Green Options

Helveta, specializes in supply chain tracking systems that give companies the ability to track any and every item in their supply chain. In forestry, this means that it can link barcodes and radio identifiers to individual trees and map them using GPS and Helveta’s proprietary software.

Using these tags, it allows timber producers to demonstrate that their wood and lumber comes from a legal source. According to Patrick Newton, President of Helveta, this gives an additional level of auditability and supply chain assurance to buyers and watchdog groups:

If it doesn’t have the tag or the audit trail attached to it, they will know it is probably illegal

And, according to an article in the Economist, that’s exactly what is happening in Liberia.

Helveta aims to change the way supply chains are managed. With their software platform CI World™, Helveta is providing a solution to extended supply chain industry sectors (their initial two targets are the food and timber sectors) to enable an auditable chain of custody.

What does this mean? Specifically, it allows lumber and wood companies, fair-trade producers, and others to validate claims that their supplies are sustainably harvested, that their supply chain is held to rigorous standards, as well as providing risk assurance on extended supply chain purchases, and even royalty collections.