Does your organization have a social and environmental responsibility policy? Can you easily track that all the processes are being followed and suppliers are complying?

While having a policy that governs corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) is a self-regulated obligation, it is an important piece of an overall compliance program. An organization not only needs to ensure a safe work environment for on-site employees, but should also be responsible for the manufacturing environment of their imports.

When addressing social and environmental responsibilities, there are some key questions that importers should ask themselves and their suppliers:

1. What happens to scrap left over from the manufacturing process?
2. Are the by-products from the manufacturing process harmful to the environment?
3. Are child labor laws being enforced regarding who is manufacturing the products or harvesting the raw materials?

The main objective of a policy governing social and environmental responsibility is not to create more tasks for the importer, but to develop awareness within the global supply chain about what is beneficial to both society and the environment. For companies that have implemented a social and environmental policy, soliciting suppliers for information and then maintaining that data can be a daunting task. However, using the right technology companies can easily manage and track all social and environmental responsibility guidelines. The right technology can provide a way to easily create supplier assessments, maintain supplier information such as contact information, and monitor supplier's for adherence to company processes.

With Integration Point®, Inc. Supply Chain Compliance, these goals can be managed in a timely manner without incurring large costs to the organization. Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance is a reliable and efficient web-based tool that assists with gathering and maintaining supplier information for SER tracking as well as other supply chain compliance initiatives.

Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance assists in meeting organizational Social & Environmental Responsibility requirements by allowing companies to create customizable assessments to evaluate each suppliers' ability to adhere to corporate SER policies. Utilizing Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance, importers can easily create web-based assessments, track supplier answers, and send automatic alerts when a supplier falls below accepted SER policy requirements.

Using Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance to meet Social & Environmental Responsibility requirements, companies:

• Eliminate time zone difficulties through the use of a web-based system that can be accessed on-demand from anywhere in the world
• Stimulate communication with all suppliers regardless of language using the software's multilingual capabilities
• Create company specific supplier assessments
• Maintain and manage supplier information in one location
• Monitor all suppliers through the software's automatic alert and reminders features

Not only does Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance ensure that organizational policies on Social & Environmental Responsibilities are being met, but also automates the filing process for similar corporate responsibility initiatives such as the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Using the Supply Chain Compliance web-based portal, organizations can view completed certificates for CPISA compliance, create audit trails, retain supplier data for easy retrieval, and submit required documentation directly to the associated authorities.

For more information on how Integration Point Supply Chain Compliance assists with Social & Environmental Responsibility, send us an email or complete our online request form.