3D. Creating successful supplier relationships
Effective procurement and supplier management give us access to the right external resources on competitive terms. Our scale enables us to negotiate favourable terms and develop strategic, responsible relationships with our suppliers.
Supplier management
Our supplier relationships are managed at two levels, our Group Procurement team who manage our Group-wide contracts and at a local or business unit level where there is a particular category expertise.
We have established partnerships with our key suppliers to ensure that we are able to negotiate beneficial Group-wide terms and assist them in reflecting high levels of service standards and responsible business practices across their business and supply chain.
We maintain a comprehensive database of all suppliers, segregated by supplier type and product/service category ensuring that client requirements for supplier information can be readily provided. The database is used as a tool to deliver against these requirements.
We’re committed to developing small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), ensuring that these suppliers are placed on a level playing field with larger suppliers used within the business. Our profiling capability is comprehensive and allows us to profile a myriad of different types of supplier from large to small and in any industry sector.
Our key supplier programme and supplier diversity plan ensure suppliers meet our own corporate responsibility, equality and diversity and performance standards. Within the programme we define our ‘ideal’ supplier, specifying not just technical competences but also culture and values, environmental credentials, health and safety record and commitment to corporate and social responsibility.
We have a wealth of experience in working with sub-contractors and niche partners, using their specialist skills for the delivery of the most appropriate and cost effective services. We have a sub-contracting policy and apply stringent criteria in selecting sub-contractors, managing all our suppliers and sub-contractors under the same principles, and ensuring that they work within a fully integrated delivery and reporting framework. A comprehensive procurement policy will be launched this year.
Wherever we can, we work in partnership with our clients and sub-contractors to positively influence the environmental performance of projects on which we are engaged.
Reduction in CO2 emissions
In 2006, we set a target of reducing electricity use by 12% at 18 of our largest sites by 2008. We are progressing well towards this target, with overall savings of 8% to date, an emissions reduction of just under 1,000 tonnes of CO2. On the back of this success we will be rolling the programme out to the rest of the Group – starting with sites that have Group electricity and gas supply contracts.