Consulting Services – Licensees & Suppliers

Licensees and their Suppliers are under pressure to adhere to the standards and local laws required to create product on their behalf. We believe of the main obstacles holding Licensees and Suppliers back from effectively developing and executing adequate programs includes lack of expertise in the subject matter and the depth of the compliance team. The question is often asked, ‘where should we even begin?’

Sumerra is here to help! Sumerra regularly partners with both Licensees and Suppliers to raise the bar on their compliance efforts. We have specially developed services for both Licensees and their supply chains. We find that each Licensee’s or Supplier’s situation is unique, therefore it is often easiest to connect and learn more about your situation. Contact Sumerra

Below are our three most requested services:

Educational Assessment – #1 Most Recommended

Sumerra’s Educational Assessment is an excellent tool, not only to gauge a supplier’s performance and risk, but also to educate them on their deficiencies.
The assessment does three things:

1. Dives deep into factory policies, practices and protocols to uncover causal factors which may not be caught with the traditional audit.
2. Provides one on one training, which ensures quality understanding of the subject matter by the supplier.
3. Usually includes a ‘mock audit’ being completed as our team walks with you through the facility.

An Educational Assessment can be performed at different times in the compliance cycle:

• Before an audit: This allows the supplier to understand and remediate non-compliance issues prior to the audit. It’s often a great tool when trying to begin sourcing for a new client and you want to confirm the Supplier meets the requirements before entering the New Sourcing process.
• After an audit: After receiving audit results, the Supplier might not understand what the results mean and how to remediate the non-compliance issues found. We help with this by not only looking at how to remediate the issue, but also the root causes which led to the non-compliance.
• Before applying for license: A potential licensee who owns their own factories may opt to have an MEA conducted in order to remediate any issues and provide education to their management team on industry standard compliance practices & protocols.

Compliance Program Development and Review

Sumerra works with Licensees and/or their suppliers to develop a compliance program or upgrade an existing program. We provide an unbiased review of policies, practices and protocols, with recommendations on how to improve them to meet the different requirements.

• Licensees– Development and review of the licensee’s standards, internal code of conduct, and/or compliance manual that can be distributed to the licensee’s supply chain.
• Suppliers– Developing and reviewing supplier’s policies, practices & protocols to ensure that their program is meeting the licensee’s program requirements.

Group Trainings for Suppliers

Sumerra works with licensees to offer group trainings to their supply chains. The trainings can be customized to meet the needs of the Licensee and their suppliers.
Examples:

• Licensees that have a large amount of printing in their product lines might benefit from training that focuses specifically on chemical management and personal protective equipment usage.
• Suppliers in Bangladesh may benefit from fire safety management training and electrical management.

We offer our trainings either in person or via webinar. Visit our Training Catalog for more detail.