Michelin, Continental AG and Smag, a software developer for the agriculture industry, have announced the creation of a joint venture specializing in the development and deployment of a technological solution for mapping sustainability practices in the supply chain of natural rubber: Rubberway.

Rubberway is designed in compliance with the objectives of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR). The joint venture is due to begin business before the end of 2019 (subject to validation by the relevant antitrust authorities).

Rubberway maps and assesses practices and risks regarding environmental issues, social affairs and corporate social responsibility governance throughout the natural-rubber industry, from rubber-processing plants downstream to plantations upstream, Continental says. Rubberway will provide its users (tire manufactures) with the collected data and enable them to identify and improve sustainability in the natural rubber chain.

Indeed, the natural-rubber supply chain—which includes around six million farmers, 100,000 intermediaries and over 500 processing plants—is highly complex.

The technological solution Rubberway has been operational since 2017 and is already used in some main production countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and Brazil.