Supply Chain Relations
CSR Procurement
Working in collaboration with its supply chain partners, the Nidec Group promotes CSR activities in the entire supply chain. To ensure our supply chain partners’ fulfillment of their corporate social responsibility, we require them to comply with Nidec Group CSR Charter in basic business contracts with them. Additionally, in the Nidec Group Supply-Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook, we describe specific standards based on the pillars from the CSR Charter, and share them with our supply chain partners. In 2018, we launched a self-assessment based on the Guidebook, and, as our supply chain partners wish, provide them with support to implement the Guidebook. In addition, we conduct onsite CSR audits to important supply chain partners. It is through these measures that the Nidec Group promotes its supply chain partners to launch CSR-based business activities.
Promoting CSR activities in our supply chains
The Nidec Group, which produces products in various countries in the world, has globally diverse supply chains. To fulfill its social responsibilities in these business activities, the Nidec Group assesses risks (including environmental and social issues) of, and audits, its supply chain partners. We established a “Nidec Supply Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook (currently, the Nidec Group Supply Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook)” in January 2009, and distribute it every year to educate our supply chain partners on Nidec's CSR Charter, and ensure their compliance with it.
Nidec Supplier CSR Self-assessment
Starting in 2018, we launched a Nidec supplier CSR self-assessment to understand the status of CSR procurement, and have our supply chain partners report on the status of their compliance with the Nidec Group Supply-Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook. The areas of survey are based on the Guidebook’s Chapters 1 - 6, to assess the status of individual supply chain partners based on a total of 111 sections. We provide our feedback on sections where our partner companies were scored particularly low, to urge improvement. At the Nidec Group, we select important suppliers from among our supply chain partners by taking into account their volume of business transactions with us, critical components, technological capability to develop products, substitutability, compliance management, and all other required elements. We request those individual selected important suppliers and others, i.e., the companies that occupy approximately 80% of the purchased amounts of Nidec’s individual business departments and group companies, to submit the results of their self-assessment. In the supplier CSR self-assessment conducted in July 2023, 876 suppliers of Nidec Corporation and other member companies of the Nidec Group headquartered in Japan submitted to us the results of their self-assessment.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The number of suppliers that conducted a Nidec supplier CSR self-assessment | 667 | 732 | 876 |
The results of the self-assessment revealed that the CSR activities of our entire supply chains are above our standard. Going forward, to check for a gap between the self-assessment’s results and reality, we are planning to conduct an onsite audit at our supply chain partners as necessary. Through continuous communications with our supply chain partners, we will ensure a proper self-assessment and further improvement of CSR activities throughout the supply chains.
CSR audit of supply chain partners
Since FY2010, the Nidec Group has been auditing our main supply chain partners* on-site. During FY2022, the Nidec Group audited 122 of its supply chain partners onsite in Asia and other regions.
*main supply chain partners: Suppliers that frequently visit a Nidec company’s property. They include indirect material (e.g. cardboard box, adhesive, grease, packing tape, and pallet) dealers, equipment manufacturers, contractors that enter company-owned dormitories (food suppliers, security personnel, etc.) and temporary staff agencies.
Activities at the Nidec Group's major sites
As Nidec promotes CSR activities throughout its supply chain, it is important for our procurement personnel to understand Nidec's CSR policies first. Since the fiscal year of 2018, Nidec Corporation and other members of the Nidec Group in Japan have been holding CSR seminars for purchasing personnel based on the Nidec Group Supply-Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook. In the fiscal year of 2022, we revised the contents of the seminars and discussed our plan for them going forward, to conduct human rights due diligence on our main suppliers by 2025. In FY 2023, we implemented an
e-learning program with the participation of 1,300 individuals.
| FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The number of employees who participated in the CSR seminar for purchasing personnel | 250 | - | 1,300 |
To ensure that all of its supply chain partners understand our CSR, Nidec Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. has in place a system to explain the RBA* (Responsible Business Alliance) to its partners, and to allow any supply chain partner wishing to inquire or consult on Nidec's CSR activities to e-mail the company's contact person. Nidec Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. also held presentation meetings on CSR procurement for its major supply chain partners, and audits them onsite based on the results of advance survey sheets. Since FY2013, our CSR audit standard has been based on the RBA, and companies to be audited, mainly new supply chain partners, are selected based on the standard. In FY2022, we launched activities with the target of requesting 27 of our supply chain partners to comply with the CSR audit standard. Nidec Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. thus supports and instructs its supply chain partners to enable them to engage in CSR activities based on their circumstances.
In another example, Nidec Philippines Corporation, focused on the CSR audits for its new supply chain partners, requested them to submit a status report on an improvement plan and corrective actions, and launch those corrective actions if those partners had any issue identified in such areas as the environment, labor, health and safety, and management system.
* Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) (former Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition: EICC): The RBA, renamed from the EICC in October 2017, is an organization established with the aim of resolving social, environmental and ethical issues in supply chains. The RBA Code of Conduct established referencing major internationally recognized norms and standards focuses on the following aspects: respect for human rights, improvement of the working environment, assurance of safety and health, environmental conservation, establishment of corporate ethics, and improvement of management systems.
