Auditing supplier is key

It is important that all our operations are both sustainable and transparent. We work to continuously enhance these two factors while also taking into account our customers’ needs. Many of our customers regularly audit our operations, including our procurement functions and supply chain. These audits, along with discussions with our customers, help us to develop our sustainability and social responsibility further.

Our global Code of Conduct

The sustainability of our supply chain is extremely important to us. 100 % of our strategic suppliers have signed our Code of Conduct. While many of our strategic suppliers are European companies, we also have suppliers from so-called risk countries. With diverse suppliers and regions in the mix, it is especially important to have a smoothly running risk management and supplier evaluation system in place. We regularly make risk evaluations of both the supply countries and the suppliers themselves. In fact, risk management is one of the core tasks of our procurement function, with responsibilities clearly defined and mitigation plans regularly updated.

Continuous improvement is in our DNA

We also audit all our strategic suppliers every three years. Our follow-up system is designed to ensure that all the noted discrepancies will be corrected and the necessary processes updated. A ‘passion to improve’ and ‘continuous development’ are key values for us, and even in the exceptional year of 2020, we have worked on improving our supply chain. We have updated our supplier audit process to include more deep-diving questions on social responsibility. Through 2020 we audited our service providers using the same supplier audit process as the suppliers of products, even if that document did not always suit service providers so well. At the end of the year, we launched a new process for auditing service providers that better takes into account their different nature.

Auditing is a core task, not an “extra”

During our newly revised supplier audit process, we aim to make sure that each supplier’s performance conforms to a specified standard. Supplier performance management is a core task, and continuous development is something we value in both ourselves and our suppliers. Our aim is that our strategic suppliers will become our true partners, which will allow us to together develop new value-adding solutions. Also, in 2021 we will introduce the new Voice of Partner survey. It will help us to develop our collaboration with suppliers and partners further still.