No supply chain, no project success – Compliance with the help of IMDS and CDX

IMDS, CDX

Compliance with rules and regulations should be part of corporate management. The supply chain is also becoming more and more important as it plays its part. As early as 2014, 56.6 percent of the companies surveyed in a KPMG survey stated that the requirements placed on them were increasing, while at the same time 41.7 percent increased the requirements placed on their business partners. This trend has continued in recent years. In addition to fines, non-compliance with rules can also cause enormous damage to a company’s reputation. As a result, many companies are stepping up their efforts to create transparency across the entire supply chain and to disclose it, for example with regard to conflict minerals. 43.2 percent of the companies surveyed from various sectors, including the automotive industry, said that an effective compliance management system is a competitive advantage.

In our view, these systems include the IMDS for the automotive industry, which was introduced in 1999, and the relatively new, industry-independent “sister system” CDX. In both systems, all substances and materials used are documented. This also makes it possible to prove that, for example, bans on substances are being complied with or where the materials originate. The aim is to map and trace the entire supply chain from raw material to finished product. However, this can only be done if all the data is available. This means that if a company wants to create a data sheet and forward it to its customer(s), it needs all the data from its suppliers.

From our experience we know that this is often a big challenge. So we often experience that we only have insufficient data available, which we should transfer into one of the systems. In order to complete this data, we contact our customer’s suppliers. You probably know this as well. The suppliers often respond late. Sometimes you don’t get an answer at all or the supplier is not available; many are located in Asia or Africa. Here, it is necessary for companies to raise their suppliers’ awareness already when selecting them and to obligate them contractually to supply the data. This must be done at an early stage before the “data collection” begins. Also see our information on the criteria of an effective IMDS process.

If, despite such precautions and requests, no data is available from the suppliers, the actual composition of a part can only be determined by laboratory analysis. Such analyses mean additional costs, but offer the necessary security. We take over such analyses for you and cooperate with the VDE, which is also a partner of DXC Technology.

Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Phone: +49 6083 / 913030

E-Mail: info@imds-professional.com