This Earth Day, Let’s Talk About the Supply Chain Sustainability No One’s Talking About

On Earth Day, most conversations about sustainability tend to center around renewable energy, emissions reduction, or eliminating plastic waste. All important. But there’s one critical lever for sustainability that rarely makes headlines and that’s the service parts supply chain.

It may not sound glamorous, but I can tell you from experience: the way we plan, manage, and deliver service parts has a massive impact on the environment. I saw it firsthand during my time leading global services and aftermarket at Carrier. And today, as a member of the Executive Advisory Board at ketteQ, I’m seeing how transformative change is finally possible thanks to agentic AI=powered adaptive supply chain planning powered.  

So, this Earth Day, I want to shine a light on a powerful, often overlooked opportunity to reduce waste, shrink carbon footprints, and extend the life of the things we already own.

Why Service Parts Matter to the Planet

Every time a piece of equipment is repaired instead of replaced, we reduce waste. Every time a technician has the right part on hand without the need for a last-minute air shipment & multiple truck rolls, we cut emissions. Every time we avoid over-ordering and scrapping unused inventory, we conserve natural resources.

At Carrier, we were dealing with tens of thousands of part numbers, supporting critical systems in HVAC and refrigeration. The complexity was enormous and when the service parts supply chain wasn’t perfectly in sync, it meant excess inventory, urgent logistics, expedited supplier charges and even full product replacements that could have been avoided.

Multiply that by the global scale of manufacturing and field service, and you begin to see the impact.

The Legacy Planning Problem

Traditional supply chain planning tools just weren’t built to handle this level of complexity, especially not in the world of service parts. Legacy systems are rigid. Spreadsheet-based planning is manual, reactive, and prone to error. And when your parts planning is off, you end up with:

• Overstocked warehouses full of slow-moving parts

• Urgent shipments that burn fuel and budgets

• Missed repair windows that result in discarded equipment

It’s a system that wastes time, money, and resources—and it’s fundamentally unsustainable.

The AI-Powered Shift Toward Sustainability

What excites me about ketteQ, and what inspired me to join their Executive Advisory Board is that they’re tackling this problem head-on with a completely new approach: agentic AI-powered, adaptive supply chain planning.

ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ agenic AI powered solver runs thousands of simulations in seconds, helping planners make decisions that account for variables like lead times, demand shifts, supplier delays, and inventory constraints. It’s built on Salesforce, so it naturally connects with sales, service, and operations. But more importantly, it brings a level of speed, precision, and foresight that legacy systems simply can’t match.

This technology doesn’t just make operations more efficient—it makes them more sustainable.  

Sustainability Gains from Smarter Planning

Here’s how adaptive service parts planning helps reduce environmental impact:

• Fewer Emergency Shipments: Parts are pre-positioned closer to demand, cutting down on fuel-intensive expedited deliveries.

• Less Inventory Waste: Forecasting is more accurate, so we don’t overproduce or overstock parts that eventually end up as scrap.

• Longer Equipment Life: When parts are available, products are repaired—not replaced—keeping them out of landfills.

• Energy Efficiency: With predictive maintenance and better planning, systems run longer and more efficiently, using less energy over time.

At Carrier, we worked hard to improve each of these areas—but only now, with the rise of AI and adaptive tools like ketteQ’s, are we seeing what's truly possible.

A Call to Action for Earth Day and Beyond

Earth Day is a time to reflect, but it’s also a time to act. If your organization is serious about sustainability, it’s time to look beyond the obvious. Ask yourself:

• How much waste is generated by your current parts planning process?

• How often are products replaced because a part wasn’t available?

• How many shipments could be avoided with better forecasting?  

These aren’t just operational questions. They’re environmental questions.

As someone who’s had a career in service operations, and now works alongside innovators at ketteQ, I can say with confidence: the service parts supply chain can—and must—be a lever for sustainability.

Technology exists. The data is there. The urgency is real.

Let’s stop treating repairs like an afterthought. Let’s plan smarter, adapt faster, and take one more meaningful step toward a greener, more sustainable future.

To learn more about adaptive service parts planning read the Carrier Global case study.