We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
| Local sourcing | Risk management |
| 'Making a Difference Together’ project | Supplier performance measurement |
The ‘Making a Difference Together’ project has taken our engagement with the supply chain to a new level. We are actively engaged with our key supply chain partners to learn what their sustainable business practices are, how we can work together to strengthen our performance and share best practice. Ultimately this initiative will allow us to drive sustainable procurement by continuously monitoring the supply chain and setting targets for improvement
The objective of the project was to enhance existing performance measurement process an and to implement a method of working that actively drives corporate responsibility and sustainability across our current and future supply chains. We wanted to:
• understand the challenges and opportunities CR and sustainability present to us and our supply chain.
• enhance our strategic supplier management approach, by identifying areas where we and the supply chain can work more closely together to tackle the challenges of CR and sustainability.
• measure the performance of suppliers with regard to CR and sustainability with a view to setting targets enabling continuous improvement and sharing of best practice.
• establish a platform for CR and sustainability ideas and innovations to be shared and developed collaboratively.
In order for the project to be a success we needed to understand the issues faced within the supply chain, to do this we engaged our supply chain partners in focused and open discussion. The process followed for key stages:
• Stage 1: Supply Chain Representation – engagement with key suppliers based on an analysis of annual spend, inherent supply risk and supply category.
• Stage 2: Engage the Supply Chain – face to face discussion sessions with Head of Procurement and Category Managers and key representatives of suppliers.
• Stage 3: Measurement – suppliers completed a self assessment questionnaire covering key areas including, health and wellbeing, waste management and energy and water management.
• Stage 4: identifying opportunities for Continuous Improvement – analysis of the data allowed the strong, or weak, performance areas to be identified, this allows us to target areas, or suppliers, that need improvement or can be used as examples of CR or sustainable best practice.
There have been a number of benefits of the project, these include:
• improved relationships with strategic suppliers
• improvements in the use of recycled materials and reductions in packaging in the supply chain
• improvements in water management in the supply chain
• ongoing work with our key contractors to improve health and safety compliance and staff wellbeing
We recognise that this is the start of a journey for us and our supply chain. Benefits have already been realised and a change agenda developed. Going forward this initiative will allow us to drive sustainable procurement by continuously monitoring the supply chain and setting targets for improvement. The questionnaire also provides visibility of 'who is doing what' facilitating improved sharing of best practice. The ‘Making a Difference Together’ project has taken our engagement with the supply chain to a new level. We are actively engaged with our key supply chain partners in discussion to learn what their sustainable business practices are, how we can learn from each other and how we can work together to strengthen our performance and share best practice. Ultimately this initiative will allow us to drive sustainable procurement by continuously monitoring the supply chain and setting targets for improvement.
Risk management is a key area for the business. In order to identify risks and allocate suitable action plans, owners and timescales a risk matrix has been devised based on the core themes for the business which are Competitiveness, People, Reputation, Environment and Customers. Each identified risk is scored in order to understand the magnitude. Outputs of the risk matrix allow risks to be allocated to business owners such that the action plans are close to the 'business as usual' role of the owner. Examples of the action plans for Purchasing include:
• Achilles Verify – Health & Safety checks
• Analysis of Full costs
• Catastrophe management (Supplier)
• Commodity Indices
• Development of new suppliers
• Financial risk
• Improved Supplier Relationship
• Monitor Consumption
• Monitor supplier failure
• Security of supply
• Setting up/Development of key suppliers
• Terms and Conditions
The recent tender for our canteen services has resulted in the use of local produce e.g. meat sourced from local farms, thus reducing the required food miles!
Bottled water sold in our canteen services is our own brand 97 bottled tap water and all money from sales is donated to our adopted charity WaterAid.
During the course of 2006/2007, we have further enhanced our Supplier Performance Measurement System that has operated since the AMP3 period. The new system is used to measure and compare the performance of all our Strategic Suppliers across 18 key performance indicators in a common and consistent manner. This includes the assessment of supplier performance in the areas of environmental, corporate and social responsibility. Outputs from the system, including areas of strength and weakness (both individual suppliers and with the whole Supply Chain collectively), are then shared for incorporation into continuous improvement plans.
In addition to this, we have also established a Supply Chain Forum during the course of 2006/07. The Forum consists of procurement managers from NWL working with a core group of Procurement Managers from our Framework Contractors to look are areas of best practice and potential for better performance in the Supply Chain.
These two initiatives that we have started during the year, not only support the implementation of our Sustainable Procurement Policy, but are also wholly consistent with one of the key aims of the British Water Guise to improve trading relationships and performance in the Supply Chain in general.