When the HPD Open Standard was first introduced in 2012, it was always understood that the key to broader usage would be when we could support participation at all levels of the Supply Chain. We chose to introduce the HPD Builder tool first for manufacturers of the end product – the product that architects, designers and building owners actually select and specify. While this approach made a lot of sense from the standpoint of bringing HPD-reported information from product manufacturers to their customers, it left it up to manufacturers to communicate their need for information to an often complex, multi-tiered supply chain of component and ingredient makers.
The Supplier HPD is a breakthrough methodology – backed up with automated tools – that simplifies and streamlines the gathering of data from wherever in the supply chain it may originate. With the Supplier HPD Extension to HPD Builder, manufacturers and suppliers can easily automate communication and sharing of data, lowering costs and improving data quality.
Working with Makersite GMBH, a supply chain information technology provider, HPDC has created a purpose-built interface to the HPD Builder, designed specifically to meet the needs of suppliers who provide one or more ingredients to product manufacturers. Phase 1 deployment is now in Pilot and will be in production in late September/early October. Here are some of the key features that will be included in the Phase 1 release:
- Manufacturer-to-supplier, and supplier-to-supplier communications are automated for requesting and sending Supplier HPDs. Back-and-forth communication when additional information is required is easy. Tier 1 suppliers can easily communicate with lower tiers of complex supply chains, and aggregate the final information for their end customer.
- Fully automated upload to the manufacturer’s HPD Builder account (once supplier is authenticated).
- HPD Builder has also been enhanced to support the optional “Part Inventory” introduced with HPD v2.2. Manufacturers will have the option to display an inventory showing where in the structure of a product specific materials and substances appear. For example, the manufacturer could define the “arm of a chair” as a part, and show which materials and substances are components of it.
- Multi-tiered part structures are now possible. Using the Supplier HPD, suppliers can define individual components, and combine them into hierarchical structures to represent more complex assemblies and mixtures.
- Bills-of-materials can easily be read into the system, removing the need for manual data entry.
- Suppliers can provide the same information to as many manufacturer customers as they have. Produce the Supplier HPD for a given ingredient once – reuse it over and over again. Product manufacturers can also benefit from this by creating a Supplier HPD account and being their own supplier.
- The subset of information provided by the supplier using the Supplier HPD is checked for compliance with the requirements of the HPD Open Standard. Helpful guidance is available to assist suppliers in completing the data entries that manufacturers need in order to produce a compliant HPD report, using the supplier information.
- Hazard screening required for compliance with HPD Open Standard is fully automated.
- Suppliers may withhold confidential information, such as CASRN and chemical name, while completing a full hazard screening and reporting those results to the manufacturer—supporting LEED v4 compliance.
Phase 2 of the Supplier HPD capabilities are planned for release in the first half of 2020. The expanded capabilities will enable suppliers to participate directly in our transparency initiative by publishing Supplier HPDs in the HPD Public Repository, and provide an interface for manufacturers to identify ingredients and suppliers based on chemical content and health information. Expanded API support with other supply chain tools will also become available.