Contract manufacturers reveal their CSR profile with the "Les Ateliers engagés" label
Initiated in 2020 by the GFF (Groupement de la Fabrication Française), the "Les Ateliers engagés" labeling process enables companies to improve and showcase their responsible commitments.
How do you advance and gain recognition for your CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) commitments when you're a contract manufacturer? At Textile du Maine, which she manages, Sylvie Chailloux was faced with the difficulty of responding to certain audits by her principals (and in particular to general questions such as "what are you doing for biodiversity?"). President of the GFF, she decided in 2020 to tackle the problem by launching an approach for all. An inventory of the CSR strategies of contract manufacturers, carried out with consultant Marc Brunel, led to an initial observation: "While the GFF's largest members, with their support functions, had already initiated something, there was still a lot to be done in the smaller workshops".
Six criteria
Webinars to raise awareness of ISO 26 000 (the international CSR standard) among contract manufacturers were then organized by ECOEFF LAB, led by consultant Philippe Schiesser. However, as this standard could not be "labelled", the GFF set about developing its own label based on the six structuring criteria - governance, value chain, social, environmental, territorial and, finally, consumer footprints - of ISO 26000. To identify these criteria at each stage of their processes, seven workshops will be held in 2021 with some fifteen GFF members. This in-depth work will lead to the submission of a label including obligations "going beyond simple compliance with regulations"and measurement indicators.
Three levels of labeling are envisaged: Committed Workshops with 6 indicators to monitor, i.e. 1 for each theme of the referential; Mastery (with 18 indicators, 3 per theme) and finally, Excellence (with 30 indicators, 5 per theme). Excellence is now on standby "because we want to involve our stakeholders in defining additional requirements to cover all audit fields" explains Sylvie Chailloux. "A lot of work needs to be done, particularly with the principals. We will carry it out in 2023 for a possible outcome in 2024.". Generally speaking, to ensure that the "Les Ateliers engagés" label can "be recognized as a benchmark in the profession by principals", GFF has been at pains to involve its customers right from the start of the project.
Embracing employees
On the contract manufacturer side, to earn the label, valid for three years, "you have to provide proof of the actions and commitments taken, and commit to monitoring the indicators". To ensure that compliance with the standards is recognized, GFF is supported by Bureau Veritas. In addition to an initial audit, in "physical" fashion, the organization will carry out an intermediate audit (documentary) after 18 months. 6 pilot workshops are currently testing, with Veritas, the relevance of the first two levels of the label.
Objective: to have the first companies awarded the label by early 2023. The aim "being to convince others afterwards". The label will help to promote the profession's best practices. It is also a way of standing out on the Platform of Contract Manufacturers of the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de la Design.
To preach the good word, every six months the GFF organizes a batches of 5 workshops based on the Ateliers Engagés referential. "The time it will take to obtain the label will be very different from one company to another: some will take a long time, others are not far off" estimates Sylvie Chailloux. In her eyes, the priority will be, once the company manager is convinced, "to get his employees on board with this CSR approach". After all, this approach "has to be lived on a daily basis. It has to come alive. It also reinforces our employer brand, which is very important when it comes to recruiting".
