Sustainable procurement
The media are reporting almost on a weekly basis about a company or organisation that has bought products produced under poor labour conditions (e.g. child labour, insufficient health protection, excessive working hours, discrimination). Sometimes, this organisation will sell products like these directly to Swiss consumers, which increases the risk of a loss or damage to a company’s image. We can support your company through various measures to protect you against scandals like these: through
strategic consulting,
selection of a standard / audit system,
training and advising of suppliers,
training of the procurement departement of your company,
information and assessment of your importers.
Strategic consulting
Neosys supports organisations in the evaluation of their risks in the area of sustainable procurement and analysis of which market potential exists from the introduction of sustainable procurement practices for your organisation (differentiation from the competition). With the help of risk analyses, we assist your organisation in setting priorities (country, product, etc.). Another important step is the analysis of your procurement chain (importers, etc.) and the definition of the contribution of your organisation to the formation of a sustainable procurement chain (in particular with regard to the responsibilities of importers and manufacturers). We show you known models that have been selected by other companies/organisations and support you in the definition of your strategy (e.g. selection of a standard / an audit system, conducting of training courses and consulting on site instead of audits).
detailed information:
country risk analysis
Selection of a standard / audit system
In the last few years, a number of standards and audit systems have been developed with regard to sustainable procurement (SA 8000, BSCI, Ethical Trade Organisation (ETI), ICTI, WRAP, Fair Labour Association (FLA), etc.). Some are certifiable, others are not. Some are sector-specific (toys, textiles, clothes, food, natural stones), others universal. Some entail a membership, others do not. We can support your company in selecting the standard / audit system that is appropriate for you.
Social Accountability / SA 8000
SA 8000 is an audit system developed in the USA with which suppliers can certify their social responsibility. As qualified SA 8000 auditors, we can explain the aspects of this standard to you, evaluate whether it corresponds to the requirements of your company and your suppliers, and support you in the organisation of the audits. With our local partners in different countries, we can support suppliers in the introduction and implementation of this management system
(
Training).
detailed information:
SA8000
BSCI
BSCI is an organisation of European companies that has developed a uniform methodology for the conducting of social audits at suppliers’ facilities. We can advise your organisation whether a membership is advantageous in BSCI and support you in the organisation of the audits. In particular, we can prepare your suppliers for the BSCI audits and support them in eliminating the non-conformities identified in the audits (
Training).
Formulation of a code of conduct
Instead of adopting a standard, your company perhaps needs its own code of conduct or a procurement policy (e.g. because you would like to define the social and ecological requirements in a single document). We can support your company in the formulation of this.
Training and advising of suppliers on site
Many companies commission social audits without informing the suppliers in detail beforehand about the requirements of their standard or code of conduct. This results in unproductive misunderstandings and confrontational situations between suppliers and procurement managers. To achieve improvements of the working conditions on site faster, we carry out sensitisation seminars before the audits with our local partners in which we first verbally explain the requirements of your code of conduct. We also recommend carrying out a self-evaluation – before the audits – with the supplier at his or her company to define an adjustment plan and support your supplier in the implementation (training and consulting).
Training of the procurement department of your company / taking social and environmental criteria into account in tender procedures
The procurement managers are receiving more and more documents from suppliers that provide evidence of the latter’s social responsibility (such as certificates, records, audit reports). In our training, we give your procurement managers an overview of the most well-known standards and certificates (content, credibility, control). After the training, they are able to assess the quality of social audit reports and to interpret their results quickly.
We also support organisations in developing questionnaires to systematically record the social and ecological performance of suppliers (e.g. within the framework of a tender procedure). In particular, we develop assessment systems so that your purchasers can evaluate social and environmental criteria in the overall evaluation of a supplier.
Information and assessment of your importers
We inform your importers about your procurement policy / your code of conduct. We evaluate for you whether your importers have taken the necessary measures to take into consideration social and ecological criteria in procurement. We agree action plans with your importers and inform you regularly about their implementation.
Database of sustainable suppliers
Are you looking for a supplier that already meets social and environmental criteria? We explain to you the pros and cons of different databases.
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