EcoVadis

In 2021, we began the process of elevating our responsible sourcing to the next level by using EcoVadis as our partner and framework for assessing Oerlikon’s suppliers.
EcoVadis provides companies the means to assess the corporate sustainability performance of their suppliers and other companies that decided to share their ratings within the EcoVadis network. By collecting data from suppliers and validating it through independent means, we can obtain aggregated performance reports as well as individual scorecards with holistic risk profiles.

Our collaboration with EcoVadis will enable us to tap into their resources to enhance the trans­parency of our supply chain, ensure compliance with regard to global regulations and laws and strengthen the mitigation of potential risks.

As an initial step, we have completed the Sustainable Procurement Maturity Review with EcoVadis. The maturity review refers to the maturity of each of the defined five roots: Vision & Goals, Governance & Resources, Policies, Procedures & Processes, Capacity Building & Continuous Improvement and Reporting.

The review identified governance and resources as “the most mature root” at Oerlikon and noted our “strong program sponsorship and a robust procurement program”. The areas of improvement identified from the review include the development of our sustainable procurement strategy and goals, cascading sustainability as a mandatory requirement within the global procurement organization and setting internal KPIs/targets, as well as formali­zing and monitoring the progress.

This result reflects the fact that our procurement strategy over the years has been focused on ensuring the quality and reliability of suppliers and their compliance with the international and local laws and regulations. With EcoVadis, we are essentially expanding our procurement strategy to make sustainable procurement another key criteria in managing our supply chain.

Presently, we are working on strategies to fulfill the recommendations for Oerlikon in 2022 – 2023, including training buyers, integrating EcoVadis into our sustainable procurement program and cascading that program into our business units. Actions under consideration are intended to address such goals as increasing coverage of Procure-to-Pay tools, adding direct access to the risk module in the system, consolidating spend data and allowing lower ROIs for sustainability-centered projects.

The review identified action items to address in 2022 – 2023 in the areas of policies, procedures and processes. In addition to updating its existing internal guideline to better align with the sustainable procurement vision, strategy, goals and gover­nance, we are committing to increasing sustainable procurement awareness throughout the company. An additional priority is having our legal department draft a sustainability clause that is mandatory for tier-1 suppliers, establishing third-party verification of the clause and discussing the need for actions in the event of a breach. 

As a logical next step in our sustainability journey, we are committed to defining a reference roadmap for sustainable procurement and to provide more in-depth reporting on sustainable procurement over the next years.