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Ep 7: Aslan Cattaui on Carbon Neutrality and Data-Driven Sustainability in Automotive Supply Chains
13 Plays3 months ago
In this episode of Sustainability Square 1, Aslan Cattaui of Toyota Tsusho America joins GLYNT.AI’s Martha Amram to discuss the challenges of achieving carbon neutrality in automotive supply chains. Aslan shares insights on tracking emissions data, reducing transportation footprints, and the role of accurate, finance-grade data in driving sustainability investments. Learn how Toyota Tsusho America collaborates across the supply chain to improve efficiency, lower carbon impacts, and prepare for a future where product carbon footprints influence purchasing decisions.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
what
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello there, this is Martha Amram, CEO of Glyn AI, and we're here to talk with Aslan Katawi. He's at TAI, and I'll let him explain what TAI is and how it's related to Toyota. Welcome, Aslan.
00:00:20
Speaker
Thank you, Martha. Thanks for having me
Role and Focus on Carbon Neutrality
00:00:22
Speaker
today. TAI stands for Toyota Church of America. We are a logistics and trading company that is in the automotive industry mainly and supports Toyota, among others. Can you just describe your role to get us all started? Absolutely.
00:00:36
Speaker
um i am the senior manager of our corporate planning and investment group, mainly concentrating currently on our carbon neutrality and all aspects of that, since it is a pretty big thing that we have ah for Toyota.
00:00:50
Speaker
And have you been in the world of, shall we call it carbon, in one way or the other for a while, or did you sort of migrate over?
Shift to Environmental Initiatives
00:00:57
Speaker
It so sort of migrated over. i was participating to a forum called Supply Partnership, and this is, I think, where we first met. As these initiatives became more and more prevalent and there was a need of action, the first thing we need to do is figure out where we are in order to get to where we want to be. So I raised my hand and said, Ahmed, how can help?
00:01:17
Speaker
Oh, cool. Well, we did meet at Suppliers Partnership and I want to give them a shout out on this. It's a supply chain meeting place. So folks all around the automotive supply chain who are concerned about the environmental footprint, that's energy, water, waste.
00:01:31
Speaker
And even at the one of the most recent meetings, they talked about trace minerals and toxins in food. And it goes a little bit beyond the the usual suspects. But that group is meeting together to figure out what are good data standards, how to share information.
00:01:47
Speaker
And also what I think is so interesting is how to drive it into real results. They keep focusing on, okay, let's get it organized, but let's take it further.
Complexities in Supply Chain Strategy
00:01:55
Speaker
So as you think about your role very much in planning ahead and strategy, how do you use the the rest of the frame of reference in the supply chain to figure out your strategy and to push it forward?
00:02:08
Speaker
That's a fairly large question. As you well know, there are many aspects in a supply chain that can be disrupted, whether it is actually understanding how the goods come in, especially in today's environment. We are based out of New York in the US, so we do have some challenges with that.
00:02:22
Speaker
And in regards to the corporate utility is how do we meet that goal? And since we are a manufacturer, or at least we're supplying a large manufacturer, our main role is ah transport.
00:02:33
Speaker
And transport, it does have a pretty large footprint. Unless we can actually currently have fully green transport, that that footprint will not disappear. So we have to understand the demand. And as we are knocking wood a growing business, our footprint keeps on growing.
00:02:49
Speaker
So it is a matter of working with our partners on how they can reduce their footprint, which in turn help us reduce and meet our commitments. Right.
Importance of Data in Environmental Tracking
00:02:58
Speaker
And this gets me to what I think is a central theme in 2025, which is data such as provided by Glint needs to speak to the tracking of reductions.
00:03:08
Speaker
And so, of course, that needs to be accurate and actual. But you're sort of also hinting that you do track your own and you're you're trying to incorporate reductions from your suppliers. So tell us a little bit about data, your experience and so on. And then how do you corral all this together?
00:03:24
Speaker
That's a great question. And it's one of the reasons I lifted my hand to support. I come from an IT background, more about middleware, so I understand movements of data back and forth.
00:03:35
Speaker
And my colleague who was initially started to support the carbon neutrality is more from a business background. They don't understand how software and other tools like that can help out.
Transition to Bigbytes for Data Management
00:03:45
Speaker
So a few years back, we recorded this via Excel sheet.
00:03:48
Speaker
Now, Excel sheet is, I think, the largest ERP system used in the world, but it didn't have everything ne we needed. it So we needed to look for a tool to help us collect the information and obviously aggregate and then to analyze it. A lot of that is manual.
00:04:02
Speaker
We found a tool, Bigbytes, now AMC, and it's a great tool. With that said, we have over 100 different sites. The challenge is who's typing that data? And we needed to find out a partner or a means to actually read those utility bills. And we're talking right now, 101 level, as in just scope one and scope two, basic utility bills, not doing anything fancy and understanding what our consumption is and uploading those on a monthly basis so we can take action.
00:04:30
Speaker
And those actions can be anywhere from, oh, by the way, and everyone knows this by turning the light off, change your light bulbs, by going further down the line, changing the type of tuggers you use or using different type of materials to close your warehouse doors so that air doesn't escape. Every time a truck pulls up, and we do have a lot of trucks, the doors open up, lot of air come in, cold and hot. What can we do to help manage that? That's right.
00:04:56
Speaker
And when it's warm outside, AC comes in. When it's cold outside, you have the burner come in. So those are the challenges we have. By having accurate data and by having data that you can actually trust, you can then make decisions and you can then pitch management saying, I need to invest this amount because my savings, not only because it's green, but my savings are X. And if I rely on people typing data and the data is wrong, then i can't do I don't have the right metrics to make the pitch. Yeah, this is one of the things Clint's been focusing on is what we call finance grade
Finance-grade Data and Approval Processes
00:05:30
Speaker
data.
00:05:30
Speaker
So it has two qualities. One is it can go through those approval processes without embarrassing you because the spreadsheet jockeys, they know what to look for and we want great data. And the second one is for these kinds of capital budgeting projects, you usually take an investment in one year and they pay off for 10, or they might take 18 months to get in place and they pay off for 20.
00:05:51
Speaker
But either way, you need to have an outside party finance it because that's the litmus test of getting it off your balance sheet. yeah And so if you can get your finance team internally and that external financing in place from a bank, you have finance grade data. Yeah. And the challenge we have is Our structure is corporate and business. I'm on the corporate side.
00:06:11
Speaker
I am a cost center. The business is a profit center. So I need, it is this happy dance in and a sense of making sure that we can show them the value so they can keep on doing profit while hitting the targets that we need, which is reduction and sharing quality data to the right team, finance team and the business team and others to get the solutions.
00:06:32
Speaker
Some of the solutions are internal. Some of them are external. We've seen a lot about product carbon footprinting. Do you see a role for that given what you described as heavy transportation?
00:06:43
Speaker
Is yours an input into someone else's or do you have a product carbon footprint yourself? It's both. We're the middleman in many cases. So many of the, we, like I said at the beginning, we are trader and a logistic. So we buy and sell. We do buy sell buy raw materials in the Greek, add some value to it and then sell it back.
00:07:01
Speaker
Often we actually buy back that same material that after had added some value from one of our partners and then it goes back and forth. So to answer your questions, it is if we can minimize the carbon footprint on the moment we add the material and the way we transport it, working with a partner on whatever they do to add value, to minimize
Community Approach to Carbon Footprints
00:07:21
Speaker
that footprint. And then when we get it back and ultimately to the final customer, which most likely is a large automotive company.
00:07:28
Speaker
we you know We want to minimize that. It is kind of a look at as a community and with a common interest to be efficient in the way we transfer that information, transfer the data, ultimately to get a lower footprint.
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think we've all learned watching the Trump tariffs come through about the US-Mexico border, how many times auto parts cross the border as each bit is added. And we are indeed a community in that sense. Yeah.
00:07:54
Speaker
So last question is, it you you know let's go ahead three, four years. Can you describe the world where we have arrived, given all the things you're doing today?
Future of Carbon Footprint in Consumer Decisions
00:08:02
Speaker
ah Politics aside, let's talk about the corporation and the business.
00:08:06
Speaker
In the green space, in the carbon neutrality space, and then obviously, because we're for profit, By working together, like ah using SP, our products will start, and it already is somewhat the case, but it's more generic, but we would still have a better sense of the true corporate footprint for every single product.
00:08:24
Speaker
So when we make an estimate, and you start seeing that on some of websites where when you book a flight and you say your footprint was X amount of metric ton, or when you book a share ride and you choose a green version, it tells you X amount.
00:08:39
Speaker
The idea is the same thing. where more and more of customers will look at the greenest product, whether it is green steel or some other product, and it will make a decision based on cost and all that value. So if we can have an agency or a process that truly documents the quality or the amount of footprint of carbon associated to that product,
00:09:00
Speaker
finalized product or even semi-finalized product. I think that's what I'll see down the line is when you buy en masse or you buy, ultimately our customers will be asking how green can it be?
00:09:11
Speaker
And us being the middleman, how green can I buy? Yeah. and Thank you for that. I think that's a great place to close. I've been working on getting data better and better back office efficiency for companies, but then companies can produce their product carbon footprints and consumers can use that as one of the attributes you know to choose a product, A or B. And it doesn't have to be one thing or the other. They can make the choice.
00:09:35
Speaker
So in the end, we move the decisions down to the informed buyer. And all I can say as an economist, consumers are 70% of GDP, so they should make their decisions. Absolutely. Thank you so much, and I appreciate the interview. You're welcome. Thank you, Martha, for having me.