More than 60 per cent of our turnover is spent with suppliers, providing us with significant leverage to procure goods and services responsibly. In April, we appointed the first sustainability manager in our supply chain team.
Kieran Brocklebank, supply chain sustainability manager commented: “Acting responsibly means making purchasing decisions based on value and whole life costs, not just lowest purchase price. For example, we buy thousands of pumps and yet the price is just 10 per cent of its total lifetime cost. If things are going to last 25 to 30 years, we need to make sure our sums are spot on.”
We are aiming to put sustainability into practice in the following areas:
• People - we are developing training and induction material to help support sustainable purchasing by employees
• Procurement process – we have worked with our category buying managers to identify the best way to make sustainability an integral part of our procurement process
• Engaging suppliers – we continue to seek the ideas and views of our suppliers on our approach and how they can contribute
• Measurement and results – our progress towards our target is monitored through our performance scorecards
• Communication – we continue to communicate key messages and successes to all stakeholders, particularly employees and suppliers, who have a critical role to play in helping us achieve our sustainable procurement aims
We have joined a number of best practice sharing groups to ensure that our approach is world class, including attending the Strategic Supply Chain Group and Business in The Community supply chain events.