This month, we put a spin on our normal Unchaining Modern Slavery Webinar and had the privilege of conducting a workshop with Stephen Early. Stephen is the CEO of Trace SCI, where “Trace simplifies the businesses, fulfill regulatory compliance and Social & Ethical accountability to its stakeholders”. He encourages everyone from a business background to really understand and engage with their supply chain. The work of Trace and Unchained support each other, and both Stephen Morse and Stephen Early have been working alongside each other for years now.
Stephen Early gave us input into many areas of supply chain Traceability and Transparency in supply chains, however, below are the three main key takeaways.
1) Consistency will result in the quality of delivery and services. If a business is consistently engaged with its supply chain and determined to be transparent all the way through it, this will increase better results and response from its clients. There are many benefits to engaging with your supply chain, and Early explains that many of these improvements, do not come at a great cost as some would imagine. Instead, it is more a matter of whether a business is willing to put in that extra effort or change directions in their supply chain.
2) Simple improvements go a long way in any supply chain. Small, practical things such as the work environment, the lighting provided to workers, the tools being used or chairs being sat on, and sanitation are the sorts of things that impact a product’s outcome. These are little improvements throughout the supply chain that a business can ensure are good, to begin improving their own supply chain. This will also ensure that workers on the production floor feel valued and important to the business’s growth and function.
3) Visibility and Traceability work together in your supply chain. Visibility is a position statement requirement and gives an idea of what your supply chain looks like, for example, you may think your supplier is local, but they may be sourcing products from overseas. Traceability helps you work out who your supplier actually is and where they are, such as if they are overseas. Trace follows a “Compliance Journey’ map they have created and use this to help other businesses become transparent and traceable with their supply
