Promoting Responsible Supply Chains

Basic Concept

The Nisshinbo Group's Business Conduct Guidelines, which includes "Thorough-Going Compliance" and "Fair and Transparent Business Practices," stipulates that the Group will always act fairly and with integrity in a wide range of social rules and corporate ethics, and that the Group will respect business partners as equal partners through sound business relationships, aiming for sustainable transactions throughout the supply chain. The Nisshinbo Group aims to achieve sustainable transactions throughout the entire supply chain.

In 2015, the seven key principles listed below were formulated to further clarify the "Nisshinbo Group Sustainable Procurement Basic Policy" under aspects such as legal compliance, fair trade, information security, environment protection, human rights, safety & health, and quality & safety.

Nisshinbo Group Sustainable Procurement Basic Policy

  • ①To strictly observe all legal obligations and social norms
  • ②To always pursue business in a sound and fair manner
  • ③To properly manage all information
  • ④To give due consideration to protection of the environment
  • ⑤To respect all basic human rights
  • ⑥To strive for a secure and healthy living and working environment
  • ⑦To aim to ensure the quality and safety of all products and service

The Nisshinbo Group promote sustainable procurement initiatives while ensuring that all suppliers understand these basic policies.

Promotion System

The Nisshinbo Group established a meeting of purchasing operations personnel under the supervision of the Purchase Group of the Human Resources & Administration Service Department of the Corporate Strategy Center under a system in which the director and the chief of the Corporate Strategy Center of Nisshinbo Holdings, Inc. is in charge to promote sustainable procurement.
To achieve the goals of the Sustainability Promotion Plan, which include "Improving sustainable procurement in collaboration with suppliers," "Implementation of global initiatives," and "Expanding internal awareness-raising activities," the Group is managing targets and Key performance indicators (KPIs) and implementing measures to achieve them.

Specific Initiatives of the Nisshinbo Group

In the revised "Fifth Sustainability Promotion Plan," the Group has designated promotion of sustainable procurement as a key action items and is working to promote a responsible supply chain. The Group has set KPIs for ①Evaluation of improvement efforts based on the results of the sustainable survey to major suppliers (more than 80% of transaction amount), 100% and ②Consideration and implementation of deployment methods to the supply chain at overseas business connection and critical overseas locations, ③Implementation rate of training for purchasing staff (annual theme), 100%, and is promoting activities while implementing the PDCA cycle.

In FY2022, in accordance with the "Fifth Sustainability Promotion Plan" before its revision, the Group sets a KPI of evaluation of improvements based on the results of sustainability survey of major suppliers (covering 70% of transaction value), 100% and proceeded with activities to achieve the target while implementing the PDCA cycle. To achieve this goal, the Group held meetings of purchasing managers in July and December of FY2022. In addition to reports from each core company on the status of implementation of questionnaires to suppliers, Nisshinbo Chemical Inc. presented an example of a response to a procurement problem caused by a natural disaster or accident, and Nisshinbo Textile Inc. presented an example of activities to acquire international certification for the safety and production system of its textile products. The information was shared among purchasing managers.

Development of Sustainable Procurement Policy

The Nisshinbo Group established the "Nisshinbo Group Sustainable Procurement Basic Policy" as the basis of its efforts to promote sustainability throughout the Group's supply chain.

Based on this Basic Policy for Sustainable Procurement, each group company in Japan formulates its own "Sustainable Procurement Guidelines," which are more specifically tailored to its business activities, and conducts a questionnaire survey of its suppliers after informing them of the guidelines.

Implementation of Sustainable Procurement Survey and Improvement Activities

In order to confirm the status of our sustainable procurement initiatives, Nisshinbo Group companies in Japan conducted a survey of major suppliers in Japan and provided feedback on the results every two years from 2017 with FY2022 marking the fourth cycle. The results of the survey are feedback to suppliers for use in improvement activities toward sustainable procurement. Through these activities, the "Nisshinbo Group Sustainable Procurement Basic Policy" has become more widespread among suppliers, and the points received in the evaluation results of the survey, which indicate the progress of the initiatives, are improving each year.

In FY2022, the survey covered more than 70% of suppliers in each core company based on transaction value, and the response rate was almost 100%. FY2023, the target scope was set at 80% or more of suppliers on a value basis, and the KPI for survey and feedback implementation was set at 100%.The Group aims to achieve this target by confirming progress at biannual meetings of purchasing managers.

Of the survey items conducted in FY2022, fair trade and health and safety were the items for which progress was confirmed. On the other hand, many suppliers were found to have insufficient initiatives for supply chain management and business continuity planning (BCP).

Since continuous implementation of the survey will lead to sustainability activities not only by the Nisshinbo Group but also by all suppliers, the Group will consider the content of the next survey based on the results of this survey and continue to implement the survey. In addition, in order to further promote sustainable procurement initiatives together with all suppliers, the Group plans to expand the survey to overseas suppliers and other important locations in the future.

Implementation of Training for Purchasing Managers

The requirements for purchasing-related operations are expanding year by year, and the Nisshinbo Group believes it is important to educate those in charge. In FY2022, the Nisshinbo Group invited outside lecturers to conduct in-house training on the theme of "Business and Human Rights" for purchasing staff of the Group companies in Japan, covering issues such as child labor overseas. The training was provided in a Web-based meeting format with 106 participants.

The Group will continue to select important themes each time in conjunction with the biannual purchasing managers' meeting and plans to conduct educational activities for employees engaged in purchasing operations in the future.

Declaration to Build Partnerships and Compliance with the Subcontract Act

The Declaration to Build Partnerships mechanism was established in May 2020 at the Council for Promoting Partnership Building for the Future, whose members include relevant cabinet ministers (Cabinet Office, METI, MHLW, MAFF, MLIT, and the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary), Keidanren chairman, JCCI president, and the RENGO chairman. This "Declaration to Build Partnerships" is a declaration of efforts for cooperation, coexistence and co-prosperity with business partners in the supply chain and compliance with desirable business practices between parent companies and subcontractors (the Promotion Standards based on the Law for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Subcontractors): the prevention of unfair assignment on trade terms and conditions to subcontractors. The Group made the declaration in 2020 and is promoting cooperation with suppliers.

In 2022, the Group submitted the results of a survey on transactions with logistics companies to the Japan Fair Trade Commission in October. This investigation confirmed that the Head Office Works (Nisshinbo Holdings), Central Research Laboratories and Toke Works (Nisshinbo Holdings and Nisshinbo Chemical), Asahi Works (Nisshinbo Holdings, Nisshinbo Brake, and Nisshinbo Chemical), and Tokushima Works (Nisshinbo Holdings, Nisshinbo Chemical, and Nisshinbo Textile), and Fujieda Plant (Nisshinbo Holdings and Nisshinbo Textile) all had appropriate trading conditions.

In addition, on November 25, 2022, the Group participated in a symposium on partnership building organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The Nisshinbo Group plans to continue its efforts by referring to examples of other companies' initiatives.

Partnership Building Symposium
https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2022/10/20221027003/20221027003.html 別ウィンドウ表示

"Declaration to Build Partnerships" portal site
https://www.biz-partnership.jp/index.html 別ウィンドウ表示

Declaration to Build Partnerships
Declaration to Build Partnerships

Specific Activities of the Group Companies

Promoting Green Procurement

The Wireless and Communications Business Group established the Green Procurement Guidelines, which describe the latest environmentally hazardous substances, and has made it available on the Web for the purpose of procuring environmentally friendly materials and parts used in products and production to ensure that the products of the Group companies give full consideration to global environmental conservation.

In addition, the Group has been informing suppliers of the "Japan Radio Group Basic Policy for Sustainable Procurement," and in FY2022, the Group conducted a questionnaire on sustainable procurement for the top 70% suppliers (208 suppliers) in terms of order value from the four companies in the Wireless and Communications business group (Japan Radio Co., Ltd., Nagano Japan Radio Co., Ltd., Ueda Japan Radio Co., Ltd, JRC Tokki Co., Ltd.) and confirmed the status of their environmental conservation efforts. The questionnaire consisted of the following six items.

  • ①Establishment of an environmental management system
  • ②Greenhouse gas emissions
  • ③Reduction of waste
  • ④Purchase of products with low environmental impact
  • ⑤Use of resource and energy conservation
  • ⑥Compliance with waste laws and regulations

The survey responses were scored, and the results were ranked and evaluated on four levels: A, B, C, and D. The Group is working to promote green procurement and sustainable procurement in its supply chain by continuously requesting suppliers that have not made much progress, especially those that received a C or D rating, to take action.

Implementation of Regular Supplier Quality Meetings

Nanbu Plastics Co., Ltd. conducts transactions with customers in accordance with the "Sustainable Procurement Guidelines."

The company's Fujieda Plant holds supplier regular quality meeting on the third Thursday of each month for suppliers who place orders for the external production of molded products. The main purpose of the meeting is to improve quality by sharing quality-related information, but in addition to quality, the meeting also discusses delivery styles that help reduce environmental impacts. For example, packaging film and plastic bags discarded during the delivery of finished products, as well as metal parts attached to defective products, are not disposed of by individual suppliers, but are collected in batches by the company's plant, converted from industrial waste into valuable resources, and transferred to waste management companies as raw materials for use as materials.

In July of each year, the company presents an award for quality excellence to suppliers that have achieved zero complaints for one year.

Regular quality meeting 
Regular quality meeting 
Quality Excellence Award
Quality Excellence Award