Converging Tools For Chemical Management: ZDHC Gateway and CleanChain

Responsible chemical management has become a crucial part of doing business in the modern textile industry. Customers expect environmentally responsible brands, investors are paying increasing attention to sustainable investing, and regulators expect safety and compliance in manufacturing and production.

In order to monitor the progress of these commitments and confidently communicate to stakeholders, businesses need to aggregate and track a great deal of data—a process that can be incredibly resource-intensive. The ZDHC Gateway Chemical Module and CleanChain™, an ADEC Innovation, are complementary software applications designed to manage this complex undertaking, streamline chemical management, and reduce overhead.

ZDHC Gateway: Chemical Module

The ZDHC Gateway Chemical Module is an expansive, widely-accessible database for chemical manufacturers, textile suppliers, and brands. Through the module, chemical producers can securely share their product data with their clients. The module works in harmony with the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL), allowing suppliers and brands to easily determine the conformance of the chemical products they use.

CleanChain: Streamlined Chemical Management

While the ZDHC Gateway provides the basis for verified conformance to the ZDHC MRSL, CleanChain works with the Chemical Module to provide essential features that enable real productive collaboration between brands and manufacturing facilities. CleanChain gives brands and suppliers access to the data in the ZDHC Gateway, automatically matching formulations to the appropriate verified ZDHC level and other data, like Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and product chemistry. CleanChain also provides a set of tools to easily aggregate comparable information and promote supplier engagement and disclosure. CleanChain features that augment and compliment the ZDHC Gateway include:

• InCheck Access - CleanChain provides access to ZDHC’s InCheck report, a standardized chemical inventory report that summarizes and assesses a facility’s input stream chemicals. InCheck provides a clear understanding of a facility’s conformance to MRSLs and other key criteria, simplifying the process of reporting to stakeholders.
• Additional Analysis - CleanChain works with chemical testing labs to provide the latest analysis of every chemical product logged in the system. This data augments and corroborates the conformance results available through the extensive ZDHC product library, providing a more rounded perspective on each chemical product and chemical manufacturer.
• Advanced Communication - CleanChain implements several systems that allow for direct, informative communication between brands and suppliers, including an innovative questionnaire system, laboratory data sharing, and in-app notifications. By facilitating better communication, these tools help improve accountability throughout the supply chain.
• Assessments and Scorecards - CleanChain supports configurable, customized assessments and scorecards that brands can implement with their suppliers, and suppliers can issue to their sites. This functionality can help users track their corrective actions, meet their KPIs, and manage their business better.

The first step in undertaking any difficult task is to find the right tools. Finding useful tools that work well individually is good—finding tools that complement and work with each other is even better. Thanks to the compatibility of the ZDHC Gateway database and the CleanChain chemical information management system, chemical manufacturers, textile suppliers, and brands can significantly reduce the time and resource costs of responsible supply chain chemical use management.

ADEC Innovations is a leading provider of ESG solutions, including fully-integrated industry expertise, software solutions, and data management. To learn more about how CleanChain can help you gain visibility and insight into your chemical supply chain, visit our website or send us an email.