Sedex > Case Studies > Waitrose & Partners' Ethical Supply Chain Management with Sedex

Waitrose & Partners' Ethical Supply Chain Management with Sedex

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
Sensors - Autonomous Driving Sensors

Applicable Industries

Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation
Procurement

Use Cases

Leasing Finance Automation
Supply Chain Visibility

About The Customer

Waitrose & Partners is a major British supermarket chain with more than 300 locations across the UK. The company prides itself on its commitment to higher standards of environmental responsibility and the wellbeing of the communities where they operate. As a co-owned business, Waitrose & Partners ensures the lives of all workers are respected. They believe it is highly important to ensure that those who work in their supply chain have safe and hygienic working conditions, are being treated fairly, and are paid correctly. The company joined Sedex in 2015 to ensure ethical due diligence in their supply chain.

The Challenge

Waitrose & Partners, a major British supermarket chain with over 300 locations, was seeking to ensure ethical practices throughout their supply chain. The company believes in maintaining high standards of environmental responsibility and community wellbeing, which they consider integral to good business. However, they faced challenges in ensuring that all sites in their supply chain were carrying out ethical due diligence in line with industry standards. They needed a way to understand more about their suppliers and their ways of working, and to identify any issues that needed to be addressed. They also wanted to ensure that workers in their supply chain had safe and hygienic working conditions, were treated fairly, and were paid correctly.

The Solution

Waitrose & Partners turned to Sedex, a global membership organisation that empowers responsible supply chains, to address these challenges. They used Sedex's Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) to gain insights into their suppliers' practices, and SMETA audits to do a deep dive into the good practices suppliers were maintaining. Sedex became a one-stop-shop for Waitrose & Partners to improve their knowledge of suppliers’ sites, and to run accurate reports that were imperative to measure progress on KPIs. They also used Sedex’s supplier risk assessment tool, Radar, which provided an overview of the risk information for each supplier site and allowed them to deep dive into individual sites. Radar helped Waitrose & Partners to prioritise high-risk sites, manage their suppliers’ ethical compliance, and learn more about specific sites and their operations.

Operational Impact

By using Sedex, Waitrose & Partners gained much more clarity into their supply chain information and were better able to see trends to target their efforts more effectively. The use of Sedex's tools and services, including the SAQ, SMETA audits, and Radar, allowed them to improve their knowledge of suppliers’ sites, run accurate reports, and manage their suppliers’ ethical compliance. They were also able to discover more about gender within their supply chain. Overall, Sedex has helped Waitrose & Partners to promote ethical practices throughout their supply chain, ensuring the wellbeing of workers and contributing to their commitment to environmental responsibility and community wellbeing.

Quantitative Benefit

Sedex's tools and services enabled Waitrose & Partners to track and report on progress towards achieving KPIs, including an ethical compliance rate for their operations.
Radar provided an overview of the risk information for each supplier site, allowing Waitrose & Partners to prioritise high-risk sites and focus their improvement efforts more effectively.
Through Sedex, Waitrose & Partners gained insights into gender within their supply chain, including the countries and industries where women are most concentrated, and the number of women in managerial or supervisory roles.