the process where potential benefits become tangible results
- The sheer number of resources, frameworks, and support systems that are available for companies and industries that are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and impact on the environment
- Why efforts to improve sustainability also have to be economically sound if they are to continue making a difference long into the future
Episode Transcript
Amanda Luton (00:05):
It’s time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia, heard around the world. Supply chain now spotlights the best in all things, supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.
Scott Luton (00:29):
Hey, good morning Scott Luton here with you own supply chain. Now welcome to today’s show. On today’s episode we’re speaking with a couple of business leaders, really about sustainability and climate change. Some some big issues that industry is grappling with. The interview is part of our continuing collaboration with the automotive industry action group. You can learn more@aiag.org in fact, both of our guests here today are keynotes at the AIAG corporate responsibility summit. So stay tuned as we look to increase your supply chain act. Cute. A quick programming note before we get started here, if you enjoyed the live stream, we invite you to check out our podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. I want to welcome in my fearless cohost for today’s session, mr Greg white, cereal supply chain, tech entrepreneur and trusted advisor. Greg, good morning
Greg White (01:17):
and apparently supply chain adjutant today. So already having a Twitter battle on LinkedIn. Hey, great to have. We’ve had some great discussions so far and it’s just great to have Al and the you’re here with us. Uh, I’m really looking forward to this topic. We are,
Scott Luton (01:35):
we are too. And as we all know, passionate discussion and debate moves the industry forward. So I’m glad you’re doing, you’re doing a the industry of service this morning already, Greg. All right, want to welcome in our featured guests, as Greg alluded to, first up, uh, Al Hildreth, global energy manager at general motors, general motors. Al, good morning. Good morning, great to have you really have enjoyed our prep conversations and getting to know you and your thought leadership better. So can’t wait for you to share that with our audience. And also let’s see. Deidre Welch, program manager, environmental sustainability for the automotive industry action group. Again, AIG. Lissandra pleasure to get to know you as well. How are you doing?
Lecedra Welch (02:16):
No, I’m great. Thank you. Good morning.
Scott Luton (02:20):
You’re like one of the AIAG secret weapons. And we have seen that in our prep conversation. So looking forward to you as well, sharing some of your expertise and experiences on today’s broadcast. Thank you. You bet. All right, so Greg, we’re going to dive in pretty quick here. Uh, we want to start with getting, uh, you know, given our audience the same opportunity that we’ve had, which is getting know Al and Lissandra a little bit better. So let’s see. Deidre, let’s start with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, where you’re from, and give us a little snapshot of your professional journey.
Lecedra Welch (02:53):
Okay, well, again, good morning everyone. I’m happy to be here. Uh, let’s see. The wild program manager, uh, Vimal
Lecedra Welch (03:00):
sustainability. I’ve been with the organization a little over six years now, um, prior to working at AIG and I’ve been in waste management for almost 15 years. So, um, but again, I’m happy to include this podcast in our AIG first ever virtual summit, which is next week, April 28th and 29th. Um, this time, it started back in 2011 as a way to bring awareness to social and environmental issues that were becoming increasingly important in the supply chain. So, um, that’s really,
Al Hildreth (03:36):
really appreciate the work you are doing to give a forum and give a spotlight to these issues that, that we need to be tackling as business leaders and organizations. So love that component to the AIG mission. Uh, alright, so Al, same question for you. Tell us about yourself, where you’re from and, and give us, you know, 40 years at GM is tough to put into minutes, but tell us about your professional journey. So I have to do this quickly. So I’ve also been married for over 40 years too. So those kind of have gone together. Yep. Same wife. Do I have to have to clarify that? And we have three kids, five grandchildren. Uh, I’ve, I’ve worked for GM over 40 years and in a number of different locations, uh, worked in SpringHill Tennessee, Detroit, uh, uh, Korea, Seoul, South Korea, and Germany. And so I had a lot of fun and in each of those, because I really am passionate about sustainability, I’m currently the global energy manager for general motors and, uh, been working with AAG for about 10 years since I moved back from Korea. And, uh, they’re a great organization that helps, helps us collaborate with our supply chain, which, uh, you know, as I describe, uh, our missions, uh, feel a good portion of it is in our supply chain. So I’m really enjoyed working with those folks and it gives us the opportunity as OEMs to collaborate on something that’s not really competitive, you know, sustainability and, and a clean environment is something that we’re all, uh, endeavor for. And so I’m just, just glad to be here today and share some, uh, some things about, uh, general motors.
Lecedra Welch (05:16):
Yeah. And you know, we value Al very much on the volunteers that we have, but we definitely value out. He’s been very active and he’s been a great asset to AIG, so we definitely appreciate him very much.
Al Hildreth (05:29):
Great point. So before Greg chimes in here and, and, and, and really starts picking your brain on some big topics. I gotta ask the painting behind you. Is that a, is that a first run addition? Tell us more. Yeah, so it’s much, much larger than the, than the real Mona Lisa. We, uh, my wife and I used to travel to Paris. It was only four hours from where we lived in Frankfurt and went to the loop quite a bit and really kind of, you know, was just enthralled with the painting. And then we moved to Korea, found it in a, in a, uh, underground store, which, you know, most of the shopping in Korea is underground and bought it and brought it home with us. So it’s been around and I really appreciate it. Her eyes really do follow you too when you’re in the loop and then walking around, look at those first thing I tested, you know, as an engineer on that one. It does actually. Yes. Which, you know, keep people out of your office, but it doesn’t keep the grandkids out. They love it here. Good.
Lecedra Welch (06:27):
Well let’s shift gears a little bit and, and dive into this topic. So we’re here to talk about climate change, big topic for a short interview. Um, but you know, a lot of organizations are concerned about it. Obviously the whole world is concerned about it. And I feel like with what you all have done at GM and you particularly out, you can offer a lot of knowledge to not only the attendees here at, at the, uh, corporate responsibility summit, but to companies all over and we’d like to share that with them. So tell us a little bit about how you guys are taking action there.
Al Hildreth (07:04):
Sure. So I feel very fortunate to work for a company that has a vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. Uh, we believe climate change is real and we have methods in place, we have goals, targets, uh, we interface with our supply chain. Um, and really the, the big emission for us, uh, as you’ll see in, in the, in the next slide is our vehicles. So when people drive our vehicles, that’s, that’s our largest, uh, emission of carbon. And, but secondly, our supply chain is number two. Uh, however we feel that with, uh, electrification of our vehicles, which is, you know, one of our, one of our company goals, uh, is to, uh, be all electric vehicles in the future. That, uh, really our supply chain will probably be our majority of emissions. So you see kind of our operations, which we have a lot of, uh, of, uh, activities and goals and our operations reductions.
Al Hildreth (08:03):
Uh, we do energy, treasure hunts. Uh, we have, uh, we have it integrated into our business plans, sustainability, energy, carbon, water reduction, and, but it’s only 2% of our, um, of our carbon footprint. Logistics is huge. There’s create savings out there and, and, uh, logistics operations and, and, uh, you know, efficiency in those areas. But if you, if you look at, uh, our use of vehicles, which is our largest one right now, as that reduces with renewable energy, uh, we have an [inaudible] commitment for our company operations and we’re working with, uh, you know, utility companies and we want to expand that, uh, quicker throughout the rest of the world. Then our supply chain will really be our next biggest carbon footprint. And so engaging with them through organizations like AIG, uh, CDP is another one, um, that we engage our, our supply chain in. Um, and so we’ve kind of figured out the impacts based on a part, you know, we’ve done life cycle analysis of carbon emissions, water emissions, land use, and so we kind of know where the major parts are and we also know that it really is kind of a minor piece in our first tier.
Al Hildreth (09:17):
Well that’s the ones we have a relationship with. We have a contract with a, but it’s only about 15% of our total carbon emissions. So we really have to kind of engage our tier one suppliers, make them understand that, you know, we’re, we’re interested in, in decarbonizing our industry and figure out ways to do that. And it may be things like renewable energy is going to be a huge, um, um, reduction for us. As you see, the two biggest industries are electric generation of primary steel. There’s the ones that are major contributors. And so that as well as sustainable materials, um, you know, like recycled steel versus primary steel and in areas where it’s applicable, uh, and other types of substitutions as well as, uh, lightweighting, uh, lightweighting our vehicle, provides us with, uh, you know, less materials, which is good, uh, as well as increased, um, uh, miles per gallon. Now, real quick. Sure. For folks that may not know what light-weighting is, give us a couple of examples there. Sure. So it can be, uh, you know, using, uh, high strength carbon steel, uh, which takes weight out of the, uh, out of the vehicle. Uh, structural pieces. Uh, we have, our supply chain has been very active, uh, with us and that a specialist like the, the new CA Corvette, uh, we use lightweighting techniques, uh, and so less material and better, uh, fuel efficiency is really what, uh, you know, helps us in those areas.
Lecedra Welch (10:47):
So, you know, we talked with, uh, Bruno Sarda at CDP who you mentioned, um, and they’re, you know, a great clearing house and facilitator of, of efficiency and just recognition of what your issues are. And we also talked to a lot of people on our shows about, you said tier one, but you know, um, every level of the supply chain and just making them aware of their impact on, um, you know, on, on the environment. And I know you have an active, uh, you have an active effort there, but you’ve also mentioned, um, treasure hunts, right? So is that, is that a vehicle by which you help companies recognize where their opportunities are? Can you tell us a little bit about these treasure hunts?
Al Hildreth (11:36):
Yeah, so, so we do a energy treasure hunts in our own facilities for our operations. It’s, it’s a great method. Uh, energy star is a standardized process that you can get, you know, free information for, uh, become energy star partner for it’s free. Uh, the department of energy also has resources, can help you with energy. Treasure. I’ve done personally a hundred of them globally and summit at other suppliers. We have people on our team that, uh, go to other suppliers and we invite suppliers to our treasure rounds so that they can learn the process. Uh, we also did one for a customer, which was a lot of fun too. Uh, and, uh, so we find them to be great opportunities for energy savings, water reduction and, and carbon savings.
Lecedra Welch (12:22):
And energy star has a standard practice there.
Al Hildreth (12:25):
Yeah, it’s a free, a standardized process. Uh, you know, it’s typically a two and a half day, sometimes large sites. We may take four days, uh, if we, if we do a powertrain facility as well as an assembly plant and, and, uh, but, but we have a lot of fun with it. Uh, you know, we find typically we can go into a facility and find a million dollars a year savings, which is really rewarding and save energy. So when you identify these opportunities, uh, so I’ve been a part of rattlesnake hunts from a lean standpoint where you identify, uh, instant improvement opportunities and then you prioritize and then you, you, you, you get out there and make it happen. Right. And you, you manage those, those micro projects. Talk to us about when you do these energy hunts, the followup and making sure that the savings and the gains are captured, what does that look like?
Al Hildreth (13:18):
Yeah. So the action plans that we create are really the important things. Cause you know, just finding the opportunities doesn’t do me any good, but you really have to implement. Um, so we use, uh, we use energy performance contracting as a mechanism where we can, you know, have a contractor come in, provide us with the energy savings and then we share the savings with them over time. That’s one option. We also use our own money and we have team dedicated teams at each site that are really focused on energy, water and carbon savings. So as each site’s got a target that they have to meet, they know they have to come up with a sufficiency plan to meet that target. And what we find from energy treasure hunts is, is really one thing that’s helpful in, in them meeting their targets. Hmm. Love that. I love how practical that is, Greg. Yeah,
Lecedra Welch (14:06):
yeah. And structured. Honestly, I didn’t know that energy star had developed a framework for that. I think that’s really important. We’ll put that in the show notes so that other companies can access that in case they’re not aware. I would imagine procedure that they’re probably pretty well aware of this, but it can never hurt that more information. Right. Absolutely.
Al Hildreth (14:26):
And so one of the things that’s kind of, you’d think now, well if we can’t do energy treasure hunts, but we can do virtual ones. Uh, we have systems, we have a system called energy OnStar, which looks at the energy use. It looks at our HPAC systems, which are major contributors to energy use in a facility. And we can look at that virtually and find out, you know, we have energy dashboards that tell us where some opportunities are and we can pinpoint and when we are able to get back into our facilities, which we’re hoping will be shortly, we’ll be able then to implement and, and get those savings.
Scott Luton (15:01):
Love that, you know, um, as we have seen in, uh, with robotics automation firms by the way, uh, of our Ford Ford example where they’ll go and do an assessments and they’re not letting this current environment stop that they’re doing virtual assessments. So I love to hear how, you know, the need is still there. You know, even though we’re in this pandemic environment and it’s, it’s challenging for so many people, some of the operations and uh, and companies still finding a way to get, you know, GSD, get stuff done that these are stories that we love to hear about here. Right, Greg?
Lecedra Welch (15:34):
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. We’ll see. Cedar is doing a little bit of a, of an audit in her office right now. Pretty much alone, her and the it person making it happen. So I can get an interesting assessment of how energy is consumed even where you don’t have robotics or mechanics and that sort of thing. Operating in a facility, just the presence of human beings and their activities, um, changes the, the energy consumption, um, structure as well, right?
Al Hildreth (16:09):
Yep. Just, just having the visibility into how much energy you’re using, not being able to go there and look at meters in an online system. We use that. We send out a daily report to all our plant managers and say, here’s how you performed today compared to the targets and we’re getting really, really high percentage reductions in energy because of that.
Scott Luton (16:31):
Yeah. So, so before we went live here on today’s episode, we are talking about supplier development and I imagine, uh, my hunch is that GM was really a trailblazer and supplier development as was the industry. Uh, you’ve already, you’ve already laid out a few examples where it seems like you’re not only looking within the four walls, but looking upstream and downstream for overall end to end efficiencies. Speak more to the importance of supplier development programs right now in the era of global supply chain.
Al Hildreth (17:02):
Yeah. So, um, you know, AAG [inaudible] assisted us with this as well as other organizations and you know, having a, you know, suppliers that are up to speed with what our goals are, what our vision is and supporting us in those areas is really important. You know, obviously in the quality side, so logistics and delivery costs, but now sustainability and you know, sustainability includes, you know, make it a profit, which is really good. So we are really looking forward to expanding this in our supply chain. Um, I was just at a webinar earlier with CDP and about a hundred of our suppliers, uh, talking to them about, uh, ways that we can work with them to, uh, you know, improve sustainability and it really requires a collaborative
Scott Luton (17:50):
effort with them. You touched on something that’s really important and that’s that whatever effort we undertake to try and confront climate change or save the environment, anything, it has to be economically feasible. We know that GM wants to do the right thing. We also know that in order for GM to continue to do the right thing, you have to make money, right? So we have to have an equal, equal effort on making these conservation efforts as economical and cost effective as possible. Right, right. Great point. Great point, Greg. And that, and that’s really, I’m not sure what y’all have been seeing, but it seems like in the last couple of years in particular, that point has really dawned on a lot of folks of how we can really get sustainable action in these critical areas where it, it positively impacts all shareholders. So I’m good, Greg, I appreciate you bringing that up.
Scott Luton (18:46):
Um, so I’m going to pivot over to the Seadrill and, and I love how y’all just in this interview, clearly I’ve got a close collaboration, a great relationship, uh, symbiotic. And, and what I love that AIG is doing is, is serving as an outstanding platform to get best practices from one of the global automotive, the global automotive manufacturing leader. And that is so important right now, especially in this environment where we’re business leaders are, are really looking hard for how to, how to break through, you know, this, this certain environment where we’re navigating through. So with that said, so don’t go anywhere out without, with that said, I want to bring, uh, let’s see, Deidre back into the conversation and seizure. I’d love for you, you know, w we’re, we’re big fans, supply chain now this is our second event. We’ve collaborated with AIG own, uh, we love the, the practical can do, we’re going to figure it out and we’re going to share a lot of information with the industry that that’s so baked into the AIAG DNA. But for those that, for the three or four folks out there that may not have heard of AIG, speak more to the value proposition of getting involved in some of the resources that the organization offers.
Lecedra Welch (19:58):
Okay. So AIG, we are a nonprofit organization where OEMs, suppliers, service providers, and academia. We work collaboratively to create solutions that drive down costs and complexity for the automotive supply chain. Um, and we develop solutions, um, that benefit the supply chain and it, uh, helps deal with their impacts. We do it by three different ways. We either have events like we’re doing now, which is, uh, this is in prepares for our virtual event, which is next week. Uh, we have trainings that we do and we also have publications. Um, we also have numerous work groups, three areas of expertise. We’ve got a corporate responsibility and we have supply chain, which I know you have done some podcasts with Jim. Uh, who was our supply chain project manager. Program manager. Yup. Yup. He, he’s awesome person to work with as well as, um, our quality area, which we have two program managers, uh, which is, uh, Brian Martinson and Karen crutch.
Lecedra Welch (21:07):
So we have many, many work groups, um, that, uh, the suppliers and the OEMs can lend their voices to some of the emerging issues that are out there. So in our environment sustainability area, we have our overall sustainability work group. We have our greenhouse gas work group, which our chairs, uh, we have our benchmarking, uh, work group. And then we also have a new ad hot work group on waste management. So this is where we tackle the emerging issues that, uh, that are surrounding these areas. And we work to develop those solutions that benefits all levels of the supply chain. So we definitely implore, um, and we encourage participation, you know, the, you know, in order to, to, um, tackle these issues out here. We need your, we need your help. We need your voice.
Scott Luton (21:58):
Well, you know, let’s see, drew, we are, um, again, we’re, we’re very partisan here. We’re big fans of AIG. We’ve seen the, we’ve seen what y’all do. We’ve seen the impact and we’re sharing aig.org, the website Homesite there, but you know, one big move that can’t be over overlooked. And, and, uh, Greg, you know, we’ve seen folks get really opportunistic during these times, right? And then we’ve seen other folks take the other move and say, you know what, there’s a lot of people in business leaders struggling. They’re looking for good information and insights, whether it’s related to COBIT 19 or if it’s related to what I’ll call normal times, if that exists. Still these days, Greg, speak to the, I mean when, when AIG took this summit, uh, and made it an open to the public free event, how big of a move was that?
Lecedra Welch (22:47):
Well, it was big in a lot of ways. First of all, this was originally and all of the attendees who had already signed up recognize that this was a physical event at one time. Right. And, um, and I think the team at AIG acted rapidly to recognize the seriousness of the situation with our seismic societal disruption and global pandemic and switched quickly to a virtual, um, event, which, um, let’s see, Dre, you all had already been planning for, for future events. Maybe next year. I don’t know exactly where
Lecedra Welch (23:25):
we were trying to find a way to take our trainings and our events spiritual. So, but the pandemic, it kind of allowed us to work faster to achieve that.
Lecedra Welch (23:33):
Hmm. Forcing you to work faster. Right. Really, it’s really, it really is impressive what you all did to one, recognize that this needed to, this needed to happen badly enough that, um, that we needed to take it virtual in order to make sure that it occurred and to, um, to, you know, to make it open to literally everyone I know not everyone will attend, but everyone who, who, who has any interest in, in the automotive trade can participate in this thing. I just think that’s a big leadership move.
Scott Luton (24:09):
So, Hey, Al, I’m gonna bring you back to the conversation. Uh, sure. One of the common themes in this conversation here today is that clearly is emerging, is um, getting outside the four walls, whether it is within GM and its supply chain and, and how you’re developing, uh, all, all nodes of that global supply chain and you have for 40 years or if it’s AIG and how they’re helping to facilitate different sec, uh, uh, different levels of professionals, different, different aspects of, of supply chain and quality and corporate responsibility. They’re helping serve as a vehicle for those, those conversations and that dialogue that has to take place for the, for the industry, global industry to get better. Al, speak to just how important in 2020 it is to get outside of these four walls and have these types of discussions. Yeah, so that’s a great point.
Scott Luton (24:58):
And you know, so many of our suppliers are common between auto OEMs and you know, although we can’t work together on competitive issues, uh, we can work through organizations like AIG, uh, energy star, department of energy, um, they can bring industries together to find, you know, to identify best practices and sustainability to include supply chain in that which all of those organizations have, you know, reach out to, to the supply chain and service providers to, so there’s people that, uh, you know, they’re not our suppliers, but they can provide services and we can include them and AAG. That’s kind of their third, third wing is service providers, which can help us in energy efficiency and collaboration as well. Yup. Great point. And let’s see, drew, if you could speak to the same, same, uh, subject here today and you know, the need to get out and, and connect with folks and not stay. So you got to take the blinders off. Right. Let’s see. June.
Lecedra Welch (25:56):
Yeah. You really, you really do. I agree with what Al said. You have to yep.
Scott Luton (26:04):
And you, so you, you have industry, like you said on the front end, uh, you were involved industry I think waste management, that sector prior to joining AIG, right? Yes. And it seems like we’re seeing, uh, especially in the waste. I was reading the other day about the impact that the current pandemic environment is having on the waste management industry and it seems like there’s a lot of maybe newfound levels of practice of best practice and information sharing in that sector as well. It seems, I don’t know if you, if you’re still, you know, got your finger on the pulse of that industry.
Lecedra Welch (26:37):
Uh, not as much as I would like to. Um, hopefully with this new waste work group that we’re trying to start
Lecedra Welch (26:44):
here, AIG, I can kind of get back in the fold and you know, be back in the no house things that are happening in the waste management world.
Al Hildreth (26:52):
Outstanding. Yeah. Um, all right. So one final question as we start to wind down here. Uh, Greg, what do we want to make sure we connect? Speaking to connecting, we want to make sure we get our audience connected with are with Alan. Let’s see drew, right?
Lecedra Welch (27:04):
Yeah, well AIG is such an important organization and um, and I think critical to the automotive industry and the key part of AIG is action, right? I mean that’s one thing that we have clearly seen in this association is lots of action. So we want to make sure that folks can get in touch with you. And so let’s see here. Let’s start with you. I’m, I flip the script a little bit. Let’s start with you and tell folks how they can get in touch with you and how they can participate in contact. Uh, AIG.
Lecedra Welch (27:42):
Um, you had the website up not too long ago, but from our information or corporate responsibility, you can just go to aig.org and click on corporate responsibility. You know, there you’re going to find lots of information, not just on the environmental areas that I manage, but also the social areas that Tonya Bolden, who was the director of corporate responsibility, manage managers as well as um, you know, other areas of AIG, which day two we’ll focus on the social aspects. So please tune in and continue for um, AIG on day two, which will focus on the social areas where they want to obviously focus on environmental. Um, on our website you also find resources to assist you on mitigating your cyber security risks, which is also a big, a huge project for IAG, um, which is an increasing concern for everyone. Um, we’re also looking to do a virtual event for a cybersecurity, uh, coming in the next couple months. Um, your listeners may also be interested to know that the companies may meet this may meet a criteria for free AIAG memberships. So, um, so please visit our website and if you want to contact me, you can contact me@crsaiag.org for more information on any of the initiatives we talked about today.
Lecedra Welch (29:02):
Thanks. We’ll see if you’re alright out other than your obvious security station at the live
Al Hildreth (29:08):
right, right. How can folks contact you? So feel free to pass out my email address, Alfred dot J dot. hildreth@gm.com and uh, we’re always, uh, welcoming talking to folks and we find great business processes that are out there. Um, from our suppliers standpoint, again, we’re, we’re engaging with you through CDP, through AAG, uh, suppliers, partnership for the environment and others and always looking for, for, for new processes and environmental.
Scott Luton (29:43):
And one thing I might say about this current time that we’re in that, uh, you know, this I think is really pointed to a glimpse into the future of what, you know, sustainability could really provide us, you know, there’s people that are swimming in the clubhouse of Venice and I’ve been there and I wouldn’t have swam in them, but they’re very clean right now. You know, people are seeing the Himalayan mountains, so they’re kind of getting a glimpse of oil. If we could decarbonize in the future, this is what the world would look like, and I think that’s really going to help sustainability in the future. Great point. Great point. There’s so much more we can’t get to given the time. We’ll have to have y’all back on and uh, really own that note. Uh, let’s see. Jurors we talked about, we look forward to facilitating a live stream post event and we’ll get some AIAG team members sharing some of the key takeaways from a gathering of some of the, the most established thought leaders in the corporate, uh, responsibility, uh, world.
Scott Luton (30:38):
Um, one of the point you mentioned Tonya Bolden, uh, talk about folks that get stuff done. I think she’s leading off the keynote by the time folks see this, she will have, I think, opened the, uh, the summit coming up and she has been an incredible leader through these, these new events and new vehicles and new, new ways of serving industry, right? Yes, yes, yes. All right, wonderful. Well. Thank you Al and Lissandra before we wrap up, Greg, you know, I got to get one key takeaway from you before we wrap things up here today.
Lecedra Welch (31:11):
You know, this hits my hot button. Anything that we’re talking about sustainability or ethicality or anything in supply chain is really important. I really appreciate what Al is doing. Obviously what Lissandra you and your team at AIG are doing. Um, and I know there’s a lot of work ahead of us, but I feel like you all, um, have a great process. You’ve got great support mechanisms with CDP, um, and some of the other organizations out there and um, you know, I can’t say anything but thank you for what you’re doing for recognizing this and continuing to, you know, to reach out to try and um, really change things. There are a few companies on the planet that can have as much reach and as much impact on this matter as GM.
Scott Luton (31:57):
Great point, Greg. That’s a great point to wrap up on. So big thanks to our guest here today. Al Hildreth, a global energy manager with general motors, a 40 year career of making an impact out. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Absolutely. We’ll do it again. Let’s see, drew welts, program manager for environmental sustainability at AIG, checkout aig.org to find ways of getting engaged and helping make a big impact. So thanks so much. Let’s see, DRA.
Lecedra Welch (32:25):
Yeah, thank you so much
Scott Luton (32:27):
to our audience. Uh, be sure to check out a wide variety of industry thought leaders that we have at supply chain now, radio.com, uh, fondness and subscribe in terms of our podcast, wherever you get yours from on of the entire team here, Scott Luton, wishing you a wonderful, successful week ahead. Stay safe. Uh, but know this, there are much brighter days ahead and we’ll see you next time here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.
Featured Guests
Al Hildreth is the Global Energy Manager for General Motors, overseeing the company’s energy management practices, including carbon, energy and water conservation. Hildreth also manages the teams responsible for energy use at all of GM’s facilities around the world.
Lecedra Welch, Program Manager of Environmental Sustainability, joined AIAG in March 2014. She is responsible for managing collaborative volunteer projects, addressing critical issues throughout the automotive supply chain, and creating an environment where stakeholders can work together to develop recommendations, guidelines and best practices for the good of the industry. Prior to joining AIAG, she worked for Veolia Environmental Services, as Waste Manager for two Ford manufacturing facilities. Her responsibilities included project and program management and waste minimization. She has over 15 years of experience in Environmental Management. She has received a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Michigan State University in Chemical Engineering.
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