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The race to DPP – what are the risks for today’s organisations that very soon need to implement Digital Product Passports (DPP)?
The imminent risk is obvious once you've taken a closer look: Not getting started in time.
The task is big! GDPR was just a slight gust of wind in comparison. DPP will permeate the entire organisation, not just those handling personal data, as was the case with GDPR.
But there are some risks of starting on the wrong foot. Risks that we will cover in this piece.
Treating Digital Product Passports Like a Marketing and Communications Exercise?
The work groups in CEN/CENELEC are still struggling to come forth with all standards needed for a DPP, at the same time markets players are hungry for those sustainable data sets to prove themselves environmentally friendly. No matter what is written in those elaborate agreements that you need to adhere to as a supplier, you need to understand and identify who, and what department the work starts with to at all have a DPP on time.
Easy you might say, we know how to listen to our market, that is what made us so strong and prosperous.
The face towards the market is not the way to go with DPP
How ever counter-intuitive it might feel, the market is not the drum to listen to when the music plays DPP. You might well raise your eyebrow there, but no, Digital Product Passports are simply not yet another sustainability show off. They are an essential aspect of your products, that needs to be implemented for every single product sold. A true digital twin, not a green-looking badge designed with trees or arrows doing full circle.
So, in the case of DPP, the marketing or communications department is the wrong horse to bet on. They do not understand the needs of the DPP regulation. But then, who does?
Sourcing and Purchasing to the Rescue?
Think of a hospital; who is the first to handle a patient? Well, it depends on inpatient or outpatient you might say. Irrespective of which, that patient needs some initial administrative work to know who we are treating.
Life and death situation you say? Of course we need to save lives even if we do not know who the patient is at start. But while some staff do life-saving operations, others gather data from authorities or insurance companies to find out about the person we are treating.
Similarly, where does the process start to turn inputs into finished products in a manufacturing operation? By sourcing and purchasing departments identifying suitable suppliers and negotiation with them, no? They correspond to the nurses and doctors, the ones “treating” your products with that, sometimes elusive, dataset that "assembles" into a DPP in accordance to the delegated acts which will start coming at the end of 2025.
Shouldn't the Sustainability Manager Lead the DPP Effort?
The Sustainability Manager (if you have one) might have the mindset and pathos required, but how about having the funding? Or the backing of top management?
It's obvious that getting DPP compliant won't come for free, the elephant in the room.
Throwing a bit of budget on the sustainability or marketing managers to "do some DPP thing", won't suffice. Their mandate is too limited for the fundamental change brought by Digital Product Passports to the way products are designed and produced, inputs sourced, logistics done and data handled. DPP is a matter for the Top Leadership team, even for the Board of Directors. It will change what your product IS.
Digital Product Passports change how we produce what we sell, not how we sell what we produce
Look at any list of attendees to any DPP convention, webinar or educational talk. Where are the CEO:s, CFO:s, CTO:s and what other C roles there are that should be interested in this total disruptive change, this paradigm shift, to all companies wanting to sell their products in the European Union (not only finished products but also inputs that, at some later stage, end up in products sold in the EU)?
Beware of Tech Suppliers Taking Your DPP Data Hostage
Digital Product Passports is not a one-time change. Digital Product Passport compliance is a matter of fundamentally changing how design and manufacturing operations operate for the future. Therefore, you cannot afford to get locked into a system where your data is held hostage by a system supplier. Just like the EU directive says, it needs to be transparent, distributed and flexible. No monoliths. No lock-in permitted even.
Start with your sourcing and purchasing department, do the inventory of the support systems and IT processes you have, work with production on the environmental aspects of the production process, and with your suppliers.
Help that "Head of DPP" to succeed by supporting them with the necessary tools, time....and budget.
Start treating that patient of yours. Now. It might just be a life and death situation.
Image by Petmal on iStock
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