Bayer, with core competencies in areas of health care, agriculture, and high-tech polymer materials, has a significant influence on society and the environment in many regions around the world through its global procurement volume. By combining strong executive leadership, thorough internal communications and training, and use of EcoVadis to help centralize assessment processes via the chemical industry association TfS, The Bayer sustainable procurement team has driven a successful supplier sustainability program across an extremely geographically distributed supply base.
In 2014, the company procured goods and services from 112,000 suppliers in 147 countries for approximately €20.3 billion. Bayer sustainable procurement volume in Germany, the United States, and Japan accounted for nearly 66 percent of the expenditures in OECD countries and about 52 percent of the Bayer’s total procurement spend. Brazil, India, and China together accounted for about 70 percent of the expenditures in non-OECD countries and about 14 percent of the total spend.
With its vast procurement volume and many different suppliers around the world, Bayer had to ensure that global goods and services are manufactured and delivered in accordance with the company’s ethical, environmental, and social standards. To achieve this objective, Bayer needed to streamline its processes and tools to assess whether its suppliers were meeting the company’s social and environmental standards and expectations. Bayer also needed to enhance understanding by both procurement staffs and suppliers of these processes and tools, and to implement the resulting procedural changes throughout the company.
