Improving lives, in partnership with our suppliers, starts with putting the right policies in place.
Working with Suppliers
Setting clear expectations for our suppliers.
As part of our Sourcing Sustainability Standard (PDF, 20KB), expectations are set for suppliers through 3M’s Supply Chain Policies: EHS, Transportation, Labour/Human Resources and Supplied Materials. These policies apply to the selection and retention of all suppliers that provide goods and services to 3M worldwide. We selectively review supplier performance to these policies. When noncompliance is detected, 3M will attempt to work with the supplier concerned to correct the situation. We expect the supplier to develop a corrective action plan to bring its operations into compliance. If a supplier does not develop such a plan or fails to implement it, 3M will move to terminate the business relationship.
In 2000, we set a goal to review at least 80% of Supplier Spend in the following countries: China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey to drive conformance with 3M EHS, Transportation & Labour/Human Relations Standards by 2015. In 2013, we achieved our goal to review 80% of our spend in those countries.
Conflict Minerals
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One issue addressed by 3M’s Supply Chain Policy is that of “Conflict Minerals”. The concern is that proceeds from the mining of minerals (specifically tin, tantalum and gold) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been used to fund extreme violence in that region. This led to a requirement in the U.S. Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Law of 2010, that U.S. publicly-traded companies identify the source of these minerals necessary to the functionality or production of products they manufacture or contract to manufacture.
3M’s reasonable country of origin enquiry and conflict minerals due diligence program are described in 3M’s Form SD and Conflict Minerals Report for year 2013, available at the following link: SEC Filings.
3M is a member of the Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI), an industry-wide initiative to develop control systems regarding smelters and refiners through independently validated audits under CFSI’s Conflict Free Smelter (CFS) program. 3M encourages its suppliers and any other companies not already members to join the CFSI. Increased participation throughout supply chains will strengthen collaborative efforts to increase leverage on smelters and refiners to join the CFS program and become validated as DRC Conflict Free. In furtherance of 3M’s commitment to CFSI and the CFS program, in January of 2014 3M made a donation to the CFSI Smelter Fund, which provides financial assistance to smelters undergoing a first-year audit under the CFS program. This fund encourages smelters to join the CFS program and become validated as DRC Conflict Free.
Supplier-directed information is available at the following link: Conflict Minerals.
