Supply Chain Accountability Takes a Step Forward in the Electronics Industry

MONTREUX, Switzerland, March 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Achilles Information Ltd. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) to drive forward the progress of one of the world's foremost collaborative initiatives that tackles the complex issue of corporate responsibility in global supply chains.

The agreement commits the signatories to developing a new vision and three year plan for the Electronics Tool for Accountable Supply Chains (E-TASC). The agreement also plans for a new open and flexible governance structure capable of acting swiftly to take decisive action on the work program that will deliver that vision.

"This agreement gives us the long term vision and the near term action plan necessary to make a signifiant impact and drive positive behaviours in our global supply chain." Said GeSI Chairman Luis Neves.

"The structure of the agreement means that it is transparent and open to other committed groups from both Electronics and other Industries to join us and shape the future of the global program" said Mike Loch GeSI Board member and Co-Chair Supply Chain work group.

"We are delighted to see E-TASC gain this well earned recognition and confirm its place as an industry standard tool for responsible supply chains" said Colin Maund, Achilles' CEO.

Subscribers to E-TASC enter details of how their supply facilities manage and improve their performance against labour, social and ethical, environmental, and health and safety standards and share this information, confidentially through the online tool, with their customers.

By providing the information in standard format and sharing it multiple times with different customers, companies avoid the problem of questionnaire fatigue and focus on building capability and improving performance.

As an online system it has the capability to rapidly reach a global supply chain, raise levels of awareness, support risk identification and management and start to change behaviours. As a collaborative initiative E-TASC has the power to harness collective action to make a much larger material impact than any single company could achieve acting alone.

E-TASC was first launched in June 2007 and implementation of the product in supply chains has grown rapidly in recent months, as buying organisations realise the benefits of inviting their suppliers into the system. E-TASC is available in English and Chinese languages. The tool is managed by Achilles, a leading provider of services in sustainable procurement that hosts procurement systems across eight different sectors.

In December 2009 E-TASC reached 1000 supply facilities on the system and has over 50 global brands now subscribing to it and starting to invite their suppliers into the system: see public lisitng of E-TASC subscribers:

http://e-tasc.achilles.com/AboutETasc/Subscribers.aspx

The system now hosts companies from over 7 tiers of the ICT supply chain and subscribers from over 40 countries including: China, USA, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Philippines.

More information on E-TASC can be found at http://www.e-tasc.com

The Achilles Group, headquartered in the UK, identifies, qualifies, monitors and evaluates suppliers on behalf of major organisations worldwide. The company builds and supports buyer-supplier communities in many industry sectors, creating unique and powerful global networks. The Achilles Group's services for sustainable procurement help create opportunities for business and reduce risk in the supply chain.

    For further information, please contact:

    Charlotte Vereker
    Tel: +44(0)1235-820813
    Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Achilles