Wise consumption practices start with our procurement team. In addition to offering competitive pricing, TI expects suppliers to comply with applicable regulations as well as our environmental, safety and health policies and principles. Additionally, suppliers must adhere to company standards and specifications, including our chemical and material control specification, which requires the disclosure of chemical and material analytics with TI. This demonstrates and supports regulatory compliance and meets TI and customer demands for such information.
In 2009, TI revised our standards governing the procurement of products, services and commodities to more consciously consider sustainability in our purchasing decisions. We also have guidelines in place for purchasing and using specific natural resources.
Metals
TI sources the tantalum, tungsten, gold and tin, which is used in the manufacture of our products, from approximately 15 direct suppliers in the U.S. and Asia. TI’s key suppliers of tantalum, tungsten, gold and tin have provided TI written assurances that these minerals were not mined in conflict regions, specifically the eastern region of the DRC. TI will continue work with industry associations to ensure a responsible supply chain for the minerals it uses.
Wood
In the past decade, our procurement of eco-friendly paper has evolved from excluding old-growth forest products in our purchases to purchasing more print and paper goods from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)-certified distributors. Today, paper used at TI contains at least 10 percent postconsumer waste. In 2009, a total of 38 percent of our U.S. expenditures on print and paper goods were with FSC- or SFI-certified suppliers.
In 2009, TI began developing a purchasing policy that will expand to other sources of paper. We plan to phase in the procurement of office supplies like file folders and storage boxes from FSC- and SFI-certified suppliers as well.
In 2010, we plan to update and share our database of FSC-certified suppliers with global teams to encourage more environmentally sustainable procurement, and will evaluate more ways to purchase environmentally responsible products and services.
