How Boat Builders Can Cut Emissions at the Design Stage Artwork

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Resilient Supply Chain is for supply chain, operations, procurement and technology leaders who need practical ways to manage disruption, reduce risk and keep business moving.

Each Monday, former SAP Global VP and technology futurist Tom Raftery speaks with the executives, operators, founders and innovators redesigning how goods, information and decisions move through global supply chains.

These are candid conversations about what works in practice—not polished PR narratives or vague predictions. Guests explain how they are responding to supplier failures, geopolitical shocks, volatile costs, capacity constraints, changing regulations and rising pressure to improve both performance and sustainability.

The podcast examines:
Faster planning and decision-making under uncertainty
Supplier risk, sourcing strategy and business continuity
AI, automation, visibility and operational intelligence
Warehousing, logistics and fulfilment performance
Scope 3 emissions, circularity and responsible sourcing
The systems, incentives and organisational changes needed to turn data into action

The central question is simple: what helps a supply chain withstand disruption, adapt quickly and continue serving the business?

New episodes are published every Monday at 7am CET. Resilient Supply Chain+ subscribers also receive bonus analysis, highlights and briefings on emerging industry trends.

Follow Resilient Supply Chain for practical lessons from the people solving real operational problems—and building supply chains that perform when conditions do not go to plan.

All Episodes

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

How Boat Builders Can Cut Emissions at the Design Stage

October 06, 2025 • Tom Raftery • Season 2 • Episode 88

0:00 | 34:57

Send me a message

In this week’s episode of the Sustainable Supply Chain Podcast, I sat down with Ollie Taylor, Founder & Director of Marine Futures, to talk about one of the toughest nuts to crack in sustainability, decarbonising the marine industry. Boats, big or small, don’t often top climate discussions, yet their materials, manufacturing, and fuel use carry a hefty footprint.

Ollie explains how Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) can reveal the true environmental cost of marine products, from resin to recycling, and why so many “green” designs turn out to be anything but. We unpack how his platform, Marine Shift 360, is helping designers and builders make data-led choices early in the design phase, where up to 80% of a product’s total impact is decided.

We also dive into the data problem: how poor visibility, outdated datasets, and supplier secrecy distort sustainability claims. Ollie argues that transparency, education, and automation are key to bringing LCA into the mainstream, making it as essential as CAD or CFD in engineering.

Other highlights include the promise of circular design to stabilise volatile supply chains, the limits of regulation versus commercial pressure, and why profitability and sustainability must align for real progress.

If you care about data-driven design, circularity, and cutting emissions at the source, this episode is worth your time.

🎧 Listen now on your favourite podcast platform or at sustainablesupplychainpodcast.com

Keywords: marine decarbonisation, lifecycle assessment, circular design, sustainable manufacturing, Marine Shift 360, supply chain sustainability, low-carbon boats, sustainability data, LCA tools

If disruption hit tomorrow, would you know where your supply chain was most exposed? In 15 minutes my free scorecard helps you assess 27 resilience statements, calculate your score, and turn the result into three priorities and a 30 day action plan. You can download the scorecard free at tomraftery.com/scorecard.

Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch

And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making.

Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

Thanks for listening.