Because education is a great equalizer, we’re investing heavily in helping workers throughout our supply chain learn new skills and better understand their rights. In 2013, more than 280,000 people at 18 supplier sites took courses in a range of subjects through our free education and development program. In addition, our suppliers trained more than 1.5 million workers on their rights, bringing the total number trained since 2007 to 3.8 million.
Participation in Workers’ Rights Training
- Cumulative participation
- Annual participation
We’ve strengthened our programs to help suppliers protect student interns and other at-risk workers. We’re continuing our efforts to end excessive work hours. In 2013, our suppliers achieved an average of 95 percent compliance with our maximum 60-hour workweek. We’re driving responsible sourcing of minerals, and we’ve publicly released a list of smelters and refiners in our supply chain to promote transparency.
Supplier Work-Hour Compliance
*Workweeks compliant with 60-hour standard.
To address the shortage of qualified environment, health, and safety (EHS) personnel, we launched the Apple Supplier EHS Academy — a formal, 18-month program we believe to be one of the most comprehensive EHS training and education programs in any supply chain. In 2013, over 240 factory personnel representing factories with more than 270,000 employees enrolled in this program, which will raise the standard for EHS management in our supply chain.
We expect our suppliers to act in environmentally responsible ways. So we’re working with industry experts to identify high-risk facilities, conduct audits focused on environmental issues, and develop methods to lessen our environmental impact. In addition, we launched a pilot of our Clean Water Program with sites that collectively use over 41 million cubic meters of water per year. We have aggressive goals to reduce freshwater usage by reusing and recycling water within the production process.
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An auditor and supplier look at the facility’s air abatement system in Shenzhen, China.
Our Supplier Code of Conduct was already one of the toughest in the electronics industry, but we’ve made it even stronger. And we ensure compliance by conducting hundreds of audits per year worldwide. Our efforts span the entire range of our supply chain — from the manufacturers of tiny components to the facilities that assemble our final products.
Every factory that supplies parts for our products — including this iPhone 5s camera module — is accountable for upholding our Code of Conduct.
Get detailed information about our 18 final assembly facilities. And download a list of our top 200 suppliers, including component providers and others representing at least 97 percent of procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of our products worldwide in 2013.
Every year, Apple issues a progress report with the results of the previous year’s audits and corrective actions. Download the 2014 Progress Report View report highlights Get previous reports
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