Supply Chain Responsibility
Strong, sustainable partnerships with our supplier base and trade partners are critical to our future success and achievement of our Vision. Responsibly sourcing the raw materials and services for our companies’ products and communicating clear expectations with our suppliers is necessary to maintain our social license to operate.
Strategic & Integrated Approach to Procurement
The Altria Client Services Procurement department focuses on delivering high quality goods and services and maximizing savings, while managing risks and leading the supplier management and responsible sourcing of direct and indirect materials crucial to our operations.
ALCS Procurement approaches supporting the business through three main responsibilities: category management, internal relationship management and supplier relationship management.
Our supplier managers work with our suppliers to communicate clear expectations and execute contracts consistent with our Supplier Code of Conduct. To drive progress toward our responsibility goals, the ALCS Procurement department focuses on:
- improving spending and sourcing-related analytics to proactively identify and manage risks;
- continuing to monitor contract compliance and supplier management infrastructure to proactively identify and manage risks;
- expanding assessment of cyber-security risks associated with suppliers;
- leveraging technology solutions to simplify, standardize and improve visibility and controls in the purchasing process; and
- continuing to update business continuity plans for critical goods and services.
We continue to train our employees on our risk-based, third-party due-diligence assessment process using online training tools. This process helps determine whether a supplier presents a specific legal, compliance or reputational risk that requires more in-depth due diligence.
The assessment considers a supplier’s country of origin, beneficial ownership and the type of services the supplier will be providing. If the supplier is higher risk, we require additional contract provisions and monitoring procedures. Outcomes from this assessment are incorporated into the social compliance audit schedule.
Assessing & Improving Supplier Performance
Our monitoring programs assess our suppliers’ compliance with contractual requirements and our Supplier Code of Conduct. These programs encourage continuous improvement and help identify areas for greater focus and if needed, remediation.
Altria’s tobacco companies conduct third-party assessments in addition to audits conducted by the ALCS Corporate Audit department of direct packaging and product materials suppliers, international leaf suppliers and contract manufacturers where there may be significant country risk, supplier criticality, brand risk and opportunities to improve supply chain compliance. Learn More
Sustainable & Diverse Suppliers
We understand that climate change, natural disasters and reduced water quality and availability may impact our companies and their supply chains over time, so we work with our suppliers to find ways to reduce their environmental footprint.
Since 2020, Altria has invited key members of our supply chains to disclose data through Carbon Disclosure Projects’ (CDP) questionnaires on climate change, water security and forests on the environmental impacts, risks, opportunities and strategies related to their businesses. And in 2023, we were recognized as a member of the CDP 2023 Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for climate change, highlighting our work in sustainable supply chain management. Learn more about our Environmental Goals.
We're now expanding supplier engagement beyond CDP to create a more comprehensive view of our environmental impact in the value chain. To do so, we partnered with SupplyShift to understand our suppliers’ commitments, aid in data collection for reporting and drive greater responsibility in our value chain.
We also believe having a value chain that resembles our diverse adult consumers and communities is critical to our future success. The utilization of diverse suppliers promotes innovation, drives competition and provides greater supply chain flexibility. In addition to our own strategic sourcing efforts, we actively support numerous national, regional and local Minority Supplier Development Councils. These councils serve as an economic growth engine for diverse businesses and create opportunities for these businesses to connect with corporations and other business owners. They also certify diverse businesses and provide programs to promote mentoring, coaching, networking and matchmaking with corporate partners.
Altria encourages diverse suppliers to be certified through national and regional Supplier Development Councils, state agencies and Chambers of Commerce. Please register your information and capabilities on our Diverse Supplier Portal.