Mapping the supply chain and tracing the provenance of goods all the way to raw material is now a widely requested service by a large range of product buyers in the renewables sector, particularly in the solar and energy storage industries.
STS is acting as technical expert on traceability of the solar supply chain in the SolarPower Europe/Solar UK initiative to establish supply chain monitoring. To foster industry collaboration, we have also set up the STS Sustainable Supply Chain Program. Globally dozens of module buyers, asset managers and lenders are currently members of the Program, representing 40+GW of annual buying power. Supply chain assessment in this Program includes Supply Chain Mapping, Traceability, Security, and Regulatory and Statutory Requirements. With 35+GW of production capacity assessed so far; STS establishes the industry benchmark that buyers use to qualify their supplier-partners.
FACTORY AUDIT
Factory audit aims at evaluating the capability of the supplier to produce high-quality products by reviewing the manufacturing processes and ensuring compliance of the management systems of the audited supplier to relevant standards and best practices.
The audit work consists of documentation review and on-site verification, covering:
- Factory Certifications
- Method and Procedures of Key Processes
- Material Control
- Production Control
- Manufacturing and Products Quality Control
- Training & Qualification of Engineers and Workers
- Daily Records and Environmental Maintenance
- Workshops Profile
- Product Qualification
- Supply Chain Management
STS benchmarks suppliers and factories following STS proprietary rating system.
SUPPLY CHAIN MAPPING
Knowing the supply chain is the first step to building a sustainable supply chain. STS is offering supply chain mapping services, identifying the relationship between the different supplier’s tiers. Typically that relationship can be established through commercial documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, payment records, bills of lading, etc. We provide a visual representation of the entire supply chain, including sub-tier suppliers, supporting identification and mapping of bottlenecks and risks.
SUPPLIER’S CAPABILITY AND RISK ASSESSMENT
A sustainable supply chain consists of high-performing and low-risk suppliers, according to various dimensions: environmental responsibility, social responsibility, legal compliance, IP compliance, resilience, etc.
STS audits provide an in-depth view of supplier capabilities to operate and control their supply chain, as well as anticipate market and regulations changes. We offer the following assessments:
- Supply chain traceability management assessment
- Supply chain security management assessment
- Regulatory management assessment
The assessment scopes, based on very widely accepted international standards, evaluate the maturity level of suppliers. STS maturity indexes can be used to benchmark suppliers against each other.