Apple Inc. is one of the leading companies in the electronics industry. The company has always been interested in high quality of manufacturing and only cooperates with suppliers that will be committed to comply with Apple’s standards. Apple developed a Code of Conduct that all overseas partners have to agree with before starting cooperation. Supplier responsibility is a vital for Apple. Apple works closely with its partners and suppliers in order to make sure that there are no violations and harm for people.
If a company would like to cooperate with Apple, at first it should assess if it has enough capacities and desire to reach high standards of supplier responsibility. One of the main goals for Apple is to cooperate only with companies that created good working environment and treat their workers well. A good supplier is socially responsible and accountable, empowers workers, respects their rights, and makes sure that they work in healthy and safe conditions. Additionally, suppliers should strive for reduction of their ecological footprint (Supplier Responsibility Report, 2016, p. 4). Further in this paper, each aspect of supplier responsibility will be described in detail.
Empowering workers
Apple employs 1.6 million people. Most of them work in the factories overseas. Apple expects that workers will be diligent and work hard in order to produce high-quality products. Apple values those suppliers who empower workers. Workers must know their rights. This is why every year suppliers organize a large number of workers’ rights trainings (Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, 2016). Apple also popularizes the Supplier Employee Education and Development program in the factories. This program helps workers to learn how to use computer, speak English, and get some other important practical skills that can be used in the factories.
Carl Yang works in the Jabil Suzhou factory. He graduated from junior vocational school and worked as a material operator. After participating in the Supplier Employee Education and Development Program he applied for the HR management program. Showing progress in his studies, he received a position on the HR team and now works as a SEED administrator. His next goal is to obtain a bachelor’s degree in business management in one of the local universities (Social Responsibility Report, 2015).
Accountability
All companies may be monitored by Apple. Every year Apple conducts audit in more than 600 companies. Audit is divided in four stages and if Apple discovers that a supplier violates rules, they will be given time to introduce changes. If the supplier fails to make changes, the contract will be terminated. NGOs and other organizations may complain directly to Apple. Later companies that are alleged in violation of rules will be audited. During audit Apple may directly communicate with workers. These workers must not be punished for participation in audit. Apple does not work with companies that employ underage workers, tolerate involuntary labor, put lives of workers at risk, have excessive negative impact on environment, etc. Results of last year’s audit show that there are still many violations. So the number of audits will be high in the next years.
A factory in Liuyang, China produces cover glass for iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad products. In 2010 there were 57 violations in the following areas: environment, health and safety, labor and human rights. The largest number of violations was concerned with uncontrolled working hours, age discrimination, and absence of adequate chemical and hazardous waste management (Hughes, 2016). Apple asked managers of the factory to eliminate all violations and offer better working conditions for more than 30,000 employees. The next audit showed that Liuyang factory improved the audit score by 29%. (Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, 2016, p.9). This supplier is very important for Apple, but Apple cannot turn the blind eye to violations of the Code of Conduct.
Human and Labor Rights
Apple and its suppliers have been working very hard to improve the situation with human and labor rights of 1.6 million workers that are involved in production of Apple products. Suppliers must not benefit from underage workers and bonded labor. Apple participates in international projects organized by U.N. International Organization of Migration. The goal of these projects is to explain workers what labor rights they have and how they can be protected from unethical practices at the factories. In 2015 there were almost 70 investigations related to the violation of labor rights. In general, Apple is satisfied with improvement of working conditions at the factories. Now there are very few cases of underage labor and other violations. Nevertheless, according to the 2015 Supplier Responsibility Report one third of suppliers still allow some minor violations.
Foxconn is one of the key Apple’s partners in China. Monthly pay at Foxconn is equal to $370 which is $100 more than China’s minimum. There are no cases of underage labor at Foxconn. In total, child-labor rate is 0.0001%. If supplier hires underage workers, they must participate in the Underage Labor Remediation Program. Within this program, underage workers return home and receive education. Supplier continues to pay worker’s wages and when the worker reaches a legal age, he or she may return to the factory (Elmer-deWitt, 2015).
Environment
Apple cannot ignore climate change and other environmental problems. The company has already reduced its ecological footprint and the new campus which will be opened soon in California will make Apple’s headquarters a role model for other electronics companies. However, Apple realizes that all pollution related to Apple products takes place in the factories overseas. Now Apple is focused on increasing energy efficiency, conserving resources and using greener materials. Suppliers are encouraged to update their equipment and introduce state-of-the art technologies that will help to reduce ecological footprint and improve quality of produced products.
In 2015, Apple launched 2 new clean energy programs to promote low-carbon manufacturing and green growth. These programs will help to avoid 20 million metric tons of CO2 pollution. In addition, solar projects that will generate 40 million megawatts of electricity in Sichuan Province have already been complete. This is just the beginning. More than 200 million megawatts of solar projects will be built in the northern, eastern and southern grid regions (Apple, 2015).
Health and Safety
When Apple started to work with overseas suppliers, conditions in which employees worked were very dangerous. Apple worked closely with all suppliers and now they comply with state regulations as well as with Apple’s safety standards. Some factories are inspected by Apple, for example in 2015 there were 40 inspections (Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, 2016, p. 24). Suppliers must have emergency preparedness system that can prevent casualties during fire, earthquake or other natural/industrial incidents.
For example, Ri Teng facility in Shanghai, China employs 20,000 people, but there were very few formal emergency procedures. Together with Apple this supplier introduced comprehensive emergency preparedness system for fires, floods, storms, etc. In 2015 there was an industrial incident and all factory workers were evacuated in just 5 minutes. In general, in 2015 206,000 people took part in safety trainings (Supplier Responsibility Report, 2016, p.25). Apple strengthened requirements for emergency prevention, preparedness and response, but results of audit show that a lot of suppliers still do not comply with Apple’s standards of excellence.
References
Elmer-deWitt, P. (28 September 2015). Are Apple’s Factories full of children making 17
cents/hour? Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/09/28/apple-sorkin-
children-factcheck/
Hughes, N. (30 March 2016). Apple Supplier Responsibility 2016 Progress Report reveals
97% work-hour compliance, carbon emissions reductions. Apple Insider. Retrieved from http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/03/30/apple-supplier-responsibility
-2016-progress-report-reveals-97-work-hour-compliance-carbon-emissions-reductions
Apple. (22 October 2015). Apple Launches New Clean Energy Programs in China To
Promote Low-Carbon Manufacturing and Green Growth. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/10/22Apple-Launches-New-Clean-
Energy-Programs-in-China-To-Promote-Low-Carbon-Manufacturing-and-Green-
Growth.html
Supplier Responsibility 2016 Progress Report. Retrieved from http://images.apple.com/
supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2016_Progress_Report.pdf
