Chain of Custody
Our investigations and analyses provide traceability in Tier 2 and lower supply chains to help you manage risk.
ELEVATE provides responsible sourcing services for a variety of needs in our customers’ upstream supply chains. A challenge for most of our customers has been and continues to be: Where does the chain of custody and ownership of responsible sourcing really begin in our supply chain?
This question and its ramifications have gained prominence in recent years, with major media and non-governmental organizations having exposed a variety of issues in Tier 2 (and further upstream) supply chains, such as:
- Various negative environmental and labor impacts from the non-certified Palm (and Palm Oil) supply chain
- Mineral raw material suppliers in West Africa supporting armed conflict in the region (“conflict minerals”)
- Human trafficking and prison-like labor conditions amongst illicit, pirate ships in the shrimp feed supply chain
- Child Labor abuses in cotton agriculture in countries such as Uzbekistan
- Human rights and animal welfare abuse in the agora, sheep and goosedown supply chain
- Animal abuse issues in the chicken farm industry
These issues are even more disconcerting considering the often poor performance among supply chain social, labor and security audits in Tier 1 (or OEM) levels of a supply chain, especially in areas of management systems and ‘business partner’ assurance. To control and minimize such abuses and unethical practices, we provide tailored chain of custody assessments to provide a level of traceability of a customer’s product.
Tailored assessments for our clients’ needs
Each assessment is tailored to a client’s specific need, and ELEVATE will work directly with the customer and its downstream supplier to determine a best-path forward. ELEVATE offers standard checklists for traceability that serve as a baseline for the activity, and they are always customized to the specific project.
For all customers using ELEVATE’s chain of custody assessment service, we provide the following benefits:
- Access to market-leading customer services and thought leadership
- Tracking and logistical oversight using ELEVATE’s Aruvio system
- Straightforward, comprehensive and easy to understand reports and remediation plans