As a buyer of diverse materials and components, the Sanyo Group seeks to build good relationships with its business partners through fair selection of suppliers, and purchasing that is legally compliant.

Based on a Basic Purchasing Policy, the Sanyo Group is pursuing open and global purchasing with a wide range of business partners in and outside Japan. The selection of suppliers is determined through a comprehensive evaluation that is impartial and fair, based on Sanyo's standards. The evaluation criteria include supplier's records in the environmental areas and the social areas of human rights consideration and legal compliance as well as quality, prices and delivery, etc., along with our fulfillment of social responsibilities.

• Global and Open Purchasing
  In order to broadly diversify purchasing activities in and outside of Japan, to give suppliers equal opportunities, and to ensure customer satisfaction, we will promote global and open purchasing activities for optimal quality, prices and delivery.
  

• Impartial and Fair Selection of Suppliers
  Based on the rules set by Sanyo, we endeavor to select suppliers in an unbiased and transparent manner through an impartial, fair and comprehensive evaluation process.
  

• Sound Partnerships with Suppliers
  Through promoting sound business relations, we will deepen mutual understanding and establish trust relationships with suppliers as “good partners” who are contributing to each other’s mission.
  

• Pro-environment “Green procurement”
  We will promote “Green procurement”, giving preferential treatment to the purchasing of ecologically friendly goods from ecologically friendly suppliers, as we strive to be in harmony with the global environment.
  

• Compliance with Laws and Regulations and Respect for Social Norms
  We will observe all relevant laws and regulations in and outside of Japan, and respect social norms.
  We will strictly manage confidential information to ensure preservation of confidentiality.

The Sanyo Group ensures thorough compliance with the Japanese Act against Delay in Payment of Subcontract Proceeds, Etc. to Subcontractors (Subcontract Act), and faithfully honors the basic transaction agreements that it signs with suppliers. The company also carries out regular training for executives and employees in purchasing departments, in order to improve their awareness and knowledge of the Subcontract Act. In fiscal 2008, a total of nine seminars and briefings were held for about 500 employees. Posters are displayed in offices where supplier negotiations are held, in order to help raise the awareness of frontline employees. The company also uses internal surveys and self audits to check whether transactions are actually being carried out in an impartial and fair manner, in accordance with all relevant laws and internal rules.

In order to prevent any violations of the Japanese Antitrust Law in its business activities, the Sanyo Group regularly implements Antitrust Law Compliance Surveys for managers in its sales, purchasing, technology, and manufacturing departments. The survey is based on a checklist prepared according to various guidelines provided by the relevant authorities. The survey participants are interviewed or complete a written questionnaire, and are told to make the necessary improvements when any issues are discovered. In fiscal 2008, the survey covered 575 employees, mostly managers in various departments.

Suppliers' Conferences

In addition to holding annual Suppliers' Conferences to explain Sanyo's business directions and the purchasing department's priority measures, the company makes efforts to exchange information with suppliers and to obtain the opinions and feedback of suppliers for better product creation.

The Sanyo Group is strengthening its development purchasing efforts by taking cost, quality, safety, and environmental factors into consideration right from the design stage, through cooperation between the design/development departments and the purchasing departments. In the field of commercial equipment, Sanyo invites the participation of suppliers in review meetings for teardown^*1 and for added value creation (value analysis and engineering).

*1 Analyzing products down to the component units, investigating quality and safety for each part including the manufacturing process, and then improving the products.

In order to fulfill its corporate social responsibilities together with suppliers, the company has issued the SANYO Quality Control Guidelines. These guidelines indicate Sanyo’s basic expectations of suppliers, and have been distributed to partner companies worldwide. The Sanyo Group also requires that suppliers ensure thorough compliance and participate in its green procurement program. This is achieved mainly through initiatives to prevent quality problems before they arise, based on Sanyo’s quality policies and concept of product creation with safety first.

In recent years, the group's procurement from China and Southeast Asia has rapidly increased. The amount of purchasing from southern China in particular is equal to about 20% of the group's entire procurement. Consequently, the international procurement center set in this region is promoting initiatives to improve the group's purchasing abilities, and to build relationships of trust with suppliers. As there is a growing trend towards local procurement in other parts of Asia besides the Northern and Eastern regions of China where part procurement and production capacity is high, Sanyo will promote the same initiatives in these other regions as well.