• Vision and strategy
• Market
• Operations
• Financial development
• Sustainable development
  • Close cooperation with suppliers
  • Minimise environmental impact
  • Quality work always in focus
• Competence and responsibility
• History

Close cooperation with suppliers

B&B TOOLS’ Code of Conduct applies to all employees in the Group. The code emphasises the importance of ethically correct behaviour and respecting human rights. The Code of Conduct also clarifies the Group’s requirements for its suppliers. B&B TOOLS’ aim is to ensure that its cooperation partners and suppliers act within the framework of the individual countries’ laws and regulations and comply with the intentions of the Group’s Code of Conduct.

Distributing the Code of Conduct to all suppliers was a prioritised activity for the Group during 2007/2008. At the end of the operating year, approximately 150 suppliers, primarily in the Asian market, had confirmed in writing their intent to comply with B&B TOOLS’ Code of Conduct. This corresponds to approximately 85 percent of the Group’s purchasing volume from China and Taiwan.

In parallel, B&B TOOLS is also conducting factory audits, during which company representatives inspect supplier and manufacturer plants and facilities on site. The inspections focus on the areas of quality, the environment, social conditions, work environment and ethics. During the year, factory audits were performed at approximately half of the Asian suppliers’ facilities. This work also strengthens B&B TOOLS’ cooperation with the suppliers. During the next stage, these evaluations will be supplemented with inspections conducted by external specialists – known as third-party certification. This certification will then act a form of quality assurance of the Group’s own evaluations.