Among the many events at the recent ISSA trade show just completed in Chicago, was the introduction by ISSA of the DEAL program, developed with the help of Sustainability Dashboard Tools, LLC.

DEAL, which stands for Distributor Efficiency Analytics & Learning, is an online “portal,” designed to help warehouse distributors reduce operating costs and be more efficient.

Estimates indicate that the program can help save up to $15,000 in operating costs, which is comparable to increasing sales by as much as $150,000, according to Stephen Ashkin, CEO of Sustainability Dashboard Tools.

His comments are based on studies by the U.S. Green Building Council and the Environmental Protection Agency that have found savings of 10 percent to as much as 30 percent in operating costs are possible when the DEAL program’s sustainability initiatives and improvements are made.

The program does this by helping distributors measure and monitor their fuel and resource usage — for instance, fuel used for product deliveries; building energy consumption; water use, etc. The DEAL program also provides learning sessions for users, data gathering, and benchmarking.

Along with helping to reduce operating costs and become more efficient, Ashkin says the DEAL program can also “address the growing demand by customers, especially larger customers that want to know their suppliers have their own sustainability initiatives in place.”

The DEAL program also allows warehouse distributors to compare how they are doing – reducing consumption and improving efficiencies – against similar distributors nationally.
 
“We have had distributors beta testing the program for several months now,” adds Ashkin.  “All of them report the program is providing solutions to help reduce financial pressures, operating costs, and at the same time, improve their own sustainability initiatives.”