The importance of traceability in a Supply Chain
In this episode, Fuzz Kitto discusses the traceability in supply chains, and give an introduction about why it matters in making a difference. Listen to Slavery Unravelled - Conversations about being slavery free wherever you get your podcasts!
G’day! This is Fuzz Kitto from Be Slavery Free and thanks for joining me today.
I was bought up around dairy cows. My parents had a milk round and people would put out their billy cans with the money in it and we would go around in the early morning and fill them with the amount of milk that matched their money.
We were on a farm for a number of years too and had dairy cows and sheep. Every morning, every day, every week of every year - it would be - go and bring the cows into the dairy milk and feed them put the milk into big cans and they would be collected and taken to the milk factory. A strange name, milk factory, isn’t it because they didn’t make the milk there???
After being transported to the factory milk would then be put into bottles, or made into cheese, butter or flavoured milk, then transported to warehouses, then distributed to shops or supermarkets.
We used to find it hilarious that some children on the news stories thought milk came from shops and had no idea that it came from cows and then went through all the other stages before it got to the shops. This was my introduction to supply chains.
Understanding supply chains and being able to trace all the stages a product goes through to get to a shop or supplier is key to effectively working to abolish modern slavery.
So many people think of people caught in the sex trade when they hear modern slavery. There are many bad and sad stories from that industry too. However, it is only around 9.8% of the numbers caught in modern slavery.
Most modern slavery is in factories, farms, and fishing boats. In other words, it is mainly labour based. The second biggest group in modern slavery is forced marriage and we will look at that in another podcast coming up in the future.
Because of this we focus on labour issues in modern slavery.
Not that there are not needs in the sex industry, but many are working there and not enough in the labour area.
This is where we find it so important to understand supply chains, traceability, and transparency.
What is a supply chain?
Supply chains refer to the systems and processes involved in the production, distribution, and delivery of goods and services. They are the complex networks that connect various businesses, including suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and customers.
Supply chains encompass all the activities needed to transform raw materials into finished products and deliver them to the end consumer or customer. These activities involve procurement, production, inventory management, transportation, warehousing, and logistics. The goal of an efficient supply chain is to ensure that products are delivered to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity, and at the right price.
Supply chains often involve multiple stages, with each stage adding value to the product before it reaches the final customer.
For example, in the manufacturing industry, raw materials are sourced from suppliers, transformed into components, or finished goods through production processes, stored in warehouses, and then distributed to retailers or directly to consumers.
Efficient supply chain management is crucial for businesses to optimise costs, reduce waste, meet customer demands, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. It is also key to fulfilling the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This was based on the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework.
It was passed in 2011 and the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which was a set of guidelines for States and companies to prevent and address human rights abuses committed in business operations.
A supply chain involves strategic planning, coordination, and collaboration between different stakeholders in the supply chain network to ensure smooth operations and timely delivery. Technology often plays a vital role in streamlining supply chain processes through tools like inventory management software, transportation management systems, and supply chain analytics.
Overall, supply chains play a vital role in connecting producers and consumers, ensuring the availability of goods and services in the market, and facilitating economic activities on a global scale.
Modern Slavery is most prevalent in industry sectors that are informal, with high numbers of migrant labour and limited government oversight or lack of laws or rule of law. In other words where laws are not enforced.
So priority needs to be given to products which are made in these contexts.
Traceability plays a crucial role in combating modern slavery. It refers to the ability to track and document the origin, movement, and destination of goods and services within complex supply chains. By establishing a transparent and accountable supply chain, traceability helps identify and prevent human rights abuses, including modern slavery.
One of the main challenges in addressing modern slavery is the hidden nature of this crime. Many products and services we use daily can be connected to instances of forced labour, human trafficking, or exploitation.
Traceability measures, such as documenting and verifying each step of the supply chain, enable organisations, businesses and consumers to better understand and assess the conditions under which products or services were produced.
Companies that prioritise traceability can ensure that their suppliers adhere to ethical standards, reducing the risk of unknowingly supporting modern slavery. By tracing the origins of raw materials, verifying the conditions in which products are manufactured, and monitoring the transportation and sale processes, organisations can identify potential risks and take appropriate actions to address them.
On the other end, traceability empowers consumers to make informed choices. By providing transparent information about the production process, companies can help consumers support ethical practices and avoid inadvertently supporting businesses involved in modern slavery.
Enhanced labelling, certifications, independent social audits, and worker voice surveys are some of the tools that facilitate consumer awareness and decision-making, ultimately driving demand for products produced without exploitative practices. That’s what we try to do at Be Slavery Free.
We try to work with companies and businesses to help them to understand their supply chain, as what governments do in the modern slavery acts in in legislations regulations and guidelines to help businesses, which also, of course, help consumers to understand what's going on. What’s the extent of it? Why is this so important in modern slavery?
The G20 countries are estimated to import US$468 billion of goods made by modern slavery. Australia is estimated to import A$26billion worth of these goods.
According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, the top 5 sectors that these come from are:
Electronics
Garments
Palm Oil
Solar Panels
Textiles
But it also includes: cattle/beef, coffee, seafood, gold, sugar, timber, cocoa, coal and rice.
Our change theory is:
Slave Traders buy and sell people to make profits
Businesses use slave labour to cut down labour costs to make more profits
We ask consumers to ask their suppliers and businesses they buy from for a clean supply chain if they want continued them using as their suppliers.
We can get companies to get to know what customers are asking for and to check their supply chains
And then they tell those in their supply chains that they cannot accept goods made by slave labour
We can diminish the demand for modern slavery labourers
And make a real difference to modern slavery around the world.
So come and join us and find out what you can do to help companies know you want them to trace their supply chain, be transparent about it and work towards having slavery free goods available to you as a consumer.
And don’t forget you can also support us by donating to help us help you and others to help make this happen.