Apple Publishes 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report; Also Reveals List of Suppliers

Apple's released their yearly Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, which details the efforts they make in improving worker and factory conditions as well as environmental standards compliance. Besides major changes - like a massive increase in audits - Apple's disclosed a list of suppliers that compose 97% of its expenditures.

With suppliers all over the world, Apple's got a hard time making sure standards and working conditions are up to par. To help achieve these goals, Apple's increased the number of audits done by 80%.

In 2011, we conducted 229 audits throughout our supply chain — an 80 percent increase over 2010 — including more than 100 first-time audits. We continue to expand our program to reach deeper into our supply base, and this year we added more detailed and specialized audits that focus on safety and the environment.

The increased auditing helps keeps companies in check over things like safety regulations and compliance with labor laws. The Wall Street Journal expands on this last topic with an old interview with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple:

Nearly a third of its suppliers didn't abide by Apple's standards on wages and benefits, the company said. The audits also found five facilities that employed underage workers.

"I have spent a lot of time in factories over my lifetime and we are clearly leading in this area," said Mr. Cook, who previously oversaw the company's supply chain as chief operating officer. "It is like innovating in products. You can focus on things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem."

Obviously, it's a very difficult job enforcing all labor laws with a supply chain that's as large as Apple's, but it's good to see them auditing and raising the bar for companies caught violating.

Apple's also spent quite a bit of time making sure environmental policies are upheld.

Our audits have always checked for compliance with environmental standards. In 2011, in addition to our standard audits, we launched a specialized auditing program to address environmental concerns about certain suppliers in China. Third-party environmental engineering experts worked with our team to conduct detailed audits at 14 facilities. We uncovered some violations and worked with our suppliers to correct the issues. We will expand our environmental auditing program in the coming year.

The Wall Street Journal points out that Apple found 112 companies that weren't storing, moving, or handling hazardous chemicals properly.

But perhaps some of the biggest news is that Apple has disclosed a list of 156 different suppliers that make up 97% of its expenditures. MacRumors focuses on the depth of this change:

While no details on each company's role in Apple's supply chain is offered in the document, merely identifying the supply chain offers some improvement in transparency for the secretive company.

Among these suppliers are widely-known names like Intel, LG, NVidia, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. If you're at all curious who else made it to the list, or which suppliers need to improve their practices, click the links below.

[via Apple Supplier Responsibility 2012 Progress Report, Apple's List of Suppliers (PDF), Wall Street Journal, MacRumors]