The development of an industry standard supply-base environmental practices questionnaire

A sea of environmental practices questionnaires have been developed and by members of PIBA (Pacific Industry and Business Association) to help companies reduce business risks and enhance supplier relationships. Based on the PIBA questionnaires, CIQC (Computer Industry Quality Conference), a network of U.S. computer system producers, developed its first environmental practice standard (CIQC STD 0014) in October 1996 as a common tool to gather supplier environmental practice information and to optimize the transfer of environmental performance information between purchasers and suppliers. This standard questionnaire has business and procurement focus with attention on environmental performance at the supplier company. It does not address products or health and safety issues. It is viable internationally, not limited to the United States. Use of a standard questionnaire can potentially help ease supplier burdens and result in a faster response time to environmental inquiries for electronics industry customers. This paper discusses the content of this questionnaire, its significance as a standard, the development process and rationale, the results and implementation status. Processes, challenges and opportunities in promoting this standard beyond PIBA and CIQC into other electronics industries and outside the United States are discussed.