CSR Procurement Guidelines

CSR Procurement Guidelines

In fiscal 2016, we released the Hitachi Group CSR Procurement Guidelines, a full revision of the 2009 Hitachi Group Supply Chain CSR Deployment Guidebook. This revision incorporates the provisions of the Hitachi Group Codes of Conduct and also makes references to version 5.1 of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA, formerly called EICC) Code of Conduct, promulgated in January 2016. To ensure that the guidelines’ provisions are strictly followed, we distributed the Guidelines to the approximately 30,000 suppliers of Hitachi business units and Group companies, from whom we request acknowledgment of suppliers’ understanding in writing. Tier 1 suppliers are further asked to confirm that tier 2 suppliers also follow the provisions in the guidelines.

We plan to revise these guidelines regularly in the future to ensure that they always reflect the demands of global society regarding corporate supply chain management. (pg. 74)

In order to share the philosophy of Hitachi among our suppliers, in fiscal 2015 we also introduced a new initiative to provide suppliers directly with information in a face-to-face format, in addition to the information shared on the Hitachi website as well as our CSR monitoring (self-checks), CSR audits, and other measures. The most recent of these face-to-face events was held in March 2018 at a CSR and green procurement seminar held in Guangzhou for Hitachi Group partners in China. The event was attended by 90 people from 65 companies. At the seminar, Hitachi explained topics including its fundamental CSR philosophy, the CSR audit situation, regulatory trends under Chinese environmental laws, and Hitachi’s related policies. Feedback from participants included a comment from one person who was “impressed by the emphasis the company places not only on monozukuri craftsmanship but also on fulfilling its social responsibility in a range of areas.” Another participant “gained a sense that profitability is not the sole aim and that it is important to adhere to environmental laws.” As reflected in the comments, the seminar served to deepen the understanding of Hitachi initiatives related to CSR and green procurement. (pg. 75)

Read the CSR Procurement Guidelines here.