The challenge
Functional textile manufacturer NanoLayr wanted a plan to help it become a more environmentally and socially sustainable business.
The company engaged thinkstep-anz to help it produce a sustainability roadmap (a thinkmap). A thinkmap summarises an organisation’s sustainability goals and identifies the high-level projects, resources and timetable that will help it meet these goals.
About NanoLayr
NanoLayr is an award-winning deep-tech manufacturer and exporter based in Auckland, New Zealand. The company uses its proprietary Sonic Electrospinning Technology to manufacture functional nanofibre textiles. NanoLayr textiles feature in advanced air filters, skincare brands and sound insulation around the world.
What we did
We ran two workshops that brought together NanoLayr’s executive and senior teams. Fifteen participants attended from across the business: product development, operations, R&D, health and safety, manufacturing, sales and marketing.
Step one: choose the relevant Sustainable Development Goals
We introduced the team to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and worked with them to choose a small number of goals that NanoLayr would focus on. These five goals best suit NanoLayr’s business. They are relevant to the company’s activities and are areas in which NanoLayr can have greatest impact.
SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) supports all the goals.
Step two: identify existing sustainability activities (a stocktake)
We helped the team identify the sustainability activities they have completed and have underway. We tagged these activities to the relevant SDG.
Step three: identify future sustainability activities
We guided the team to brainstorm and prioritise other sustainability projects that will contribute to NanoLayr’s five SDGs. NanoLayr already has many projects in its sights. To inspire the team further, we shared the SDG Compass. This is a list of practical activities to link NanoLayr’s strategies to the global agenda.
Step four: produce the thinkmap
We produced a thinkmap. This document brings together 16 sustainability objectives that NanoLayr will focus on. Each objective includes:
- the global context (the relevant SDG)
- what needs to happen (initiatives)
- what NanoLayr wants to achieve and how it will measure progress (targets and KPIs)
- who NanoLayr will involve (partnerships and responsibilities)
- when it will complete the activity (dates).
How we are helping NanoLayr to succeed sustainably
Set a clear, achievable sustainability strategy
The thinkmap brings together the information NanoLayr needs to write a sustainability strategy. It also helps NanoLayr understand the resources it needs to commit to achieve its goals and where, based on the value to its business. These resources include team members and budget.
Strengthen relationships with suppliers
Suppliers will play a big part in helping NanoLayr meet its goals. The thinkmap identifies where the business needs to work with suppliers. For example, it may decide to investigate options to formally ‘trace’ the source of its raw materials through its supply chain.
Build its brand by communicating sustainability plans and actions
NanoLayr will use its thinkmap as a communication tool, to help stakeholders understand where they have come from and where they are heading. The thinkmap will help it show its customers that sustainability matters to it. It will also help engage its team behind its plan and educate its suppliers.
Attract, engage and retain employees
People value working for a business that ‘does the right thing’. The thinkmap shows employees and potential employees that NanoLayr is taking sustainability seriously.
The thinkmap process itself was engaging too. The workshops brought the team together to agree a common vision and plan. The stocktake shows the company is already making progress towards many of its sustainability goals.
September 2022