NEW YORK, NY. - November 10, 2008 "“ The Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC) announced the launch of a new membership drive today, with up to 35% savings. The drive responds to industry requests to maximize collaborative and cost saving opportunities in compliance.

"In today's economic times, companies are seeking ways to reduce costs, while increasing the effectiveness of their ethical sourcing initiatives," said Marianne Voss, the FFC's Executive Director, "and the FFC can help."

Launched in 2004, the FFC is a non-profit organization and membership community of businesses collaborating to use technology to enable cost effective, well-informed ethical business transactions and improved global workplaces. The FFC provides members with software tools to manage and share data about workplace conditions, enabling improved supply chain / workplace efficiency, accountability and economy.

Those that sign-up by the end of 2008 can receive up to 35% in savings on membership dues, joining for as little as 4,000 and as much as 17,500. We also encourage companies with similar supply chains to sign up in groups, receiving an extra 15% off, to maximize benefits of collaboration. By leveraging this offer, ROI is achieved upon collaboration on just a few audits or corrective action plans (CAPs).

As our members drive our software innovation, it reflects the cumulative requirements of the industry. In response to an industry need for an independent collaborative IT solution, the FFC launched the Sharing Platform in April 2008. It helps members to easily identify supply chain overlap and facilitates sharing compliance audits and CAPs collected by any participant for accessibility and use among all participants (anonymously or not). The FFC operates with a business review letter from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Facilitating collaboration to improve factory conditions is a fundamental goal of the FFC," said Ms. Voss. "Since the launch of our sharing platform seven months ago, we have identified 1,800 shared factories across our current members, with 5,987 compliance documents stored in the system. Some factories were audited as much as 35 times, and some not at all. This provides a world of opportunity, that could result in millions in collective cost savings to our members."

Looking ahead, Ms. Voss said, "This experience demonstrates the opportunity of collaboration. Our members could now eliminate 4,157 duplicative audits next year. They can expand their monitoring coverage. They can pool expertise, identify common needs, prioritize them and work together with increased leverage on a single corrective action plan. They can reduce factory costs that result in increased product costs. In today's business climate, I am proud to offer a unique solution that can help our members reduce workload and costs, while enhancing their performance. With this membership drive, we seek to grow our community, and expand our ability to maximize financial and operational efficiencies, to free up resources for improving factory workplace conditions across the industry."

The FFC's rapidly growing database currently contains over 19,000 factory records, with compliance data stored on 97% percent of factories in the system, including over 43,000 compliance documents. Our membership categories have expanded to include brands, vendors, non-profit organizations, universities and factories.

Members are needed to scale up collaborative opportunities. Everyone is encouraged to join. Help your company, help your factories, and help the industry.

Fair Factories Clearinghouse

Fair Factories Clearinghouse

The Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC)'s is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 with a simple but innovative idea: offer software to companies, within a collaborative membership community. FFC One World is “A Collaborative Workplace.” In CSR, sharing information and experience results in greater knowledge overall, and this means progress. Through sharing and collaboration, beginners can gain from people with more experience. Small enterprises can learn from larger companies with greater resources and risk management backgrounds. A motive in common is to improve human rights and environmental working conditions around the world. Within the collaborative community are answers to many questions. Join. Ask. Share. Become part of the Fair Factories Clearinghouse partnership--support and take advantage of shared efforts to create more effective and efficient monitoring practices for you and the industry.

More from Fair Factories Clearinghouse