Ford to Share Environmental Stewardship Program for Its Suppliers

Ford Motor Company provided a briefing at a forum of the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency in Washington, D.C., yesterday, highlighting its Partnership for A Cleaner Environment. PACE is a program that aims to help the company's suppliers minimize their impact on the environment by sharing details of Ford's best practices for water, energy and carbon dioxide reduction.

“We are committed to expanding our stewardship with our global suppliers to help minimize our environmental impact more broadly,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford group vice president, global purchasing. “By sharing our practices and our processes at the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency workshop, we hope to foster innovation and collaboration to address sustainability-related issues and advance environmental responsibility.”

In an interview with SCMR, Mary Wroten, Ford’s Sr. Manager of said that by sharing best practices, Ford is hoping to foster innovation and collaboration.

“This is in advance environmental responsibility, and help suppliers and supply chain managers implement solutions to save resources and realize cost savings globally,” she added.

The G7 Alliance brings together the nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States to improve health, empower women and promote climate protection. The G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency workshop serves as a forum for participants to share best practices and innovations with businesses and other relevant agencies.

Ford has long been committed to reducing its impact on the environment, and its efforts have yielded proven results. Far more than an environmental concern, Ford views commodities such as water as a basic right for people everywhere – a resource that should be clean, affordable and accessible.

In 2000, for example, Ford began setting year-over-year reduction targets with a global manufacturing goal of reducing water use per vehicle by 30 percent by 2015 using a 2009 baseline. Ford met its goal two years ahead of schedule and is now setting new long-term targets. The company's water strategy aligns with the United Nations CEO Water Mandate – a private-public initiative launched by the secretary general of the organization in 2007 committing to a water management strategy and to publicly reporting on its progress annually.

Ford began testing PACE in 2014, and has expanded the program to include a total of 25 strategic suppliers representing 800 manufacturing sites in 41 countries. The automaker is transparent in sharing its best practices, and works to make tracking success easy by offering statistical analysis to help participants monitor progress toward goals. In return, suppliers share their environmental data and their best practices with Ford.

Lear Corporation, a leading global supplier of seating and electrical systems, participated in PACE last year. Based in Southeast Michigan, Lear operates in 240 locations in 36 countries, and employs 136,000 people.

“By implementing select best practices from Ford, Lear expects to realize cost savings at its facilities worldwide,” said Doug Andrews, Lear environmental sustainability manager. “But the true impact will be Lear's contribution to helping protect the environment, because at the end of the day Ford's PACE program is not just about sustaining its business, but about doing the right thing.”

Ford was recently named to the 2016 Ethisphere Institute list of World's Most Ethical Companies for the seventh consecutive year. The award recognizes the world's top companies for mandating ethical practices and promoting corporate citizenship, as well as governance and leadership. Ford is the only automaker to earn the distinction.

SC
MR