Cicor upholds responsible supplier standards by taking appropriate precautions at the earliest stage to mitigate potential risk to stakeholders. The Group knows that maintaining the highest quality standards will require great attention to the sustainability of its supply chain in the future, and thus actively engages its suppliers on this front. In particular, the company requires that ISO 14001 must be upheld. Supplies from authorized sources help Cicor achieve its quality ambitions, with suppliers conducting failure analysis and taking corrective actions should a defect occur. The Group knows that on-time delivery and good-quality supplies are critical to meet customers’ expectations and experience fewer product rejections. Cicor also values reliability and openness in its suppliers, with the goal of forging long-term business partnerships. Since finding new sources is a costly process, strengthening relationships with sustainable suppliers is good business.
The Group manages its commitment to responsible supplier standards with a number of measures. Cicor contractually asks its strategic suppliers to adhere to the Group’s Code of Conduct, which is publicly available on the Group’s website for consultation. The Code of Conduct contains environmental and social criteria for suppliers, and materials can be cross-checked to ensure a specific product complies with the relevant rules and regulations. Cicor is training its employees to raise awareness of environmental and social aspects in procurement. During evaluations for all suppliers that have a yearly turnover of more than EUR 50,000, the Group monitors adherence to ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Cicor’s supplier quality agreement, which the Group intends to sign with all important suppliers, contains provisions related to environmental management and health and safety. Furthermore, Cicor requests that its suppliers possess and follow their own Codes of Conduct, which many top suppliers already have in place. There are no known cases in 2022 where suppliers violated the Code of Conduct. REACH, RoHS and conflict minerals documentations are requested with every order, which ensures that suppliers respect these standards.
In Boudry, the supplier guidebook creates the basis to introduce supplier standards to a potential supplier at the first point of contact. In 2022, the guidebook was updated to include guidance on aspects of corporate responsibility such as conflict minerals, REACH, RoHS, human rights, working hours and environmental performance. In Bronschhofen, audits are conducted to evaluate suppliers. In Radeberg, most purchases are made through distributors with no direct contact to the manufacturer, but partnerships are formed only with trustworthy suppliers who are at least ISO 9001 certified. Furthermore, the site does not grant approval of a supplier without a completed supplier self-assessment, which in the near future will include the Code of Conduct. Approval is granted by the head of purchasing and the head of quality – ensuring the principle of dual control. In the event of a discrepancy, the supplier is blocked.
Cicor undertakes yearly supplier evaluations, which result in more business for the suppliers that successfully adhere to the Group’s supplier standards and termination or reduced orders for those that do not. Cicor gauges its responsible supply chain performance through indicators such as lead time and payment terms, supplier management, supplier on-time delivery, and supplier rating and ranking. In 2023, the Bedford site plans to publish its new ESG strategy, which will be aligned with UK legislation. As part of this, the site will begin to support its suppliers in reducing their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. This will also serve to document and influence the site's own Scope 3 emissions.
High-quality production is at the core of the Cicor Group’s products. Across the group’s twelve sites, responsible standards are imposed on all supply chains. The following provides a breakdown of each site’s supply chain:
Supply chains – and thus the supply chain management approaches – vary greatly among Cicor’s production sites.
|
Site |
Approach |
Number of suppliers |
Locations |
|
Arad, Romania |
The site manages around 20 000 part numbers for raw materials for electronic components, PCBs, and metal and plastic mechanical parts. Manufacturers for the electronic components are chosen by the customer from the authorized vendor lists (AVL). |
~ 700 |
Based on purchase volume |
|
Batam, Indonesia |
The site purchases directly from suppliers that manufacture and sell the raw materials. All direct material purchases come from outside Indonesia. |
> 640 |
Suppliers are primarily located in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia |
|
Bedford, United Kingdom |
The site is a build-to-print manufacturer. Its procurement strongly depends on component decisions of customers who are market leaders in the defense and aerospace industry. |
~ 250 |
Europe: 89% North America: 10% Asia: 1% |
|
Boudry, Switzerland |
The site oversees multiple subcontracting steps for surface treatments during the manufacturing process of PCBs. The supply chain consists of inbound and outbound transportation management and requires intense oversight. |
> 100 (including direct and indirect, subcontracted, suppliers) |
Direct suppliers are primarily located in Europe and USA |
|
Bronschhofen, Switzerland |
The site functions as a contract manufacturer, and as such, buys raw materials to produce, test and deliver semi-finished and finished goods according to customers’ bill of materials (BOM). |
> 640 |
Europe: 60% (70% CH / 30% EU) Asia: 30% North America: 10% |
|
Radeberg, Germany |
The site produces electronic components for service-mount devices and chip and wire, PCBs, mechanical parts, thick film inks and ceramic substrates. The site mainly purchases through distributors. As the site focuses on special technologies, the selection of possible suppliers is limited. |
> 450 |
Europe: 85% North America: 10% Asia: 5% |
|
Singapore |
The site manufactures injection molds. It mainly purchases steel for the injection molds and plastic granulate for mold tests. |
< 10 |
Singapore: 100% |
|
Suzhou, China |
The site provides high-end precision injection parts, molds and assembly products. To ensure a stable quality of raw materials, the site purchases from globally leading plastic particle manufacturers and from distinguished steel suppliers. |
> 25 major suppliers |
Based on purchase volume: China: 90% |
|
Thuan An City, Vietnam |
The site buys materials from the customers’ bill of materials. Whenever possible, electronic components are purchased from accredited distributors offering specified brands with competitive pricing. If availability is limited or lead times are too long, the site buys from brokers upon clearance from its customers. |
> 150 |
Asia: 60% Switzerland: 10% |
|
Ulm, Germany, and Wangs, Switzerland |
The sites source standard raw materials mainly from three suppliers. Other components are purchased from various suppliers. |
Ulm: > 300 Wangs: < 400 |
Ulm: Europe: 80% North America: 15% Japan: 5% Wangs: Europe: 80% North America: 15% Japan and Taiwan: 5% |
The Cicor Group believes that upholding fair business practices is essential to its success. Cicor has fair, honest and transparent business principles, with processes and products that reflect exemplary levels of quality, safety and environmental impact.
The Group’s employees are expected to act in accordance with the highest standards of personal and professional integrity, especially in matters of ethics and governance. Cicor has a Code of Conduct, which is deployed to all persons who could affect the Group’s fair business practices and communicated to all employees by the Human Resources department of their respective site. Signing the Code of Conduct implies acknowledgement of its rules and guidelines. All employees must follow the Code of Conduct, as well as local working laws and regulations. All Cicor employee work contracts contain confidentiality and fidelity clauses to avert potential conflicts of interest. Some customer contracts contain anti-bribery clauses. The Group has a clear rule on avoiding politics or officially supporting a political party.
Legal tax requirements are also rigorously respected by Cicor and its personnel, both in terms of taxation based on the profitability of the Group and revenue at staff level. Cicor does its duty in paying the correct taxes on time and adheres to tax law in the application of company taxes and taxes paid for employees and customers. The Group furthermore complies with local regulations according to transfer pricing, disallowing any profit sharing abroad. To ensure compliance, Cicor has established robust and effective implementation of its tax governance, control and risk management system. Processes exist within the finance and human resources departments to track and satisfy tax values and deadlines. The Group has additionally implemented a “tax-wiki”, where all applicable law is explained, due dates outlined, and responsibilities defined. The tax-wiki is reviewed frequently and updated if tax regulations change or are newly put into effect. KPIs are in place to track the management of Cicor’s tax obligations. These include the tax rate and tax refund rate. The internal control system is overseen by the company controller, finance manager and managing director. Advice is sought from the tax consultant on difficult topics, who is also responsible for preparing the Group’s tax declaration. Accountants are regularly trained regarding changes in tax law, and Cicor ensures relevant employees are also made aware of the latest regulations through open communication.
Staff can always contact human resources in case of an incident against Cicor’s fair business practices or its Code of Conduct. Additionally, all employees have access to suggestion boxes where they can submit complaints, suggestions or desired improvements. At some sites, a whistleblowing hotline has been set up. Cicor carries out internal and external audits, such as the financial audit, to monitor its management of its business practices. A customer survey and customer rating is also implemented, along with a yearly supplier evaluation and benchmarking. The Group has site-specific initiatives to encourage increased transparency and trust, as well as fair and open discussion of Cicor’s business practices and possible infringements.
If the Group’s business practices are violated, action is taken. In 2022, there were no known situations of unfair business practices or confirmed cases of corruption. There were also no reported cases of legal proceedings against anti-competitive behavior with regard to antitrust and monopoly law. Further, there were no known breaches of environmental protection, economic or social laws or regulations.
The Cicor Group considers local engagement an asset to the company and aspires to be seen by local communities as a partner. The goal is to be viewed as an attractive company supporting the communities in which it is present, in turn raising its appeal as a local employer. The perception of Cicor within local populations is key to achieving this goal. Accordingly, the Group endeavors to do outreach to create awareness of the benefits of working for Cicor and the Group’s contributions to the particular communities. As well, Cicor works to promote the industry in general as advantageous to the country and society at large.
Several of Cicor’s sites have initiatives in place to support their local communities. The site in Arad supported young communities by sponsoring schools or various youth organizations. Dresden and Radeberg donated books about traffic education to elementary schools.
The sites receive feedback on engagement activities from local employees, customers, authorities and municipalities, among others. There are no structured surveys or assessments in place currently to evaluate Cicor’s local engagement or achievements. However, the Company plans to implement a simple group-wide documentation in 2023.