Addiphos was invited to participate in a TfS audit by one of our most valuable customers.

We learned that TfS aims to assess and improve sustainability practices within the supply chains of the chemical industry. As these audit results are shared with all TfS member companies – reducing the costs and time of duplicate audits as well as the time to respond to multiple customer requests – it seemed like a logical business decision.

Our first audit was conducted in November 2019. Management, Environment, Health & Safety, Labour & Human Rights and Governance aspects of our business were analysed.

Despite our confidence – and years of export experience – our audit resulted in a low score.

However, this unexpected outcome started to open up new horizons for our company.

As a result of the TfS audit, we understood and mastered our strengths and weaknesses clearly, and began to make tangible and measurable improvements – ultimately achieving higher scores from the second audit.

We believe it is not only scores that are important, but also how TfS helps us to incorporate sustainability goals into our business operations and value chain. These improve our sustainable performance and provide a business advantage.

Continuous improvement is a virtuous circle. In the past three years, finding and solving problems has benefited not only our company and customers, but also employees and our living environment.

Generally, participating in TfS audits is a very worthwhile endeavour.