Year
2014
CR Category
Marketplace
CR Topic
Sustainable Procurement
Company Description
Established in Ireland in 1956, IBM employs over 3,000 people, with responsibilities for delivering sales, marketing and services across the Irish market. Our Technology Campus in Mulhuddart (Dublin) delivers services, manufacturing, research and software development together with our laboratories in Cork and Galway for the world market. Our European Sales and Services Support Centre in Blanchardstown (Dublin) delivers to the European market.
Business Issue
Recognising IBM’s sizable procurement spend, coupled with the collaborative relationships we had with our suppliers, IBM had with a unique opportunity to influence our supply chain regarding ethical, social and environmental matters.
Solution Applied
In 2009 the IBM’s Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) organisation set about constructing a Supply Chain Social and Environmental Management System (S&EMS) to leverage our influence.
The S&EMS is based on IBM’s Corporate Environmental Management System and is the central repository for all the ISC’s social and environmental programs, including product environmental compliance, supply chain social responsibility and the global logistics programs responsible for environmental compliance e.g. hazardous materials transportation. The consolidation of these programs in one place enables our global procurement staff to understand the full scope of what the ISC is doing.
In addition to establishing and communicating this management system to thousands of ISC Global Procurement staff members, in February 2010 a communication from IBM’s Chief Procurement Officer went to all 28,000 suppliers in over 90 countries outlining a set of eight comprehensive requirements.
IBM now requires all suppliers (those firms with which IBM holds a direct commercial relationship) to be compliant with a set of social and environment requirements that can be summarised as:
Stakeholder Benefit
IBM’s suppliers provide a wide range of services and products to IBM, and their operations range from those working out of their home offices to those with major manufacturing operations. Nevertheless, when defining these eight requirements we took into account that all suppliers, large and small, direct and indirect should be able to develop plans to meet each requirement.
While many of IBM’s suppliers have had such management systems in place for years, for others it represents a new way of doing business, particularly in the growth market countries. One of ISC’s key objectives is to help our suppliers effectively manage their environmental and corporate responsibility in a way that is long-term, sustainable, and integral to their routine business operations. By holding each supplier accountable for improving their individual performance and results, the entire supply chain will benefit.
Business Benefit
We believe our approach will result in higher quality goods and service from IBM’s clients.
In 1997, IBM became the world’s first major multinational to have earned a single worldwide registration to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard. The registration covered IBM’s manufacturing, product design and hardware development operations across its business units worldwide.
Since 1997, IBM has expanded its global ISO 14001 registration to include its chemical-using research locations and several country organizations, covering their non-manufacturing locations. Additionally, several business functions such as product design and development and Global Asset Recovery Services also have obtained ISO 14001 certification. In 2012, following an audit to the ISO14001 standard, IBM’s Integrated Supply Chain’s S&EMS and related programs was successfully included as part of IBM’s ISO14001 registration, thus further cementing the management system in the operations of the supply chain.
IBM’s 8 Requirements of Suppliers
IBM asks its suppliers to:
Challenges
Ensure procurement staff are equipped to communicate with suppliers the key aspects and obligations with respect to you’re the SEMS
Tip
Senior management support is key the development and continual improvement of the SEMS. Approach your management system logically, e.g. adopt a PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT approach.
Further Information
Matthew Chalkley, Program Manager, IBM’s Integrated Supply Chain. Email: chalklem@ie.ibm.com