Supply Chain Management

Policies and Strategies

In the “Action Guidelines,” Yukiguni Maitake states, “We jointly undertake initiatives to create new values and promote sustainability in our business” and “We respect the rights of all the people involved in our business.”

In order to develop responsible business activities throughout our supply chain, we are promoting our initiatives toward “compliance (thorough adherence to corporate ethics and laws and regulations, cutting off relationships with antisocial forces and groups, prevention of unfair transactions, prevention of corruption, etc.), “human rights (elimination of discrimination, forced labor, child labor, harassment, compliance with statutory minimum wages, appropriate collective bargaining agreements, compliance with working hours, etc.),” “working environment (prevention of industrial accidents and ensuring worker safety, etc.),” “environmental considerations (reduction of CO2 emissions, energy conservation, reduction of waste, prevention of pollution, management of wastewater, utilization of resources, consideration for biodiversity, etc.),” while gaining the cooperation and understanding of our business partners toward our CSR procurement.

Structure, Governance and Risk Management

For details, please see Sustainability Management Structure.

Indicators and Targets

We have set the following indicators and targets to realize the advanced supply chain management.

  Scope FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 Target
Responses to the CSR questionnaire survey Domestic non-
consolidated		 - 100% 100% -
Overseas non-
consolidated		 100% 100% 100% -
Status of suppliers’ human rights protection initiatives (*) non-
consolidated		 100% 100% 100% 100%

(*) Elimination of discrimination, forced labor, child labor, compliance with statutory minimum wage, appropriate collective bargaining agreements, compliance with working hours, etc.

Initiatives

CSR Procurement

We have been conducting a CSR procurement questionnaire survey for our Tier 1 suppliers for raw and packaging materials since FY2020. This questionnaire survey includes compliance, human rights, labor environment, product safety, quality management system, environmental consideration, information management system, and business continuity plan (BCP). Through this questionnaire survey, we confirm the business environment at our suppliers. However, we recognize that grasping the status of all suppliers, including tier 3 suppliers and further upstream areas, is our issue to be addressed in the future.

CSR Procurement Questionnaire Items
Evaluation Items Contents
1. Compliance
  • Whether a supplier has created an environment where workers can ensure compliance with corporate ethics and laws and regulations, cut off relationships with antisocial forces and groups, and prevent of unfair transactions and corruption etc.
2. Human Rights
  • Whether a supplier prohibits violation of workers’ human rights, and works on matters such as elimination of discrimination, forced labor, child labor, harassment, compliance with statutory minimum wages, appropriate collective bargaining agreements, and compliance with working hours.
3. Working environment
  • Whether a supplier has established a health management system to prevent occupational accidents, ensure workers’ safety, and create a comfortable work environment for employees.
  • Whether a supplier has created a safe and healthy work environment for workers, including mental health.
4. Product safety
  • Whether a supplier has established a management system to ensure product safety and quality assurance, and has a mechanism in place to conduct periodic surveys to confirm the status of its initiatives.
  • Whether a supplier has established a system to correct the situation as necessary.
5. Quality management system
6. Environmental Considerations
  • Whether a supplier has a mechanism in place to conduct periodic surveys to check the status of implementation of its initiatives regarding thorough consideration for the environment (reduction of CO2 emissions, energy saving, reduction of waste, prevention of pollution, management of wastewater, utilization of resources, consideration for biodiversity, etc.).
  • Whether a supplier has a mechanism in place to correct the situation as necessary.
7. Information Management System
  • Whether a supplier promotes the establishment of a system, such as a promotion department, committee, or team, concerning information security.
8. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
  • Whether a supplier conducts risk reduction activities and has developed a BCP to prepare for unforeseen events such as disasters and accidents.
  • Whether such initiatives are shared with its suppliers to encourage them to promote them.

* This covers up to 2nd tier suppliers.

On-site audits

Regarding suppliers of sawdust used for culture media, we conduct on-site inspections of their mountain forests at least once every five years in principle to confirm that there is no illegal logging.
Plans are in place to continue to conduct site visits on a regular basis.