Challenge
Hanesbrands Inc (HBI) needed greater visibility into its global supply chain and operations to understand the entirety of its supplier relationships, where materials were coming from, and potential ESG-related risks to protect its brands, business, and customers.
The iconic maker of basic everyday apparel operates in more than 45 countries and employs more than 67,000 people. It also has manufacturing sites in more than 30 countries and a supply chain of more than 37,000 suppliers and vendors.
As a long-time leader in corporate social responsibility, HBI required continuous assurance that its suppliers were adhering to its standards. The company, however, was hindered by a confounding array of purchasing and enterprise resource-planning systems inherited through numerous acquisitions over the years.
Each of these disparate systems housed pieces of supplier, product, and transaction data. But HBI had no efficient way to connect it all to fully understand how each supplier was performing. The company also wanted to use supplier performance to make intelligent decisions about whom to do business with. And it needed a system that could easily scale to accommodate future growth.
Solution
HBI turned to Riskonnect to consolidate all of its supply-chain data into one platform to streamline ESG management and gain real-time visibility into the performance of suppliers. The company uses Riskonnect’s ESG software to track and analyze ESG metrics like human-rights and working conditions, as well as traditional metrics like quality, incidents, and on-time performance.
Riskonnect automatically scans HBI’s purchase orders to ensure each supply partner is compliant with corporate and regulatory requirements and that all required documentation is current. Any missing or outdated information is automatically requested from the supplier.
HBI also uses Riskonnect for site audits. Inspectors record and score information from a mobile device on a range of factors, including workplace health and industrial hygiene, chemical safety, machinery operations, PPE and first aid, and eating areas and dormitories. Stakeholders are automatically alerted to any compliance violations and corrective actions are noted.
Antibribery and anticorruption are part of the on-site audit as well. The software brings in data from third parties on politically exposed persons, for instance, to ensure compliance.
Riskonnect’s powerful relationship mapping analytics then aggregate supplier data with data from multiple internal systems to illuminate the connections between suppliers, products, and materials.
Results
HBI is now has an efficient, streamlined process for ESG data collection and reporting, compliance, and product safety – and real-time visibility into supplier performance.
The company reports achieving 99+% compliance with its global corporate social responsibility programs. On the internal side, automating data collection and analysis has boosted team productivity by a staggering 750%.
““Riskonnect gives us visibility and insight into what’s happening in our supply chain and shows us who is compliant.”
Stephanie Lingle, Product Safety & Global Vendor Programs at Hanesbrands.
HBI’s sourcing and finance teams use insights gleaned from the system to make purchasing decisions and optimize spend allocation. This has helped the company narrow down its list of suppliers and focus its purchasing on high performers. As a result, HBI has saved millions of dollars – while also making a positive impact on the planet.
For more on ESG reporting, download our e-book, Taking a Stand on ESG, or schedule a demo of Riskonnect’s ESG solution.
