Sedex is helping Bacardi manage its responsible sourcing

“Sedex is an easy-to-use source of vital information.”

– David Howson, Global Sustainability Director at Bacardi

Family-owned Bacardi Limited is the largest privately held spirits company in the world, with a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels in more than 160 markets worldwide.

The challenge for Bacardi

Bacardi are committed to reducing their environmental and social impacts, while enhancing the economic status of growers and suppliers. But they were also keen to reduce the resource commitment involved in managing suppliers’ ethical data, as well as helping suppliers cut down on their auditing duplication.

How Bacardi works with Sedex

Bacardi joined Sedex back in 2007, and used their membership to communicate their new Responsible Sourcing programme to their suppliers, and to strengthen collaboration with the rest of the industry.

Being a member of Sedex has helped minimise resource use for Bacardi and their suppliers. For instance it makes data more easily accessible, as it’s all in one place. Sedex also makes it much simpler and quicker for suppliers to show they are complying with the sourcing requirements of their customers.

Results

For Bacardi the benefits of Sedex membership included ease of use, a common language, credibility and collaboration. David Howson says:

“Before joining Sedex we were managing our supply chain issues and sharing ethical data in spreadsheets and databases. Accessing Sedex reports gives our buyers a very useful picture of progress being made by the suppliers. And suppliers are able to control the data they share, so it remains highly confidential.

“I would recommend Sedex to companies looking to improve the way they manage their supply chain. It’s an easy-to-use source of vital information.”