Supplier Management
Sustainability in the supply chain
Siemens’ procurement operations are organized in a network that unites company purchasing departments around the world. High-volume purchases of materials are pooled, negotiated on a company-wide basis, and sourced worldwide; suppliers are evaluated and selected using an integrated supplier management system. Corporate responsibility plays an important part in our purchasing strategy, and we continuously review and improve our procurement systems, methods and tools to reflect this.
Code of Conduct for Siemens Suppliers
In May 2007, an updated Code of Conduct for Siemens Suppliers was published, replacing the basic supplier requirements that had been in place since 2002. The new Code of Conduct tightens existing requirements and introduces new ones. Suppliers’ compliance with the principles outlined in the document is verified through self-assessments and on-site audits.
Supplier Management at Siemens
Siemens operates a strict supplier management system that addresses our sustainability requirements.
Siemens Procurement Compliance Conference
For Siemens, corporate responsibility means securing the success and the future of our company by taking all relevant considerations into account, including economic, ecological and social considerations, in order to create tangible and intangible value by ethical means.
In its Fit4 2010 corporate program, Siemens set itself the goal of becoming an exemplary, worldwide leader in matters of transparency and compliance by the year 2010. This goal will be achieved through a variety of measures, including the adoption of clear rules for all employee and binding minimum requirements for the company’s suppliers all around the world. Siemens will actively support the implementation of these minimum requirements by conducting training courses and by holding Procurement Compliance Conferences in different regions of the world.
Worldwide training courses have began
The provision of appropriate training to our employees is a basic prerequisite for enabling them to effectively monitor the company’s suppliers in matters of corporate responsibility in the supply chain. Since July 2007, for example, employees of the procurement and quality functions departments have participated in regular web conferences, as a means of giving worldwide support to the implementation of the Siemens Code of Conduct for Suppliers. The regular training courses provided to procurement employees since this time have included additional modules on the Code of Conduct and on corporate responsibility in the supply chain. As part of the worldwide roll-out, moreover, Procurement Compliance Conferences are being held specifically for senior managers in the functions of procurement, quality management and compliance. Their participation is mandatory.
Procurement Compliance Conferences 2007 and 2008
The Procurement Compliance Initiative was launched in China because this country already represents one of Siemens’ most important markets and its importance as a supplier of key products and services is bound to grow in the future. Nearly 200 senior managers of procurement, quality management and compliance in China attended the two-and-a-half day conference in Beijing in July 2007, to discuss and adopt measures for the prompt implementation of the Code of Conduct for Suppliers. Richard Hausmann, the CEO of Siemens China who was also the official host for this event, made the following key point: “We are faced with an extraordinary opportunity to learn more about how we can optimize the relationships with our suppliers within an environment of operational excellence and compliance.” And Klaus Wucherer of the Managing Board stated that “This conference marks an important step towards our goal of making Siemens an exemplary worldwide leader in matters of transparency and compliance.”
Chief Compliance Officer Dr. Andreas Pohlmann at the Procurement Compliance conference in Prague.
This Procurement Compliance Conference was followed on November 22, 2007 by a conference of suppliers, attended by a total of 75 participants from southern China, which was devoted to matters of corporate responsibility in the supply chain. Similar supplier conferences were held with great success in March 2008 for the eastern region (Shanghai metropolitan area) and the northern region (Beijing metropolitan area).
The second Procurement Compliance Conference, this one for Europe, was held in Prague in December 2007. At this event, 150 procurement, compliance and quality managers from all over Europe discussed the challenges that compliance and corporate responsibility pose to the procurement function and to the company’s suppliers.
This conference was devoted in particular to the need for close cooperation among compliance, procurement and quality managers, but also to the question of how corporate responsibility in the supply chain can be assured on a lasting basis. Speaking before 150 senior managers in the functions of procurement, quality and compliance, Andreas Pohlmann, Chief Compliance Officer of Siemens, offered a positive assessment of the progress achieved in recent months. With regard to the first Procurement Compliance Conference in Beijing, where the participants had the chance to discuss these matters among themselves for the first time, Mr. Pohlmann noted that the first concrete implementation measures were adopted in cooperation with the suppliers only shortly afterwards.
Further Procurement Compliance Conferences have been held in the United States and Latin America.
Procurement and Supplier Portal
Siemens purchases goods and services worldwide through a network of local offices. We source a substantial quantity of our purchases with local and regional suppliers.
To support our worldwide procurement processes and to achieve strategic procurement targets, we set up the Siemens Buyside Marketplace, a single company-wide e-procurement platform.