The challenges of 2020 have led many companies to expand their opportunities by partnering with other businesses, including a competitor. Several pharmaceutical giants, for example, forged partnerships to work on vaccines for the disease, while major corporations continued to come together to use their size and scale to reduce carbon emissions.
Global enterprise software company SAP has spent the year forging partnerships to address these global issues, too. Here are examples of the challenges these businesses faced and how they are being addressed.
Queen of Raw
The Queen of Raw marketplace buys and sells sustainable textiles and deadstock, which is surplus fabrics from a production run. With the aid of an unused inventory app that leverages enterprise resource planning system SAP/4HANA, they can automate the tracking and sending of unused textiles.
Using a digital supply chain, unused materials are connected with brands and buyers who didn’t have access to them before. Queen of Raw has rescued over 500 tons of unused textiles and fabrics in its marketplace since the app launched, which use over 1 billion gallons of water in the production process.
The wasted opportunity of these unused deadstock fabrics became more pronounced as Covid-19 shut down textile factories globally, according to SAP. To meet demand, more buyers turned to deadstock fabrics for their supply. The number of Queen of Raw users increased by 40% from March to July, and 80% more transactions were made on Queen of Raw from the first quarter to the second quarter.
SAP started working with Queen of Raw via the SAP.iO Foundry, which helps innovators build products. The partnership accelerated the startup on its mission for a more sustainable and efficient textiles supply chain. As Covid-19 continues impacting various industries, a shift in consumer consumption is allowing Queen of Raw to ensure a more sustainable marketplace.
