Supply chain

The ESG programmes, strategies and activities pursued by an organisation or a company are no longer purely internal nowadays but increasingly also include business partners and suppliers. The legislation and regulations in this field are moving in this direction, too. The aim is to ensure that suppliers ensure the health and safety of their employees, respect fair competition and property rights, and use natural resources with care. Cooperation between TX Group and its suppliers is based on mutual trust and respect and is geared towards long-term partnerships. Suppliers are required to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. By means of responsible procurement, the company also aims to meet the expectations of its stakeholders. If, despite careful selection of suppliers, TX Group employees find out that a supplier is conducting business in a manner that is inconsistent with the company’s values and standards or is in violation of applicable laws and regulations, they are encouraged to report these concerns to their line manager. Since TX Group is made up of different companies, the persons responsible for the respective supply chains are organised on a decentralised basis.

Paper suppliers are one of the most important elements of the TX Group supply chain. They are of paramount importance in connection with the print products: in particular, a secure supply of paper is critical for the production of daily newspapers. Forming the largest network of its kind in Switzerland, the Group’s printing centres are responsible for ensuring the printing and distribution of printed newspapers nationwide. The fact that its printed newspapers are able to reach target groups who receive quality journalism through the medium of print is rated higher by the Group than the ecological aspect: well-informed citizens are crucial to democracy. With regard to due diligence in the selection of paper suppliers, TX Group focuses on the latter’s sustainability reports. The paper is sourced from selected suppliers, with approximately half the paper being produced in Switzerland. The distance between supplier and printing centre is 50 to 200 kilometres. For reasons of security of supply, paper is also sourced from producers based in European countries in the immediate vicinity of Switzerland (specifically: Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria and Finland) with a delivery distance of up to 700 kilometres. At the same time, there has been a significant decline in the number of suppliers of newsprint paper. For this reason, the criterion of supply security is a key factor for TX Group in addition to sustainability. The selected paper suppliers place great importance to the resource-saving use of materials during production. Processes are designed to ensure consistently eco-friendly operations. The paper they offer is made of 90 per cent recycled paper. Print products that have not been sold are returned to the suppliers for reuse, along with the paper waste generated by the printing plants. For details of the volume of paper used annually for print products, packaging and offices, please refer to chapter – material consumption (page 36).

At TX Group, in addition to the selection of paper suppliers, the subsequent transport and distribution of the newspapers and magazines printed with this paper are also key factors in the ESG efficiency of print products. The company’s print products are produced seven days a week. They are transported nationwide on a total of 350 tours from our printing centres to the premises of our distributors’ organisations, which then take care of local distribution to letterboxes (subscribers), kiosks (individual sales) and newsstands (20 Minuten). On these carefully compiled tours, which are regularly checked for efficiency, TX Group’s logistics partners cover a total of around 8 million transport kilometres every year. The majority of the vans deployed are medium-sized (Sprinter), and most of them run on conventional fuels so as to avoid limitations in terms of range and payload. However, the company is closely observing how its transport partner companies are progressing with their partial conversion to electric transporters. As with the procurement of paper, TX Group also relies on local suppliers based in Switzerland for the procurement of hardware (such as computers, laptops, printers, monitors and mobile phones). In order to avoid unnecessary transportation routes, the devices are delivered directly and without detour via an internal intermediate storage facility to the location determined by the employees themselves (e.g. office premises or work-from-home location). The successive changeover from stationary computers to mobile laptops in recent years has fortunately resulted in a lower level of electricity consumption; energy efficiency is also a key factor in the procurement of new monitors. Close cooperation with the Purchasing team guarantees the compliant procurement of hardware and software. In the area of advertising marketing, Goldbach is commissioned by publishers in various media genres to sell advertising inventories to advertisers, while advertisers or the agencies they commission turn to Goldbach to place their advertising messages. Various technologies (AdTech platforms) and booking systems are used, often operated by third parties. As described in the chapter «Responsible advertising» (page 30 to 31), media ethics and transparency are key factors here.