Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited or “CPF” has asked major business partners throughout the country to join them in establishing a strong shared commitment to sustainable business. CPF is committed to supporting our business partners in improving the sustainability and transparency of their supply chain, particularly in the areas with known issues in the past, such as the sourcing of fish meal and maize.
CPF is delighted that our business partners have signed up to, and will work to ensure full compliance with, the CPF Sustainable Outsourcing Policy. As the latest step in this joint effort, CPF is organizing a series of workshops for business partners to review and perform self-assessment in order to strengthen their business practices and monitoring processes with a focus on sustainable economic, social and environmental behaviour.
Mr. Paisarn Kruawongvanich, Executive Vice President, Bangkok Produce Merchandiding Public Company Limited, said that after CPF held such a workshop on the Sustainable Sourcing Policy and Supplier Guiding Principles with three groups of business partners including feedstuffs, seasonings and packaging at the end of May this year, his Company which is the direct purchaser of raw materials from business partners, had made significant steps towards the full compliance with the Sustainable Sourcing policy throughout the business. Knowing that business partners play the significant role in the sustainable business drive, these workshops are not only an opportunity for business partners to perform self-assessment against the Sustainable Sourcing Policy, but the CPF will also help the business partners to analyse the information generated by their internal audit and monitoring processes. CPF is able to analyze the information from each business partner and report back on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks in relation to sustainable business conduct. With this feedback, the business partners are better positioned to develop an effective plan of the key changes required in the move toward the sustainable growth in accordance with the “Win-Win Partnership goal” - which emphasizes the aim to closely link CPF and our business partners in delivering our sustainability and transparency objectives, based on our belief that more sustainable business practices give each of us a competitive advantage in the modern world.
Mr. Chaiwat Treeyanuwat, Senior Vice President on MRO & Supply Purchasing Center, CPF, commented that this new reality was very clear in his experience, that most of the business partners for the Seasonings and Packaging group are committed to the Sustainable Sourcing Policy because key overseas customers place great importance on ensuring socially and environmentally friendly sourcing . He acknowledges however that there are some business partners with whom CPF will have to undertake significant further work to help them fully understand and adopt these policies. CPF will assess the specific needs of each particular business partner, provide the necessary assistance, and jointly work with them to enhance their ability to comply with these international sustainable sourcing standards.
‘This CPF supply chain sustainability workshop programme will drive better understanding and compliance for major business partners in 8 provinces, namely Bangkok, Suphanburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phetchabun, Pitsanulok, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chiang Mai and Loei with the expectation of 600-700 participants. It is an important step to drive increased compliance with our updated Sustainable Sourcing Policy principles as a basis for long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with these business partners.’
The self-assessment for business partners will be principally done through a questionnaire covering four major areas:- Products and Services, Personnel, Production Processes and Operations.
CPF’s goal for 2015 is to enhance the major business partners’ understanding of, and compliance with, the overall sustainability policy and guidelines. We firmly believe that the sooner every one of our business partners is able to conduct their operations fully in line with the guidelines, the stronger and more stable and more competitive we all become. The Company expects wider adoption of these policies to generate significant benefits for the communities in which these businesses operate, because the business partners will give greater priority to eco-friendly operation, energy conservation, maximum use of natural resources, good and fair labour treatment - all of which are good for the society and contribute to the confidence and trust in CPF products.
