RESPONSIBLE PURCHASING PRACTICES POLICY
At Volcom, we have high expectations of our manufacturing partners and ourselves. When it comes to making our products, we believe that what we create should not come at the cost of workers’ rights, health and/or safety. We work with a group of suppliers that have been key partners for our business for more than a decade. As our businesses and relationship grows, we expect constant improvement from each other. We not only expect our manufacturing partners to continually meet our high expectations in terms of quality, lead times, price, and compliance but we also look at how our decisions affect our suppliers’ ability to meet our standards. This impacts how we design, plan, and purchase our products. For Volcom, it is all a part of being True to This.
THE STRUGGLE
We strive to stay agile and responsive while ensuring our purchasing practices are reducing negative impacts on workplace conditions. We do this through careful planning, and regular check-ins with suppliers as well as internally. We understand that how we communicate, our adherence to the plan, and our products design, all influences the ability of our manufacturing partners to meet our high expectations.
MANUFACTURING PARTNERSHIPS
We understand we can’t make the Volcom product without our factory partnerships. We have found that working closely in planning provides the opportunity to develop and learn together for our combined improvement. We encourage our suppliers to continually improve their overall performance while at the same time incorporating their feedback to strengthen our improvement process as well.
COMMUNICATION
We have close relationships with our manufacturing partners and are in constant communication about our product, processes, and planning. This long-term view helps suppliers monitor their business as well as manage their performance to our compliance expectations. Internally we complete a quarterly business review to make sourcing decisions and discuss how to work better together.