Yeşim Textile embraces SLCP
By: Şenol Şankaya - CEO, Yeşim Textile
Yeşim Textile, a manufacturer from Turkey, is a signatory to SLCP since the end of 2017. Having suffered from many audits, the SLCP is a very welcomed Project that Yeşim has fully embraced. Yeşim Textile, which pursues a sustainable production approach, is a company that applies social responsibility standards at the highest level and enforces them throughout all supplier companies.
Yeşim Textile, which has been involved in the social responsibility process of its customers since the 1990s, has participated in hundreds of audits from customers. To date we have learned from each audit process, leading us to first achieve SA8000 certification in 2006: a prestigious management system standard. Yeşim Textile has held this standard for 12 years. We are the first textile and clothing company in Turkey to obtain this certification.
We have a social accountability team who manages social responsibility processes and audits. Around 10 brands we manufacture for conduct social accountability audits at our company. Each audit lasts 2 to 3 days. Some of these audits include follow-up audits every 6 months. After each audit, different reports are prepared for our customers and individual correspondences are created with each customer. Perhaps there are comparable topics and titles in all, but a separate tracking system is used for all of them.
At Yeşim Textile, we have been conducting lean manufacturing since 2006; aiming to establish a lean system for all of our production processes. Loss of time and labor are among the “7 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing” where we are trying to continuously improve. As we improve our processes, we aim to add value to our company with increased time and human effort. By adopting the SLCP framework, we hope to reallocate resources from reduced audits to continue investing in programs such as lean manufacturing and employee trainings.
The project that we have dreamed for many years is where all brands gather to support one framework, was realized with the SLCP formation. I am very happy and hopeful on behalf of my company of this Project. We will have the opportunity to use the gained time and financial resources used for auditing processes to improve our company and our processes.
Our earliest engagement with the SLCP was the first pilot at the end 2017. Participating in this pilot created a sense of enthusiasm about the tools and it’s potential. Soon after, we became a signatory. Since then we have been actively involved in several working groups. We are happy to see the open approach of SLCP to all players, including manufacturers. The progress made so far is admirable.
At Yeşim Textile, we are glad to be actively involved in the formation of this converged assessment model. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this formation and process development. I firmly believe this will add value to our industry.
