Better business
More than a third of Novozymes’ revenue is spent on purchasing goods and services. Consequently, our relationships with suppliers substantially influence Novozymes’ financial performance.
When engaging with a supplier, we not only attach importance to price, quality and ability to deliver. Cooperating with suppliers that have core expertise in specific areas is also important, inasmuch it facilitates the continuous development of products and processes.
Cleaner environment
Just as suppliers are important business partners in realising commercial advantages, we also consider it important to cooperate with suppliers that shares Novozymes’ commitment to being a responsible company.
We started evaluating the environmental performance of Novozymes’ suppliers in 1996. Purchasing units at our production sites have criteria in place that address environmental performance of raw material suppliers to Novozymes’ enzymes production. Environmental criteria are also included in our supplier quality audits.
Better lives
In 2003, we started addressing suppliers’ social performance too. Following a gradual integration, 80% of raw material suppliers to Novozymes' enzymes production (measured in purchasing value terms) now carry out a self-evaluation on compliance with basic human rights and core labour standards.
Suppliers’ self-evaluations are carried out on the basis of a standardised questionnaire, which has been devised along the lines of international conventions on human rights and labour standards. They cover the following social issues:
- freedom of association,
- non-discrimination,
- working hours,
- wages and benefits,
- disciplinary measures,
- child labour,
- forced labour and
- health & safety.
These issues reflect our quality management standard on social responsibility, according to which Novozymes’ business units across the world are required to carry out annual self-assessments on compliance with a set of internal social minimum standards (see Novozymes’ position on human rights).