Sustainable Supply Chain

Through our Code of Conduct for Suppliers that we have formulated, we have incorporated the legal and ethical framework for our organisation and these guiding principles enable us to function effectively and seamlessly as a responsible corporate. Our Code of Conduct is perfectly aligned with our core organisational value of Integrity. At Dalmia Bharat, we nurture a habitat where individuals never stray from their line of duty, and success is measured by conduct. This strong moral compass has helped guide our organisation earn its reputation as one of the most respected brands in the industry.

At Dalmia Bharat, all procurement activities are conducted with vendors in a transparent manner and without any conflict of interest. As a rule, we codify a Vendor Code of Conduct to report any unethical practices. We are working on a methodology to evaluate environmental and social performance, and are evaluating vehicles transporting hazardous wastes, according to our waste management rules.

As a social and climate-conscious organisation, we are cognizant of the fact that our procurement decisions can have significant environmental, social and economic impact in the regions we have a presence in. Therefore, for our Northeast India operations, we have incorporated ESG as a part of our supplier code of conduct and have evaluated around 50 suppliers against these parameters.

We believe that Digital Due Diligence and Responsible Business Conduct go hand-in-hand and it is for this very purpose that we have created a road map for digitising our supply chain network to enhance logistics efficiency.

By digitalising our processes, we are increasing our supply chain visibility through track and trace modes. We have an auto-replenishment model for inventory planning, along with an e-auction tool for freight discovery. Auto order allocation system enables us to further the automation of manual tasks which, in turn, helps improve reporting and decision-making.

To fulfil our commitment of providing the highest standards of legal compliance and business ethics, we have adopted technological solutions that helps track and monitor every dimension of our business operations. This enables us to effectively minimise human interventions and errors as well. To further enhance our supply chain efficiency, we have developed an in-house application to track and control our entire logistical value chain. In the near future, we look to invest further in innovative technologies that will amplify our capabilities and enhance our efficiencies.

Digital transformation is enabling us to keep up with supply chain disruptions and seamlessly manage our material procurement needs. By using digital procurement technology, we have structured our spending across our supplier network and are able to effectively track everything in a central location. Not only does this enable the leveraging of volume to reduce cost, but spend analytics makes it easier to find cost reduction opportunities continuously. Quotations can now be monitored through a platform to bring transparency and governance in the supply chain, which helps in conducting auctions of the purchase requisitions raised to get more competitive prices.

We have implemented an integrated report to monitor and control real-time data for decision-making. Due to the transparency and immediate availability of critical metrics we have a competitive edge in the marketplace.

The lack of specialists, such as drivers and labourers, was a major challenge faced by our Logistics team during the pandemic. To mitigate this concern and to ensure that our dispatches remained unaffected, we increased our rail dispatches and engaged with our driver community to provide them with COVID-19 PPEs. We developed essential protocols and conducted safety training for our people during the pandemic. Covid-appropriate protocols were followed in warehouses to ensure that our workers felt safe while at work. We also partnered with various agencies to vaccinate our drivers and the transporters staff in our manufacturing units.

We are among the largest users of limestone in the country. Each integrated cement manufacturing unit has one or more captive mines to extract limestone. The other raw materials are sourced externally in view of long-term tie up for material security and to reduce significant price volatility. Indigenous coal and pet coke are used as the principal fuel for thermal energy. The bulk of our electrical energy is generated in-house at our captive thermal power plants. In blended cement, limestone-based clinker is substituted with by-products from other processes such as slag from steel plants and fly ash from thermal power plants. Most of the cement sold by us is packed in polypropylene bags of 50 kg each.

Logistics optimisation efforts

Improving logistics efficiency is critical in our line of business. Through our holistic mine-to-marketplace supply chain decarbonization efforts, we are committed to ensure our processes operate seamlessly, profitably and sustainably. For this purpose, we continue to build on our logistics optimisation efforts by:

• Introducing supply chain optimiser tool to improve our network

• Using dedicated fleet model higher capacity vehicles

• Institutionalising reverse auctions across plants

• Ensuring stock transfer through higher-sized vehicles

• Crossing the Long-Term Tariff Contract (LTTC) target

• Setting up a 24/7 operational depot for easy night unloading

• Opening 27+ new depots in Kerala and standardising secondary freight across 8 districts

• Exploring the idea of a multi-modal dispatch through containers and CONCOR domestic containers, leading to a reduction in freight costs and enhanced serviceability across south India

We are well on our way to achieve our sustainability targets and are now looking beyond just setting and implementing in-house goals to ensure they are pursued across the length and breadth of our value chain. We see it as an essential aspect that our people and our business partners are convinced about the significance of pursuing these goals and how they can be achieved. For this, we impart regular awareness sessions for our employees and stakeholders. To generate awareness about the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC), we also carry out various training programmes for our supply chain partners, throughout the year.

With as many as 15 campaigns organised during the year, we have strengthened and deepened our relationship with our dealer network and their kin. The organised sessions with our dealers include themes such as robotics for young kids, quizzes that further knowledge on consumer behaviour and our products, along with events to commemorate important festivities. We have had approx 25% of our value chain partners partake in these initiatives.

We have also hosted sessions for our other important stakeholders such as masons, influencers, customers including big institutional customers as well as technocrats, and employees of government departments.

Our dedicated team of Tech Service Engineers continue to provide training on state-of-the-art construction practices to influencers such as masons and contractors through focused meetings, workshops and activities, site demonstration for the right usage of our products and information on quality. Testing service and training are also being provided on-site through Tech Vans.

Through our customer guidance camps and consumer meets, we continue to spread awareness on good construction practices. At our meetings with big institutional customers, technocrats and government departments, we ensure that we are educating audiences about our unique range of building solutions and services. In the recent past, these events have attracted ~50% of our value chain partners.