Initiatives with Our Suppliers

Based on The Advantest Way and our corporate purpose & mission of "Enabling Leading-edge Technologies", Advantest is actively working to contribute to solving social issues through our business. The "ESG Promotion Basic Policy" formulated in 2021 outlines our social responsibilities as a global company and the roles we should fulfill for our stakeholders, and the "ESG Action Plan 2021-2023" disclosed in conjunction with the policy sets specific themes, targets, and KPIs to promote company-wide activities.

In the supply chain, we are working together with our business partners in order to promote CSR procurement, with the goal of realizing a sustainable society by promoting activities for climate change, respecting human rights, occupational safety, fair trade, and observing compliance.

We closely monitor cases where our suppliers or other business partners may have contributed to any action with adverse impacts on human rights. In case these adverse impacts are directly linked to the Advantest Group's business activities, we will work on encouraging respect for human rights through dialogue and consultation to ensure that the Advantest Group Human Rights Policy is understood.

With the aim of incorporating human rights due diligence into our procurement process, we disclose a clear procurement policy to our suppliers, who are important members of our value chain, and provide guidance on human rights, labor, and health and safety in the "Advantest CSR Procurement Guidebook."

Advantest conducts a CSR Questionnaire for business partners who account for 85% of the transaction value of all Advantest Group companies. The contents of the questionnaire mainly refer to the "Supply Chain CSR Promotion Guidebook" in line with international norm and initiatives such as the RBA Code of Conduct*. We also confirm the awareness and status of respect for human rights, including the elimination of child and forced labor and the implementation of occupational health and safety practices, as well as the prevention and detection of bribery and corrupt practices.
Advantest believes that the CSR Questionnaire serves to achieve mutual growth with our suppliers not only by building fair and sound partnerships, but also by promoting sustainability-oriented business activities such as the introduction of renewable energy and reporting of GHG emissions as a response to climate change.

In FY2023, we were able to obtain responses from all of the 42 companies that received the questionnaire. Although no significant risks related to human rights were found, we not only provided each supplier with materials summarizing the results of their responses to enable them to address social issues throughout their supply chain, but also provided feedback on points that were highly rated and points that require improvement. We are working to raise the level of the entire supply chain through this close interactive communication.

In Japan, we also evaluate the QCD* of our business partners every quarter aimed to ensure the stable supply of products while maintaining and improving quality. On a global basis, we also conduct annual evaluations of our major suppliers, including their technology, quality, and procurement measures.

We ask new business partners to understand and cooperate with our social initiatives including labor (human rights), ethics, safety and health, and environmental initiatives of reducing environmental impact, as stated in our procurement policy.
No business partner joined in FY2023.

We ask our business partners to report cases where our employees may be subject to any suspected violations of the Advantest Code of Conduct, business contracts, laws and regulations, etc., using a dedicated compliance hotline on our website, when completing the CSR questionnaire. There were no complaints filed (no cases) in FY2023. Note that Advantest will not subject the whistleblower, nor the whistleblower's company, to any disadvantage. If an investigation finds any issues, the relevant action shall be stopped and measures shall be taken to prevent recurrence.

Advantest and Advanfacilities Co., Ltd. have agreed to and endorsed the Declaration of Partnership Building and announced our framework on Declaration of Partnership Building* in the fall of 2021. The Declaration of Partnership Building declares, in the name of the representative of the company, that it will build new partnerships by promoting further collaboration and prosperous coexistence with business partners in the supply chain and encourage businesses that create value. The following are few examples of matters to observe for the promotion of partnership building.

Advantest supports the philosophy of the Declaration of Partnership Building and promotes various ESG activities together with our business partners.

Musashiseki Unyu Co., Ltd., our freight forwarder who transports our products via eco-drive technology, was awarded the highest rating of "three stars" for the third consecutive year in the 2023 "Tokyo Freight Transportation Evaluation System" (evaluation of efforts, such as eco-driving, of freight forwarders based on actual driving fuel efficiency and consumption), and was also selected as one of the top two highest rated forwarders. Advantest has set the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the value chain as one of its key themes. We believe that the fact that our business partner won such an outstanding award shall be a further driving force for ESG promotion, as we continue to promote efforts to reduce supply chain emissions.