Alessandra Carreon, Sustainability Business Analyst
Alessandra’s work on Ford’s global supply chain goes further than U.S. Conflict Minerals Law compliance.
Alessandra’s work on Ford’s global supply chain goes further than U.S. Conflict Minerals Law compliance.
“It’s difficult for me to separate my passion for sustainability and my work… Learning from Ford’s strong business practices and commitment to sustainability helps me become a more effective leader and community advocate in my volunteerism outside of work.””
Working within Ford’s Supply Chain Sustainability team, Alessandra tries to uncover the source of minerals along Ford’s supply chain. Minerals like tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold need to be sourced responsibly so that Ford isn’t funding conflict mines.
Due to the sheer number of parts in a car, Alessandra has found an overwhelming amount of data available from the staggering number of suppliers that work with Ford. By breaking the work down with her team and focusing on the most reliable data, like information from smelters, Alessandra has found ways to manage the huge task of helping Ford ensure the mineral's in the company's products are sourced responsibly.
On average, Ford is ten tiers of suppliers removed from its source materials. It isn’t easy managing the process of becoming conflict free, but Alessandra and her team find ways to encourage their suppliers to do the same. One easy way to avoid using conflict minerals would be to simply avoid sourcing from conflicted countries. But Ford wants to have a positive impact in these areas rather than simply ignoring them, so instead, Alessandra and her team search for ways to support ethical business practices in conflicted countries.
Off the job, Alessandra isn’t sure if her work led her to her lifestyle or the other way around. She has installed solar panels on her home, where she only sends one trash bin per month to the curb. Wherever possible, she looks for ways to recycle, compost and buy used rather than new. She brings this same approach to sustainable innovations to her work at Ford, where she thinks about how her team can be more innovative in its approach to responsible sourcing.
As of April 2017, Alessandra's new role as a Materials Regulatory Engineer allows her to take care of vehicle material-related matters by developing, coordinating and updating Corporate policies. She focuses on green chemistry, high voltage battery recycling and more.