Woolworths Enhances Supply Chain Sustainability and Performance with MetricStream

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading South African retailer, Woolworths, has implemented MetricStream's Sustainability Performance Management Solution to capture and measure sustainability metrics and indicators around energy, water, soil, and waste management. The solution will also help Woolworths monitor supplier compliance with sustainability guidelines, and optimize the performance of the company's sustainability projects and initiatives.

MetricStream's solution provides a centralized framework for Woolworths to register and onboard suppliers for their sustainability management program, measure supplier compliance through periodic self-assessments and third-party audits, maintain supplier data, and manage supplier certifications. Woolworths is currently using MetricStream's Quality Audit Management solution to optimize their Total Quality Management (TQM) program. This existing solution will be extended to include MetricStream's Sustainability Performance Management Solution, providing Woolworths with a comprehensive view of their supplier performance, sustainability, and quality management programs.

Headquartered in Cape Town, Woolworths is one of South Africa's largest retail chains. Woolworths has over 450 stores in South Africa that sell a wide range of products, including food, fashion, beauty and homeware under the company's brand label. Woolworths also has a majority stake in Country Road, Australia with more than 470 stores.

Woolworths has consistently been cited among the world's most responsible retailers for their sustainability initiatives, which includes the "Good Business Journey" – a comprehensive plan to cultivate environmentally friendly and organic products, and to contribute to socio-economic transformation and social development.

As part of the "Good Business Journey," Woolworths' sustainability initiatives focus on environmentally sensitive farming practices to improve soil and water quality, save water, reduce waste, and encourage biodiversity. With MetricStream's help, the company has strengthened their sustainability projects by replacing manual processes and paper-based spreadsheets with a more automated, integrated, and collaborative approach.

"Our partnership with MetricStream has been critical to the success of our sustainability and supply chain management programs," said Zyda Rylands, Managing Director for Food at Woolworths. "With MetricStream, we have established a common point of reference to assess, score, and track sustainability initiatives across over 900 suppliers worldwide. Increased visibility into sustainability initiatives, coupled with workflow automation and improved collaboration with suppliers is critical to meeting our sustainability goals, and supporting our long-term success as an organization."

MetricStream Sustainability Performance Management Solution streamlines a broad range of sustainability activities -- from supplier registrations, approval, and onboarding, to supplier self-assessments, third-party audits, and certifications. At every stage, supplier information around farms, pack houses, secondary suppliers, and certifications is maintained in a centralized, easily searchable repository.

Through the solution's web-based interface, suppliers across the globe can access and fill in their sustainability assessment checklists. The solution captures the data, and generates a sustainability score to determine if the supplier qualifies to receive a sustainability certification. If further auditing is required, the solution helps schedule the audit, as well as document and track audit findings. Powerful dashboards and reports provide real-time status updates, enabling Woolworths to monitor the progress of their sustainability initiatives.

"MetricStream solutions have enabled Woolworths to integrate several quality and sustainability management programs, and thereby gain a multi-dimensional view of supplier performance," said Shankar Bhaskaran, Vice President & General Manager of International Business Operations at MetricStream. He added, "Sustainability performance management is becoming increasingly important as companies worldwide strive to build ethically and environmentally responsible practices that extend beyond the four walls of their organization to encompass their entire supply chain. We are excited to continue our partnership with Woolworths, supporting them with our integrated suite of solutions."

About MetricStream

MetricStream is a market leader in enterprise-wide Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Management Solutions for global corporations. MetricStream solutions are used by leading corporations such as UBS, Barclaycard US, P&G, Constellation Energy, Pfizer, Philips, United Technologies Corporation, SanDisk, Cummins, and Autogrill in diverse industries such as Financial Services, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Energy and Utilities, Food, Retail, CPG, Government, Hi-tech and Manufacturing to manage their risk management programs, quality processes, regulatory and industry-mandated compliance and corporate governance initiatives, as well as several million compliance professionals worldwide via the www.ComplianceOnline.com portal. MetricStream is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and can be reached at www.metricstream.com.

About Woolworths

Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL) has been listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange since 1997, and is the parent company of Woolworths Proprietary Limited (Woolworths), commonly known as Woolworths in South Africa. Woolworths is one of two WHL subsidiaries, the other being Country Road Ltd (Country Road Group), listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. In addition, WHL holds an interest in Woolworths Financial Services (WFS), a joint venture with the Barclays Africa Group.

See woolworthsholdings.co.za for more information.

MetricStream Media Contact 
Mr. Vinay Bapna 
Email 
+1.650-620-2955

Woolworths Press Office 
Mr. Babongile Dlamini  
Email 
+27.82-782-3856

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SOURCE MetricStream