Supplier Responsibility Progress Report 2019: Sustainable success for Apple

By Dale Benton
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Apple has released its 13th annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, revealing that it has trained more than 17mn of its supplier employees on wo...

Apple has released its 13th annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, revealing that it has trained more than 17mn of its supplier employees on workplace rights and delivering advanced education and skills training to 3.6mn.

The 2019 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report comes after more than 1049 supplier assessments were conducted in 45 different countries, creating a truly global picture of Apple’s value chain. It revealed that 76% of Apple’s supplier facilities are considered high-performing, with only 1% considered to be low-performing. This coincides with a 30% increase in high-performing suppliers year over year 2018.

Apple has continuously challenged itself as one of the world’s leading technology companies to expand its own understanding of its dictation and skill-building opportunities within its vast supply chain. 2018 represent one of its strongest years yet, as its suppliers achieved UL Zero Waste certification for all final assembly test and packaging facilities across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, and HomePod. Apple’s suppliers conserved 7.6bn gallons of freshwater, and 100% of its final assembly sites adopted safer, greener cleaners in their manufacturing processes.

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“We believe that if we’re not finding areas to improve, we’re not looking hard enough,” says Apple in the report. “If we discover that standards aren’t being met, we work side by side with suppliers to help them improve. If a supplier is unwilling or unable to meet our requirements, we end our business relationship with them. Through capability building and partnership, we not only improve our suppliers’ performance in our supply chain, but beyond it as well.”

The report not only looked at performance and environmental sustainability, it shone the spotlight on Apple’s efforts to improve health and safety and diversity across the supply chain. This saw Apple launch its Health Programme across several supplier facilities in China in a bid to “empower women” in its supply chain with information to maintain their health. Apple has set an ambitious goal – to bring health awareness to over one million people in its supply chain by 2020. As of 2018, more than 250,000 supplier employees have participated in health training.

“We believe that business, at its best, serves the public good, empowers people around the world, and binds us together as never before,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.

Read more on Apple’s Suppler Responsibility 2019 Progress Report here.

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