To achieve the OMRON Principles, the OMRON Group established the OMRON Group Rules in fiscal 2015, requiring employees to comply strictly with these rules in their work. As for procurement, OMRON Group purchasing policies state that “OMRON group fulfills social responsibility by promoting comprehensive global sustainable procurements including environment as well as compliance with laws and regulations.” In conformance with these policies, OMRON Group Purchasing Rules were established to define necessary procedures.
Presently, efforts are made to instill these rules across the OMRON Group by sharing information with purchasing officers of all Group companies during their meetings or individually giving explanations to factory purchasing staff. The internal auditing department also conducts business audits periodically to maintain and enhance compliance with the OMRON Group Rules.
During fiscal 2023, OMRON conducted operational audits for purchasing departments at 9 sites globally (Japan: 4; China: 2; Asia-Pacific: 1; the Americas: 1; Europe: 1).
| Region | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Greater China | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Asia Pacific | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| The Americas | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Europe | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| total | 13 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 |
(As of March 31, 2024)
As part of our efforts to encourage corporate ethics, we established the Procurement Code of Conduct, which provides rules for ethical behavior by purchase managers when conducting transactions with outside entities. We provide education through e-learning (video, practice tests) once a year to remind staff of this code of conduct.
In fiscal 2023, a total of 3,500 procurement staff across all global departments completed training based on designated materials.
In order to realize sustainable procurement, OMRON provides its purchasing staff with in-house workshops on human rights, labor, and other global social issues in supply chain.
In fiscal 2019, OMRON had workshops for staff members at headquarters’ purchasing department.
[Programs]
Session 1: Global sustainability trends and importance of sustainable procurement
Session 2: Sustainable procurement initiatives at OMRON, now and next
The workshops were given so that everyone at the department could have the same awareness of the importance of sustainable procurement as well as various risks in supply chain, consider how OMRON should respond to sustainable procurement requirements from the society and customers, and put the ideas into practice. By using a video conference system, regional purchasing officers in China joined the workshops as well.
In fiscal 2023, OMRON held discussions with purchasing officers in business divisions regarding current challenges and future initiatives. We plan to hold these discussions regularly in the future.
The OMRON Group has established a hotline to accept reports from suppliers on compliance-related problems involving OMRON purchasing departments, as well as their opinions, in order to ensure the strict maintenance of compliance in-house. The hotline is set up at an external law firm, so the identities of the hotline contacts will never be disclosed or leaked to third parties.
The compliance hotline has been in operation in Japan since fiscal 2013, and in Greater China since fiscal 2015. In fiscal 2022, OMRON established contact points in the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, and Europe to implement operations on a global scale.
