Corporate Social Responsibility through the Supply Chain
Our Purchasing Philosophy
Mitsubishi Electric purchases a wide variety of materials and components from both Japanese and overseas markets. We recognize our corporate responsibility and are eager to provide business opportunities for the communities in which we operate.
- 1) Easy Access and Equal Opportunity
- To guarantee our customers the highest-quality products, we are constantly searching for new suppliers. We encourage business partners from all over the world, regardless of size, to contact us about submitting a quotation. The decision to embark on a new business relationship is made after careful consideration of three major factors: product price, product quality and delivery performance. To ensure continued high quality and efficiency, we periodically review our relationships with our partners.
- 2) Mutual Prosperity
- We believe in long-term relationships built upon understanding and trust. This will allow us to develop with one another from the very beginning and achieve mutual prosperity.
- 3) Ecological Soundness
- We are interested in the materials and manufacturing processes used by our suppliers. Because we value the environment, we buy only ecologically sound products. Our mission is to satisfy the needs of people around the globe. To meet their growing expectations, we must widen and strengthen our affiliations with companies all over the world. We are seeking cooperation, not just business, and are looking for potential partners who are willing to join us in our drive toward global prosperity.
Furthermore, we plan to carry out our distribution activities in line with our "CSR Procurement Policy," which was established in fiscal 2008.
CSR Procurement Policy
- 1. Compliance with domestic and foreign laws/regulations and social standards
- (1)
- Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations
- (2)
- Respecting human rights and prohibiting discrimination, child labor, and forced labor
- (3)
- Creating proper work environments
- 2. Assurance of quality and safety of products and services
- 3. Environmental considerations
- (1)
- Procuring materials with less negative impact on the environment
- (2)
- Ensuring strict management of harmful chemical substances based on an environmental management system
- 4. Promotion of fair trade based on corporate ethics
- (1)
- Practicing honest trade on fair and equal footing, based on laws/regulations and agreements
- (2)
- Ensuring strict management and safeguarding of information by establishing an information security system
- (3)
- Thorough elimination of ethical misconduct
Building Good Relationships with Suppliers
Based on our supplier selection standards, the Mitsubishi Electric Group regularly evaluates its business partners in terms of quality, price, delivery, customer service, environmental issues and other attributes. In 2003 we added correspondence to our levels of compliance to the law as one of the standards.
We make purchases from business partners placing a strong overall evaluation on a priority basis in an effort to build good business relationships from a long-term perspective. The Group gives the designation of "key supplier" to business partners especially important in the promotion of our business activities.
A "key supplier" is defined as a business partner that provides key parts related to product performance or that has high-level technology or other critical attributes.
Our partnerships with these business partners are more involved than with regular ones, as they engage in joint development of parts and materials, adopt cutting-edge products, and promote value analysis*. We also work with key suppliers to develop activities aimed at the joint creation of costs.
Implementing value analysis in particular not only carries with it the benefit of helping lower our costs, it also helps increase the sales of business partners and boosts their technological proficiencies. Joint creation activities are indispensable to developing win-win relationships.
In fiscal 2007 we cut costs 20% through measures promoted alongside key suppliers including reduction of size and weight of materials, improvement of costs arising from quality management measures and others.
Activities are accelerating with a 20% reduction in procurement costs, the result of a continuing two-year effort spanning from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009.
Additionally, as in Japan, the Mitsubishi Electric Group will enhance purchasing relations in China and Asia by supporting overseas business partner cost reduction, level of stability and other factors.
* Value analysis is a method for minimizing the costs required to obtain the essential functions of products and parts.
Building Good Relationships with Sales Outlets
Sales skill-improvement workshop
To build a win-win relationship with the regional retail sales outlets that sell Mitsubishi Electric products, we work with Group sales companies to support the business operations of the retail outlets. Besides organizing presentation meetings for introducing new products, we regularly offer sales skill-improvement workshops, conducted by Request System Corp.
In fiscal 2008 we enhanced the sales support system for sales outlets in the expanding market of all-electric-powered homes in Japan. Mitsubishi Electric Living Environment Systems Corp. has made an "e-home overall coordinator system," which is a company qualification system for sales and marketing in retail sales outlets, thus educating salespeople with sales skills and engineering knowledge in order to make overall suggestions including products for all-electric-powered homes. Furthermore, we have started up the "All-electric-powered Homes Club" in our sales outlet networks, and support their sales activities.
Ensuring Product Quality and Safety
Considering that our business involves a wide range of products such as satellites, power generation equipment, electric transmission and distribution equipment, home appliances and numerous others, each of our customers expect differing standards of quality.
The Mitsubishi Electric Group establishes quality standards for each product and requests that business partners achieve required levels of quality based on them.
Product quality and safety are ensured through cooperation with our suppliers.
