Track: Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Electronic companies, which use conflict minerals to manufacture products, experience increasing operational burdens on 3TG traceability and compliance. Identifying strategies to hit 75% supplier responses, lessening manual processes, reducing high-risk and non-compliant smelters in the supply chain, could improve the supplier due diligence process. Data collection and analytical review were used to identify helpful strategies and impacts. Surveys and training to suppliers were conducted as well to gather best practices and help them to comply. Lastly, a knowledge-based system development was proposed. Overall, this revealed that focusing on top spend and a smaller number of suppliers and working with other companies to identify strategies and develop a conflict-free supply chain would be a great approach. Interestingly, it was also found that active smelters are now proactively engaging with the RMI audit protocols and, suppliers (both RMI and non-RMI members), are now getting aggressive to have high-risk smelters be removed from their supply chain. Design of a conflict minerals automated system has been started as well to reduce manual process that contributes to low supplier response rate and inaccurate conflict minerals data. Future tests and study to identify and verify efficiency results to end-users is recommended in this research.