Working Together with Business Partners

We are committed to thinking and acting together with our business partners in connection with achieving harmony and mutual prosperity while respecting each other's position and rights.

USHIO INC. regards free and fair competition between companies as the source of dynamic development for society. In our relationships with business partners, we always respect the position and rights of suppliers, comply with relevant legal requirements, observe social norms and engage in sound business practices. Procurement activities are the responsibility of staff in procurement divisions who have received special training and instruction. For new transactions, quality, cost, delivery dates, environmental performance and other factors are determined on the basis of objective criteria and fair, impartial transactions are conducted. Moreover, since the Great East Japan Earthquake, procurement staff have also conducted prior risk analysis, and stepped up reviews of business continuity management (BCM) for materials, mainly by preparing manuals for responding to risk events and upgrading information on material supply, production sites and transport routes, including for secondary and tertiary suppliers.

Cooperation from business partners is crucial for USHIO to contribute to the world through excellent products and services. CSR procurement initiatives are intended to build relationships of sustainable coexistence between USHIO, its business partners, and society. In fiscal 2011 we will conduct a CSR survey of our suppliers and analyze the results. We have also started a survey to ascertain the usage of conflict minerals in components, as part of our due diligence.

At the Gotemba Division, all employees involved in procurement take a seminar on the Subcontract Act in order to deepen their understanding of it.In addition, the division emphasizes thinking and acting together with suppliers, and when an issue occurs related to quality or a missed delivery deadline, it investigates the cause with the supplier and takes steps to address the problem.As a result of these efforts, initiatives to improve on-time delivery by suppliers and reduce non-conformance rates achieved their targets for fiscal 2009. Moreover, to help us keep in step with our business partners, we undertake activities to build mutually beneficial relationships, including supporting their acquisition of Eco-Action 21 (EA21), and using meetings with suppliers to develop a common awareness.

As overseas transactions have increased, the Harima Division has consolidated trade operations into its materials division, including procurement of parts and materials from overseas and supply to overseas manufacturing sites. The division works to acquire specialized knowledge of laws and regulations pertaining to overseas transactions, which are growing increasingly diverse and include national security guarantee regulations and Export Administration Regulations, and accommodate them in an appropriate manner.It also runs an educational program for personnel involved in procurement that covers such topics as Japan's Subcontract Act,environmental regulations and the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. The program helps ensure that we remain in strict compliance with laws and regulations.To help us respond quickly and appropriately to requests and inquiries from customers at overseas sites regarding the environment, joint teams have been established by the Harima Division and overseas sites and measures are being taken to raise the level of our environmental responsiveness.

We have held Eco-Action 21 (EA21) seminars since fiscal 2006 in order to help develop harmonious relations with business partners based on mutual prosperity. In fiscal 2009, we expanded and enhanced the EA21 seminar and held a course on acquiring EA21 certification. As a result, in fiscal 2010, the percentage of certified business partners of USHIO INC.’s Gotemba Division acquiring environmental management system (EMS) certification stood at 63.9%, above our target of 60%. Activities are underway in fiscal 2011 to achieve our goal of having at least 70% of certified suppliers acquire EMS certification. Many suppliers of USHIO INC.’s Harima Division have also joined in the program, with several acquiring EA21 certification in fiscal 2010.

At USHIO, we have established Green Procurement Standards to guide material purchasing, and these standards are posted on our Web site. While complying with the RoHS directive and other laws and regulations specific to each country we operate in, we stipulate our own list of chemical substances with an environmental impact, and comply with both internal and external requirements relating to chemical substances contained in products. Under the Green Procurement Standards, we issue forms for self-assessment of standard compliance systems, and request that our business partners put in place an environmental management system (EMS). From March 2008 we have also joined the JAMP consortium and become involved in creating industry-wide systems.

Green Procurement Standards