Supply Chain Risk

After this week's story in the New York Times on Apple's troubled supplier, Foxconn, we've all seen how the dangers of a supply chain can come back and bite the OEM when not managed carefully.  The working conditions certainly sound atrocious.

But, is supplier EHS management easier said than done?  Some thoughts...

1) Assign staff dedicated to supply chain--existing in-house EHS staff will always get pulled back to their own shop. 

2) Prioritize 1st, 2nd or even 3rd tier suppliers.  This is usually based on spend, but a better way is to take into account other risk issues, such as the type of operation, presence of hazardous chemicals, and availability of EHS policy or programs. 

3) Prioritize products.  An electronic product might have a 8-10 sub assemblies--motor, screen, base, enclosure, hard drive, PC board, for example--but each of those could have dozens or hundreds of parts.  Some suppliers may be single-sourced (there is no other supplier that's been qualified) or even sole sourced (there are no other supplier options...anywhere).   For these instances, suppliers are resistant to change.

4) Decide on where the bar is set.  Some examples that I've seen overseas include employing underage workers, poor industrial hygiene practices, and machine guarding.  Some of these are technical subjects where the OEM could provide expertise to help the supplier. 

5) Think how far you want to go.  Many of us realize also that we can only get in so deep with a supplier before we are directing their EHS programs.  That's not what we want from a strategic relationship, though it might be needed in the beginning. 

OK, this is a start, but it's clearly not an easy issue to tackle!  Companies working together will have better results, as well.

Sustainability vs EHS vs Corporate Responsibility

When we started our sustainability program in 2006 we had a lot of debate on what to name the program. Was it Environmental Stewardship, corporate responsibility, global citizenship? There are many legitimate names for these programs that seek to reduce companies' impacts on the environment, our employees and the communities in which we operate.

The lines between EHS and sustainability are blurring. Especially with ISO 14000 programs that seek to prevent pollution and reduce significant impacts, there is a great opportunity for EHS staff to get involved with sustainability development, allowing increased interaction with product managers, customers and executives.

But, compliance needs to come first. I learned that the hard way.

It's critical to have EHS staff involved in sustainability, and maybe they are the most qualified to run these programs; they have technical backgrounds, understand operations and care about employees.

Not all EHS staff are passionate about environmental protection. But not all are Sustainability managers can put together a LOTO or hazcom training, either. That's ok. There's plenty of room across our field for many practitioners.

Each company can figure out how EHS and sustainability fit together. To me, it seems like a nice fit.