Yaskawa holds a Procurement Policy Briefing every six months for managers of major suppliers with whom we do business on a global basis, and shares and harmonizes our management policy, business strategy, and sustainable procurement policy (including the environmental policy). At the briefing, opinions are exchanged so that we can reflect the opinions of suppliers in our purchasing policies and enhance their effectiveness.

In Yaskawa’s pursuit to create products in harmony with the environment, Yaskawa communicates with materials suppliers via the Internet through the exchange of environmental information on procured products and information on supplier’s environmental preservation initiatives.

We are actively accepting proposals for the procurement of “Materials with low environmental impact” from “Suppliers actively involved in environmental conservation activities”.

As part of the Yaskawa Group’s efforts, in fiscal 2021 Yaskawa Electric conducted the SAQ* survey on its own, but in fiscal 2022, the domestic Group companies began conducting similar surveys.

In fiscal 2022, we conducted SAQ survey to 140 suppliers and received responses from 138. (Response rate: 99%) We will continue to conduct regular surveys and follow up on the results.

We are preparing to penetrate the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines and to conduct SAQ at group companies based in China, and we plan to launch a survey in the future.
* Self Assessment Questionnaire

Some minerals (Tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold) produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or neighboring countries are called conflict minerals because there are concerns that such minerals are a source of funds for armed groups that commit human rights violations, acts of violence and other illegal activities. Yaskawa formulated the “Conflict Minerals Clause Guidelines” in 2013 to clarify response policies. Through these efforts, we are working to eliminate the flow of funds to armed insurgents, and is earnestly tackling human rights issues in the Congo region.

In order to realize Yaskawa’s management principle of “contributing to the welfare of humankind” we will work with our business partners to ensure that we comply with the provisions on conflict minerals.

Since the start of the survey on suppliers, both the scope of the survey and the response rate have improved. Studies to date have not confirmed the use of raw materials to finance the rebels. In the future, if the use of raw materials is discovered as a source of funds for the armed groups, we will promptly replace them.

YASKAWA Group discloses as follows in response to the request of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015.