Marketplace
How the business develops, sources and markets its products and services responsibly and with integrity, whilst ensuring an acceptable return on investment.
A core part of Unipart’s business is supply chain management, and it is fundamental to its many clients and business units that their supply chains operate in a sustainable way to deliver the required service level and quality to their customers. To make this happen, Unipart needs to take a lead in responsible management of the key elements of the supply chain.
Customers
We have developed some of the best possible relationships with our customers as part of a deliberate strategy to secure long term business with them through exceptional value add. This means developing customer intimacy, with a real understanding of needs and fulfilling these with outstanding quality of service and product. To achieve this we need mutually beneficial relationships, where customers are listened to, correct information about products and services is readily available and a positive approach adopted to resolve difficulties.
Suppliers
Equally, Unipart has for a long time prided itself on the development of long-term relationships with suppliers, based on mutually beneficial partnerships. Many of these have been cemented through the use of the Ten(d) to Zero programme which enables the capture and sharing of supply chain performance data to provide the platform for jointly developed improvement programmes. More recently environmental and ethical elements of this programme have been integrated.
Responsible Products & Services
Wherever possible, in the development of its own products and services, Unipart will seek opportunities to ensure that they are safe to use and handle, minimise the amount of packaging without compromising safety, reduce emissions either directly or indirectly and involve the reduction of waste or increase in recycling. Where opportunities exist, we will utilise feedback from customers and the market to evaluate the need for such products, and work in partnership with suppliers to jointly develop them.
Case Studies
Whilst acknowledging cost advantages in sourcing certain products from lower cost economies, Unipart recognised that it needed to set up a responsible procurement process with suppliers, which includes a pre-qualification questionnaire to assess ethical and environmental standards. Once a supplier is selected, there are local offices in place in China, India and Thailand with English speaking staff and local nationals who carry out audits and training to ensuring suppliers are compliant with Unipart’s quality and environmental standards, and if there are problems, working with them to make necessary improvements.
A service has been developed for The AA where waste from emergency roadside repair is segregated by type and securely bagged by the Patrol before being returned to Unipart Automotive branches where it is held in secure UN approved storage pending collection and further processing. The various waste streams are further sorted and then recycled or disposed of in the most appropriate manner, with the lowest environmental impact. Opportunities are being pursued to extend this service to other roadside assistance customers.
Vodafone UK and Unipart Technology Logistics (UTL) joined forces to develop a fully integrated logistics and repair centre in a £650million, 10-year investment. By offering reverse logistics and repair services to Vodafone’s mobile phone customers, Unipart demonstrates how it can make responsible commercial decisions that maximise opportunities in the marketplace. The success of this venture was acknowledged in November 2007 by the winning of the 2007 European Supply Chain overall award for logistics and fulfilment.
To read our Responsibility in the Marketplace document, click here.
