Responsible Sourcing and Logistics

Our efforts go all the way back to our suppliers, and forward to our customers. We carefully select and work together with our suppliers to achieve our goals. With 650 material suppliers in 32 countries – own manufacturing at nine facilities in seven countries, and sales to more than 35,000 stores in 138 markets, a sustainable supply chain and cost-effective, climate-smart distribution are high on our agenda. We have primarily focused on 122 suppliers that account for 90 percent of our total sourcing. Several of these have local facilities close to our own manufacturing sites, which guarantees quick, safe and flexible supply chains.

Working together with our suppliers to achieve smart and logical solutions is thus one of the key ways to reduce our environmental footprint. And it is together that we will continue to drive long-term improvements.

By manufacturing our goods as close to our consumer markets as possible, we are able to reduce the environmental impact from transportation. Sea and road transportation are the most common but we aim to increasingly replace road transportation with rail. Air transport is used to a very limited degree. Nevertheless, we strive to reduce air shipments because they have a high environmental impact compared with other modes of transportation.

Every new supplier is scrutinized and undergoes a self-assessment based on Thule Group’s Code of Conduct, the P&R substances list, national laws and regulations with respect to labor law, health & safety, human rights and climate and environmental aspects. This is followed by our annual follow-up on a selection of suppliers, using either third-party auditors or our own internal auditors, to ensure that our requirements are complied with and to identify opportunities for improvement. We continuously evaluate our suppliers, with a special focus on high-risk categories such as dying fabric, handling PVC and surface treatments as well as high-risk countries.

Long-term targets
  • To improve the efficiency of logistics by reducing transportation distances, optimizing packaging and maximizing capacity utilization.
  • To reduce the proportion of transportation by air and to strive to replace road freight with rail shipments wherever possible.
  • To increase the use of more eco-friendly packaging.

     

What happened in 2021
  • In 2021, we asked our suppliers to report their greenhouse gas emissions through the CDP’s Supply Chain platform and together we are striving to reduce scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and materials. Suppliers in plastic, aluminum and steel manufacturing are prioritized when we work together to reduce emissions by developing materials and processes.

  • During 2021 we also carried out 28 social audits, of which 22 were first-tier suppliers and 6 were second-tier suppliers. 21 of the audits were first-time audits and 7 were follow-up audits. Out of the 28 supplier audits, 17 suppliers had a result of over 85 percent, which is considered the highest level. 9 suppliers had a result between 71 and 85 percent, which is a good result with only minor remarks, primarily in health and safety, first aid procedures and fire safety.

    Two of the audited suppliers had a result between 51 and 70 percent, which is below the desired level. Both of these had significant comments, primarily within health and safety but also salaries. Thule Group requires that corrections and improvements be carried out in the first quarter of 2022, otherwise the professional relationship with the supplier will be terminated. No suppliers were in the lowest category, with a score of less than 50 percent.

    More audits would have been conducted but had to be canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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