Issue Date：August 05, 2021
Suppliers are important partners for the sustainable operation of the Company and the plants in Taiwan and China. We have a total of 1,475 suppliers (1,298 domestic suppliers reaching 88% and 177 overseas suppliers). We conducted the classification and management based on the characteristics of the supplier and the products and services provided by them while adopting local procurement as the priority to promote the development of local economy. We also ensured to maintain stable operation, accelerated the production efficiency and reduced the carbon emission generated during the transportation as much as possible.
To pursue mutual development and sustainable operation for both parties, we have established comprehensive supply chain management regulations and measures for raw material production suppliers, including the assessment of new suppliers, supplier management, supplier audit and guidance to screen suppliers that can meet our requirements of quality, delivery time and technology. Therefore, we can ensure the stable supply of products with quality meeting the required standards. In addition, we have established a “Management Handbook of Code of Conduct for Responsible Business Alliance” for the supplier management according to the Code of Conduct of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) and strove to urge our suppliers to focus on issues such as ethics, labor rights, environmental protection, health and safety. By fully carrying through the risk management and continual operational plan, we expect to build a green supply chain.
Sustainable Suppliers Code of Conduct
Regulations
Compliance with the Code of Green Product Procurement
- Suppliers are required to promise and ensure their products comply with the Code of Green Product Procurement, and provide RoHS lab test and examination report from an accredited third-party unit, Green product commitment, Environmentally hazardous substance questionnaire, Lead-free part reliability report, Safety data sheet (SDS), Certificate of authenticity (COA), Test integrated form, and Conflict Minerals Statement. From the part confirmation system, engineers can confirm the green product supply capacity of suppliers.
- All of Coretronic's top 100 suppliers in 2020 (except for OEM and customer-specified suppliers) have signed Green Product Commitment, and 100% suppliers have signed Green Product Commitment.
Compliance with RBA Code of Conduct
All the suppliers are compliant with the RBA Code of Conduct. All the suppliers of Visual Solutions Business Group must sign the RBA Code of Conduct. A total of 243 suppliers affixed their signatures with a signing rate of 81%; 19 new suppliers of Energy Saving Business Group must sign the RBA Code of Conduct, too. In the future, all the suppliers of Coretronic must sign the RBA Code of Conduct.
Responsible Minerals Procurement Policy, Declaration, and Investigation
Conflict metal refers to minerals from the conflict mining area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These minerals are refined into tantalum (Ta), tin (Sn), tungsten (W) (referred to as tri-T mineral), gold (Au), and cobalt (Co), which are used in electronics and other products, respectively. Some of the metal minerals have become the main source of financial resources for armed rebel groups in the African Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are used to trade arms, carry out bloody conflicts with the government, and desecrate local civilians. As a result, international disputes have arisen. As a global citizen, we recognizes that the exploitation, trading, processing, and exporting of mineral resources in conflict-affected and high-risk areas have risks that may cause major adverse effects, and we recognize that we have respect for human rights, do not contribute to conflicts and are not environmentally friendly. And society has a negative impact. We declare and promise not to accept the use of metals from conflict mining areas. At the same time, we also require our suppliers to:
- Must fulfill social environmental responsibility.
- Ensure that products do not use “conflict minerals” from Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries and regions.
- Trace all sources of Au, Ta, Sn, W, and Co contained in all products.
- Intolerance cannot be done in any way to benefit, encourage, assist or facilitate any party to commit serious human rights violations.
- It will not tolerate any direct or indirect support from organized armed groups that have been mined, transported, traded, processed or exported through mineral resources.
- Do not provide, promise, give or demand any bribe and resist bribery or extortion. It will not cover up or falsify the origin of mineral resources, and falsely report the taxes and expenses that mineral resources exploitation, trade, processing, transportation, export and other activities Bribery with royalties will pay to the government.
- Do not participate or benefit from mining resources on land that does not receive free, prior, informed consent from local and indigenous peoples, including those with legal title, lease, and concession or permitted.
- This requirement is communicated to its upstream supplier.
To fulfill CSR and international justice, we follow the RBA Code of Conduct to develop related documents to investigate whether the suppliers are compliant with Responsible Minerals Procurement Policy and Regulation, so as to relieve the impact from conflict minerals.
- Visual Solutions Business Group
(1) Declaration of Minerals Conflict-Free：The Part Approval Procedure requires our suppliers to provide a declaration and the electronic information system is used to perform the survey. In 2020, the response rate of the suppliers who were asked to sign the Declaration of Minerals Conflict-Free reached 96%.
(2) “Conflict Minerals Survey Form” Based on CFSI CMRT Version 6.01：To investigate the information of smelters for the Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten and Gold required in the products, Coretronic have successfully received responses from 80 suppliers, with the response rate of 100%. - Energy Saving Business Group
Suppliers of Energy Saving Business Group need to respond “Conflict Materials Statement.” In 2020, a total of 68 suppliers responded this statement with a rate of 100%
Risk Evaluation
In order to thoroughly evaluate the sustainability risks of our production material suppliers, we send RBA self-assessment questionnaires to all suppliers who are subject to RBA audits, so that the suppliers can first assess their own sustainability performance and then conduct written/on-site RBA audits after the self-assessment questionnaires are completed.
In addition, in order to better understand the development of environmental, social and governance and other sustainability aspects of suppliers, and to offer subsequent guidance for suppliers to be a sustainable supply chain partner, we started sending ESG self-assessment questionnaires to all suppliers in 2021. Based on the self-assessment results, we can identify the degree of the suppliers' awareness of sustainability management, so that we can plan appropriate improvement measures for them.
Suppliers Education and Training
We build the professional on-line green platform and hold the supplier conference to assist suppliers to solve problems.
Green Product Management System (GPMS)
- This platform includes the announcement area, MCD Request area and the supplier list area. The announcement area on the homepage provides information such as the new version of green product specifications and the educational training videos on the GPMS platform to prevent suppliers from following the incorrect regulations or using the incorrect forms. Meanwhile, it also provides the upload status of the supplier documents for the inquiry of the procurement department/engineers, maintain the directory of the raw material suppliers, the RoHS 2.0, SVHC and SDS information filled by the suppliers and the report downloading for the supervisor based on to the BOM of model types.
- In order to enhance suppliers’ awareness of sustainability and make them become a member of the sustainable supply chain, we will upgrade GPMS with on-line ESG courses, latest ESG knowledge and information, and uploading documents related to “Sustainable Suppliers Code of Conduct.”
Supplier AEO Trade Security Training Conference
- In order to carry through supply chain trade security management, AEO trade security training conference is held regularly with the attendance of 41 suppliers.
- Domestic and foreign suppliers are required to sign the "Material Supplier Trade Security Management Agreement" and the "Material Supplier Trade Security Management Commitment" respectively according to their locations of operations and the signing rate in 2020 was 79%.
- The annual trade safety assessment was implemented and a total of 207 suppliers were confirmed to meet the certification requirements.
Annual Supplier Conference
Since the promotion of the supply chain responsibility for the electronics industry in 2017, Coretronic worked together with the suppliers to improve aspects of quality, cost, delivery time, environmental protection, safety and health. By the on-site guidance and face-to-face communication, we improved the supply chain management capability to fulfill the sustainability commitment at the same time. After four years of collaborative discussion on issues of environment changes and international environmental protection laws with the suppliers, we shared and delivered the awareness and results of Coretronic regarding the green environmental protection and energy saving in hope of bring more supplier partners to respect the sustainable operation and promote their competitiveness in green energy conservation. In this case, we can jointly implement the commitment for sustainability.
| Location | Taiwan | Wujiang |
| Session | 1 | 1 |
| Total Number of Participants | 20 suppliers | 44 suppliers |
| Main Issues |
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Annual Best Supplier Award
In recognition of the outstanding suppliers, Wujiang Plant presented the "Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Model Supplier Award", "Green Product HSF Management Model Supplier Award" and "Sustainability Award" to 9 outstanding suppliers at the Supplier Conference, and invited them to share their strategies and implementation measures for sustainable performance with other supplier partners.
- Wujiang Plant has been inviting suppliers to join in energy conservation and carbon reduction since 2019, and the number of participating suppliers increased to 28 in 2020. 8 of them had participated for two consecutive years, and the number of suppliers promoting green solutions increased by 87% compared to 2019.
- In addition to inviting top-performing suppliers to share their experiences in the implementation of energy conservation, we also share with each other about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ways to strengthen sustainable supply chain management, so that we can jointly improve our ability to respond to supply chain crises and adapt to climate change.
- In the future, we will continue to hold supplier sustainability exchange meetings to raise suppliers' awareness of environmental protection and energy conservation, and facilitate the development of more green solutions to create a sustainable supply chain.
Recycling of Wrapping Materials
We have implemented a waste recycling plan together with the supplies since 2017 to recycle plastic and paper wrappings. In addition, packaging materials that could be used to carry materials repeatedly were used for shipment and recovered after use to reduce consumption of wrappings and containers, promote the idea of circular economy such as recycling and reduction of waste, and act in a more environment-friendly manner. A total of 22 suppliers supported the idea with a recycle rate of 96% in 2020.
Procurement Practices
Based on the environmental footprint, we understand that material and part procurement can likely cause environmental impacts. Therefore, procurement localization is an important strategy for finding suppliers and partners. We also hope that suppliers can operate their business through local procurement, in order to contribute to environmental protection together. The figure below shows the proportion of local procurement in 2020. In order to maintain the quality of products, plants of Coretronic Visual Solutions Business Group in Taiwan and China (Kunshan) must purchase key components from specific foreign suppliers, thus, the proportion of local procurement is much lower, however, we will strive to buy the rest of components from local suppliers.
