Business News
HP Becomes First in Technology Sector to Release List of Top Suppliers
Monday 07. April 2008 - Also announces program to advance womens health issues among suppliers
HP today publicly released a list of its largest suppliers, representing more than 95 percent of the companys procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing and assembly of its products worldwide.
Separately, HP announced a pilot program to empower workers and advance womens health issues among its suppliers.
The release of the list, the first by a major technology company, promotes transparency and progress in raising standards in the IT industry supply chain. The increased visibility will result in positive operational changes in supplier labor, health and safety, environmental and ethics practices. It also will encourage other companies to do more to advance supply chain responsibility.
The list of HPs suppliers includes contract manufacturers, electronic manufacturing services providers, original design manufacturers and commodity suppliers.
“HP is sharing our list of top suppliers to enable collaboration, increase supplier accountability and build on our commitment to supply chain transparency,” said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and chief executive officer. “We work closely with our suppliers to promote improved social and environmental practices, and in the process, touch the lives of more than 400,000 workers around the world.”
As the worlds largest IT company, HP operates the largest supply chain in the technology industry. The companys top suppliers must comply with the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) and meet HPs stringent social and environmental responsibility expectations, wherever in the world the suppliers operate.
“By publishing a list of its top suppliers, HP is taking an important step on the road towards greater transparency as a means for improving the lives of workers,” said Rev. David M. Schilling, director, Global Corporate Accountability Program, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. “I look to HP to continue to raise the bar in the future.”
HP has a legacy of leadership in advancing supply chain social and environmental responsibility, including the following achievements:
HP established in 2002 a supply chain social and environmental responsibility policy and extended HPs Supplier Code of Conduct to its supply base;
HP helped lead the development of the industry-wide EICC, which was introduced in 2004;
HP has to date conducted more than 400 audits with first-tier suppliers worldwide;
HP has launched several programs with suppliers in Mexico, Eastern Europe, China and Southeast Asia that give them tools and skills they can use to improve their performance in social and environmental responsibility; and
HP actively promotes and champions supplier diversity, offering under-represented businesses equal opportunities to become suppliers and resellers.
HP advances womens health issues and empowers workers in the supply chain
In another step towards furthering supply chain social and environmental responsibility within the technology industry, HP announced its efforts to advance womens health issues among its suppliers.
The HERproject (Health Enables Returns project) is a health training program developed in response to the findings of a study by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation of womens reproductive health in Mexico and China. HP is initiating the HERproject in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, through its relationship with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a global leader in corporate social responsibility research and consulting.
The HERproject will work with two HP suppliers, Pegatron Technology and Foxconn, over a 12 month period beginning in May. The HERproject will conduct a baseline factory health needs assessment of female workers, compile results, conduct peer educator training, share health knowledge with factory workers, conduct factory-based awareness building, and measure the impact on workers.
The initiative plans to address a variety of health needs, including breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, human papillomavirus, cervical cancer, obesity and nutrition, family planning and reproductive health education, domestic violence prevention, and childcare, especially for single mothers.
HP also plans to launch the HERproject in China. HP and BSR will consider rolling out the HERproject in other regions once a full impact assessment is complete.
“Pegatrons management is committed to providing health and wellness programs that empower our workers,” said Gavin Chen, general manager, Pegatron Technology. “By leading companies to augment worker health awareness, HP is giving companies and workers the tools to improve and increase workplace standards and workers lives.”