Social Fingerprint: STX Vietnam Shipbuilder

GIEK was specifically interested in STX Vietnam's efforts as related to the IFC's Performance Standard 2, addressing labor and working conditions. GIEK uses these performance standards as a reference. This project leverages SAI's expertise from our ongoing work with the IFC. That work focuses on development of handbooks and toolkits for IFC-invested companies, to provide an understanding of the management systems and internal staff capabilities required for improving labor standards performance in a company and its supply chain. 

STX Vietnam, a branch of the international shipbuilding company, employs approximately 700 people in Vung Tau.  Onsite, SAI's Social Fingerprint^® Company Programused the 'measure and improve' approach to evaluate efforts in Social Fingerprint's^® nine process-based categories, identify priority areas for improvement, and provide online tips for improvement.  Following Mr. Gulur's visit, SAI will conduct a 5-day Basic Auditor and Introduction to SA8000^® course for 10 people at STX Vietnam. After the training, SAI will stay involved to provide technical assistance as needed- and to support STX Vietnam as it continues to develop and improve its management systems and working conditions.  

"Our cooperation with SAI has increased our awareness of social and working conditions at the yard, as it emphasized the importance of systemic approaches in daily work," said Roger Vassdal, General Director of STX Vietnam. "As we build trust with our customers, we simultaneously want to be a trusted employer. Our yard in Vung Tau is a Greenfield Investment literally built on our long experiences as a recognized Norwegian shipbuilder. We developed the yard in accordance with our high quality standards and trained our Vietnamese employees into skilled shipbuilders." 

The project originated when Kamil Zabielski, Senior Advisor at GIEK, approached SAI, looking for a way to integrate labor standards performance measurements into lending practices. Working together, Mr. Zabielski and SAI Director of Corporate Programs and Training, Craig Moss, developed a program to use SAI's Social Fingerprint^® to measure borrower labor standards performance at the time of the initial loan, and then establish measurable improvement targets tied to subsequent releases of funds.   

"This project has been very satisfying. It started out by developing an innovative and progressive pilot with Mr. Zabielski at GIEK, who in turn brought STX Vietnam into the project," said Mr. Moss. "Mr. Vassdal has shown tremendous leadership by committing to measure and improve working conditions at STX Vietnam. He recognized that the operating systems transferred from Norway needed to be localized and he embraced SAI's process-based approach. Having Mr. Gulur return to deliver 5-day training to the core team at STX Vietnam will help to really build a foundation for continual improvement at STX Vietnam - all to the ultimate benefit of the workers."  

This project takes place in a challenging and promising context; the highly competitive global shipbuilding market, with an annual growth rate of nearly 23%, wherein Vietnam is one of the leaders.  According to the 2011 Global Shipbuilding Market Report-- the major distinguishing quality of a shipbuilding company is its workforce, as measured through criteria such as productivity and worker skills.