CmiA maintains documentation and monitoring of its Mass Balance system using a proprietary Tracking System, the Sustainable Cotton Tracker (SCOT). In addition to ensuring that CmiA-registered spinning mills do not sell more CmiA-labelled yarn than they have purchased CmiA cotton, the Tracking System offers full transparency and traceability for all CmiA products throughout the supply chain.
All partners within the textile production chain participate in the CmiA Tracking System each having their own company accounts. The SCOT workflow is based on CmiA order data, which is supplied by CmiA licensing partners (retailers and brands) and is regularly uploaded to the SCOT accounts of the relevant suppliers (importers or producers). Based on these orders, all producers of textiles, fabrics, or yarns must record the CmiA-related sales and purchases in the Tracking System, and every transaction must subsequently be confirmed by the business partner in question.
Cotton quantities are recorded at each production level, making it possible to calculate the exact amount of CmiA cotton demanded to fulfil each individual order placed under the CmiA Mass Balance system.
In this way, the SCOT Tracking System offers a high level of transparency throughout the entire supply chain and provides reliable data regarding the CmiA cotton demand.
The SCOT Tracking System is currently being used for the CmiA Mass Balance system; it is planned to be expanded to incorporate the HIP system as well.
Importer
Textile Producer
Fabric Producer
Spinning Mills
Cotton Trader
At the spinning-mill level, this allows the system to ensure that each spinning mill’s sales of CmiA yarn do not exceed its purchased volume of CmiA cotton. Once a spinning mill has used up its digital stock of CmiA cotton, the mill must purchase new CmiA cotton. Without a positive cotton inventory, no yarn transactions can be made through the SCOT system.
The same concept applies to the other levels as well: Fabric producers must purchase enough CmiA yarn to cover the CmiA fabric they sell, and textile producers must purchase sufficient quantities of CmiA yarns or fabrics before being able to fulfil CmiA orders through the system.
Once all members of the CmiA supply chain have recorded and confirmed the relevant CmiA purchases and sales, the CmiA supply chain for the retailer’s CmiA orders is complete.
On the one hand, the system offers transparency along the entire supply chain, on the other hand, by assigning purchase quantities to sales and converting yarn quantities to cotton quantities, the corresponding amount of CmiA cotton requested can be traced.
Other levels of the supply chain (such as yarn trader or dye houses) also use their SCOT accounts to record or confirm their CmiA sales or purchases in the system.