Relationships with Business Partners

In April 2021, we formulated a Procurement Policy corresponding to each SDGs. Based on the perspectives of “Fairness/impartiality,” “Compliance with Laws and Regulations,” “Green Procurement,” and “Coexistence and Co-prosperity,” purchasing departments at our head office play a central role in building a relationship of trust with business partners and we are conducting purchasing activities. Based on the “NTN Group Green Procurement Standards,” we are promoting green procurement, which prioritizes environmental preservation efforts and procurement from business partners with superior environmental quality. We have also established “NTN CSR Procurement Guidelines” and are requesting active promotion of CSR activities. We are also working to achieve local procurement at all of our manufacturing sites, including those outside Japan, and to procure materials from optimal locations globally.
In 2022, we announced our “Declaration of Partnership Building” with the aim of building new partnerships by promoting collaboration, coexistence and co-prosperity with business partners in the supply chain and businesses seeking to create value.

We conduct annual survey of business partners to further raise awareness of “NTN CSR Procurement Guidelines” and to confirm compliance.
By the fiscal year 2022 questionnaire, the achievement ratio of human rights and labor, quality and safety, and information security was more than 90% However, the ratio of social contribution and CSR procurement was less than 70%, and it meant that their awareness was not high at this stage.
In recent years, companies have been required to not only achieve corporate performance (economic value), but also to be an entity that is needed by society (social value). To help business partners understand that social value is important, we will continue to engage in awareness-raising activities.

■CSR questionnaires for suppliers

In order to ensure proper subcontracts, we conduct self-audits for subcontracts. Since 2017, we have operated our “Self-auditors for Subcontracts” certification system to voluntarily audit compliance with the Subcontract Act, with each production site playing a central role. In 2022, we provided e-learning seminars, as with the previous year, and renewed the term for 14 auditors and newly certified 44 auditors, resulting in 137 self-auditors in total.
In the fiscal year ended March 2022, self-audits were also conducted at 23 business sites in Japan (41 plants and departments), mainly by self-auditors, with suggestions and guidance provided on site or online as much as possible, and as necessary, by supervisory departments. We are continuously providing e-learning seminars to make the contents of the Subcontract Act widely known also to other employees than self-auditors.

From the viewpoint of risk management, we begin transactions with our business partners after checking their management structure, quality, and environmental management. Even after beginning transactions, we conduct annual survey to confirm our partners’ business conditions, and provide partner-specific follow-ups when deemed necessary. If we determine that a transaction involves a high risk, we strive to minimize our procurement risk and ensure stable procurement by implementing risk reduction measures commensurate with the magnitude of the impact, taking into consideration procurement parts, transaction amounts, etc.
With regard to risks such as natural disasters and infectious diseases, we have established a risk management system to immediately share information with each business site and our business partners, thereby ensuring a proper risk management that enables a stable supply of our products even in an emergency.

To ensure stable procurement, we are working to develop supply chain BCPs (business continuity plans), including logistics, and strengthen our risk management system.
In the fiscal year 2022, we introduced a system to confirm, in case when our business partners have been hit by natural disasters that affect their business continuity, their safety and damage, which enables us to make a quicker initial response. We will continue to strengthen our system for minimizing the effect of an emergency on businesses.

NTN CSR Procurement Guidelines

As a social demand, companies are required to engage in environmental activities such as reducing CO₂ emissions generated during production and transportation, preserving biodiversity, protecting resources, reducing environmental burdens, and complying with domestic and international laws and regulations, as well as activities such as respecting human rights, developing human resources, and contributing to local communities.
The NTN Group has established a “Corporate Philosophy” to “We shall contribute to international society through creating new technologies and developing new products”, and in order to realize this philosophy, we have established a “CSR Policy” and are implementing CSR activities.
In our supply chain management, we promote “CSR procurement” and “green procurement,” giving priority to suppliers who are proactive in their CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives, based on our “Procurement Policy” formulated from the perspective of “fairness and impartiality,” “compliance with laws and regulations,” “green procurement,” and “coexistence and co-prosperity.”
We would like to ask our suppliers to further promote their CSR activities by referring to these guidelines.

Download “NTN CSR Procurement Guidelines”

Declaration of Partnership Building

We announced our “Declaration of Partnership Building” in favor of the purpose of the “Meeting to Build and Promote Partnership for the Future,” which has been promoted mainly by the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency.
The declaration aims at building new partnerships by promoting collaboration, coexistence, and co-prosperity with business partners in the supply chain and businesses seeking to create value. We will continue to strengthen partnerships with our business partners and increase additional values throughout the supply chain.

Download “Declaration of Partnership Building”

NTN Group Green Procurement Standards

Pursuing harmony with the global environment as a mission of greatest importance, we, at the NTN Group, persevere in our efforts aiming at earth-friendly business activities.

Although NTN products including bearings and constant-velocity joints have been originally positioned as “environmentally-friendly (eco-friendly)” goods, which may reduce energy loss due to friction, we, not satisfied with status quo, still earnestly work on the research and development for further enhancement of our products to make a more enormous contribution to a worldwide growing tendency toward energy saving.

Furthermore, we continuously improve the environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001 to reduce environmental loading, and also ask our suppliers to promote business management taking environmental preservation into consideration, as well as to obtain a certificate of compliance with ISO 14001, Eco Stage, or the like from an accredited third party. We help our suppliers obtain the certification of Eco Stage through NTN Technical Service, one of our subsidiary companies, if they desire to do so.

Against this background, as management of environmentally hazardous substances has become increasingly important, as part of global environmental loading reduction, we are proactively advancing with firm steps toward the accomplishment of the first-and-foremost subjects for our green procurement activities: 1) reduction of environmentally hazardous substances contained in NTN products; 2) reduction of environmentally hazardous substances used in the manufacturing process; 3) introduction of the production facilities or technologies capable of reducing environmentally hazardous substances. In recent years, regulations on environmentally hazardous substances, which began in EU, have become global standards, and an increasing number of countries has enforced similar laws and regulations, while requests from customers have also become more complicated, and thus not only we at NTN but also our suppliers are required to strictly manage environmentally hazardous substances throughout a supply chain.

We hope that you, our suppliers, sufficiently understand the importance of these activities and recognize the observance of the provisions of the Standards is a prerequisite for doing business with you and that you aggressively cooperate with our green procurement program.

Download “NTN Group Green Procurement Standards 5th Edition”

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