There appears to be movement afoot on supply chain issues.
Three recent stories in the press suggest that companies are upping their game on their efforts to engage and train their suppliers. Coca-Cola has chosen to brandish a carrot by launching its first Supplier Performance Awards, General Motors has announced progress on its Greening the Supply Chain initiative in China involving 125 local suppliers, and PUMA is requiring 20 strategic suppliers in China, Vietnam and Cambodia to start reporting evidence of their social and environmental impacts along Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.
We’ve heard the words before: ‘we’re committed to engaging our suppliers and working with them to continually improve’, but there has rarely been evidence of what exactly this means and how progress is being measured. Perhaps this is the beginning of something interesting. Suppliers have languished too long behind the invisible, protected and un-named ‘first tier’ status. It’s time they were outed and made accountable in their own right, just as the brands they hide behind have been for some years now.
Liza is an Associate Director at Corporate Citizenship. Email her at Liza.Lort-Phillips@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss China, supply chain, brand footprint and karate tips.
Sodexo reviews sustainability of clients
On June 1 Sodexo Inc., said it would review the sustainable development practices of its 33,900 global clients in a move to assess the group’s situation and measure current performance. The review is part of the company’s ‘Better Tomorrow Plan’ announced in December, in which the company listed a series of goals it seeks to achieve for its clients. The goals include ensuring compliance with a Global Sustainable Supply Chain Code of Conduct by 2015, sourcing sustainable equipment and supplies by 2020, reducing both the carbon and water footprint in all the countries where the company operates and at clients’ sites by 2020, and reducing organic and non-organic waste in all the countries where the company operates and at clients’ sites by 2015.
The World Environment Center (WEC) and Shanghai General Motors (SGM) announced the results of their 2009 “Greening the Supply Chain Initiative” on June 14. The 2009 project involved 125 suppliers that make a variety of automobile products and parts for SGM-produced automobiles in China’s domestic market and is the most comprehensive undertaking of its kind among all Chinese auto manufacturers. The project goal is to advance sustainable development in SGM’s national supply chain by working directly with suppliers to reduce the environmental impacts of their manufacturing processes. Results from the 2009 project include: reduction of over one million tons of water among participating suppliers; decreases of over 80 million kW/hours of energy use; elimination of over 55,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions; and improved cycle time and the ability to be more responsive to customer needs.
Unilever commits to sustainable sourcing of paper packaging
On 2 July, Unilever published its sustainable paper and board packaging sourcing policy as part of its commitment to double the size of the business while reducing its environmental impact. The policy outlines the company’s goal to work with its suppliers to source 75% of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to 100% by 2020. The commitment makes Unilever the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe. For the company’s requirements for paper from virgin sources, preference will be given to supplies delivered through the Forest Stewardship Council certification scheme. Unilever will also accept other national schemes under the framework of international Forest Management Certification standards, provided they comply with the Policy’s Implementation Guidelines.
Contact: Unilever unilever.com
PUMA commits strategic suppliers to sustainability reporting
The Sportlifestyle company PUMA has expanded its project in cooperation with The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to support supplier factories to report on their social and environmental initiatives, and agreed with 20 key suppliers in South East Asia and other major sourcing regions to issue their own sustainability reports from 2011. Twenty strategic PUMA suppliers based in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries – which produce together more than two-thirds of all PUMA products consumed – will receive GRI certified training on transparent measurement and reporting on their sustainability performance using the GRI G3 Guidelines – the world’s most widely-used framework for sustainability reporting. The training within the Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain program (GANTSCh) will be conducted by GRI Certified Training Partners. The first supplier sustainability reports expected to be released in 2011/2012.
On 25 May, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) held its first Supplier Sustainability Summit and Awards Ceremony. The Summit comprised a series of workshops to discuss ideas and opportunities for collaboration between CCE and its suppliers to address sustainability issues. Awards were presented to those suppliers who contributed most to the success of the business in 2009. Can manufacturer, Ball Packaging Europe, who supplies 2.4 billion cans to CCE in Europe was recognised as CCE’s Supplier of the Year.
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