Partnering closely with our suppliers

We partner with suppliers who share our commitment to innovation and are willing to help us address some of the world’s most pressing health challenges.

To ensure our suppliers meet AbbVie’s quality, compliance and social responsibility requirements, we work closely with them. Not only do we communicate with our network of suppliers regularly, but also, we monitor and help them enhance their performance based on our well-defined, stringent metrics.

Supplier quality and dependability

We work closely with our suppliers to continually learn and improve. We conduct formal management reviews and performance audits to ensure that their materials meet our high expectations for technical specifications, quality and safety. We also help them improve their social responsibility programs and results.

We provide all AbbVie suppliers with our Supplier Code of Conduct. This Code outlines our expectations in the areas of ethical behavior, business integrity and fair competition, human rights, privacy, labor rights and worker protection, animal welfare, environmental stewardship and health and safety practices.

Supplier Social Responsibility Program

The mission for our Supplier Social Responsibility Program, which is part of the AbbVie Supplier Sustainability Program, is to evaluate new and existing suppliers to ensure they provide safe working conditions, dignified and respectful treatment of independent contractors, maintain environmentally responsible manufacturing processes, ethical practices and sufficient management systems.

To find what types of information we look for, take the Supplier Sustainability Survey. Plus, find AbbVie’s disclosure on the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act—Human Trafficking here.

For further information about AbbVie’s Supplier Social Responsibility Program, contact us at AbbVieSustainabilityProgram@abbvie.com.

Supplier Risk Management

To ensure continuous supply to our customers, we assess potential gaps and implement strategic action plans to mitigate product supply chain risk. We monitor the financial health of our suppliers and conduct quality compliance audits of third parties. We also work jointly with our critical suppliers to perform risk assessments, and where required, we support those suppliers in developing business continuity plans. In 2014, Supplier Risk Management enhanced our risk mapping solution to rapidly assess the impact to natural disasters, political unrest, terrorism and other crisis events on our supply chain. We mapped out supply lanes, key suppliers, third-party manufacturers and logistics for all brands and products. Our improved tool provides broader line of sight into risks across the global supply chain on a real-time basis, offering 24/7 alerts to key decision makers in vulnerable locations. In 2015, the risk mapping solution was critical during events such as natural disasters. It enabled us to put mitigation strategies in place to sustain our business and account for all local employees and business travelers.

Supplier guidelines and resources

What we purchase

We purchase goods and services from more than 51,000 suppliers around the world, including, but not limited to, the following categories:

• Advertising
• Agricultural commodities
• Banking
• Biological products
• Capital equipment
• Chemical products
• Commercial services
• Computers/computer suppliers
• Construction
• Consulting
• Disposables
• Electronics energy/utilities
• Engineering services
• Financial
• Fleet vehicles/services
• Food services
• Fuels/lubricants
• Glass containers
• Health care professional (HCP) services
• Health care organizations (HCOs)
• Human resources (HR)
• Injection-molded parts
• IT/telecom services
• Janitorial/laundry services
• Landscaping/paving/blacktopping
• Legal services
• Logistics/transportation services
• Machined parts
• Market research
• Metal fabrication
• Maintenance, repair, operations (MRO) supplies
• Meetings and events
• Needles/cannulas
• Office supplies/services
• Packaging/supplies/labels
• Pest control/waste removal
• Printing
• Professional services
• Public relations (PR)Safety supplies
• Scheduled drugs/specially denatured alcohols (SDA)
• Third-party manufacturing
• Training
• Transportation/delivery
• Vehicle maintenance

Supplier expectations

Legacy Allergan Supplier Code of Conduct

The Supplier Code of Conduct provides in-depth detail about beginning and managing a relationship with AbbVie. Our suppliers are required to read and agree to the supplier code of conduct contained therein, which make our expectations clear in a variety of areas

• Ethical behavior
• Business integrity and fair competition
• Human rights
• Privacy
• Labor rights and worker protection
• Animal welfare
• Environmental stewardship
• Health and safety practices

New Supplier Onboarding & Training

Registration and approval as a supplier are required for doing business with us. To make registration as straightforward as possible, we’ve partnered with SAP Ariba to provide a portal for would-be suppliers. The link to the Ariba Network portal is included in the email inviting you to register.

During the registration process, you’ll create an Ariba Network account. This account provides access to the portal and your registration questionnaire. You may save a draft of your registration questionnaire at any point - log in to your Ariba Network account to complete and submit your registration later. Control over who has access to the portal is yours – you can add users and create roles to allow different users different access. 

After being approved to be an AbbVie supplier, use the portal to maintain your information. Change of address? New contact person? New bank account? No problem – log in to your Ariba Network account and make the change to your AbbVie registration, and we’ll take it from there.

Ready to get started? We’ve created two documents to guide you – the Quick Start Guide to AbbVie Supplier Registration and the Ariba Portal User Guide for Suppliers.

Ariba Portal User Guide for Suppliers – A complete guide to creating your Ariba Network account, adding users, creating roles, and assigning roles to your Ariba Network users. The guide also covers completing your AbbVie registration form and maintaining your AbbVie registration over time.

View the Ariba Portal User Guide for Suppliers here.

Quick Start Guide - This simplified guide covers two tasks 1) creating your SAP Ariba Network account and 2) completing your AbbVie registration. 

View the Quick Start Guide here.

Supplier Diversity Program

Our Supplier Diversity Program covers North America and is a crucial part of the competitiveness in our supply chain. AbbVie’s small business/supplier diversity policy ensures that we provide equal opportunities for small and diverse-owned businesses. Working with our supplier diversity leader, our on-site supplier diversity champions provide oversight, monitor spend and facilitate diverse supplier development activities. AbbVie requests that suppliers register via a portal so that our procurement teams can access information across AbbVie locations.

Currently, AbbVie tracks spend with the following suppliers with the following ownership classifications:

Small businesses, which include:

• Veteran-owned
• Service-disabled veteran-owned
• Women-owned
• Minority-owned
• Small disadvantaged, 8(a)
• Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone)
• Alaska Native Corporations (ANC)/Indian tribes
• Nonprofits

Diverse businesses with third-party certifications, which include:

• National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
• Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified Women Business Enterprises (WBE)
• National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) certified Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Businesses
• Disability:IN

Outreach and advocacy activities

AbbVie representatives participate in local, regional and national matchmaking events, trade fairs and conferences where suppliers are given the opportunity to discuss their products and services in person with one of our purchasing team members. A few of these events include:

• Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council (CMSDC) Chicago Business Opportunity Fair (CBOF)
• Puerto Rico Minority Supplier Development Council (PRMSDC) Opportunity Fair
• National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)
• Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
• Diversity Alliance For Science (DA4S)
• Elite Service-Disabled Veteran Conference
• National Veteran Small Business Conference

Getting started

Registration with AbbVie is a prerequisite for doing business with us. Once you register, your business’s information will be available to AbbVie category managers across North America through our portal, ensuring your firm will be considered for applicable RFIs or RFPs in a timely, efficient fashion. Registration with AbbVie does not guarantee business; however, it does increase the chances of your business being reviewed by the appropriate persons on our procurement team.

We’ve developed a user-friendly, easy-to-use portal for registration. If you have any questions during the registration process, call the help desk number provided within the tool. You can also request additional help and information at any time in the process by contacting Supplierdiversity@abbvie.com.

Stewardship and quality

Enhancing the lives of our patients

AbbVie’s goal is simple: to improve people’s lives around the world. A fundamental focus of this goal is ensuring that our products are safe and effective, and that they deliver their intended benefits. We work hard to ensure we use safe ingredients and processes during product manufacturing, and we hold our suppliers to the same high standards of quality that we apply to ourselves.

Restricted substances and REACH requirements

Every year governments around the globe introduce new laws and regulations controlling the use of certain chemical substances in manufacturing. Some examples of these regulations include:

• The Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH)
• Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)
  
• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
  

Because of this increased regulatory focus on restricted substances, AbbVie asks our suppliers to complete a Restricted Substance Query that includes complete chemical composition data for all parts provided to AbbVie. In cases where complete (i.e., 100%) information is not currently available, the query requests composition data for the chemical substances currently identified under the regulatory initiatives mentioned above.

Any questions you have about restricted substances should be directed to AbbVie.REACH@abbvie.com.

Trusted Trader Programs

AbbVie has committed to ensuring the security of its supply chain by the participation in various voluntary Trusted Trader Programs, including Customs and Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Authorized Economic Operator (AEO). These programs are critical to AbbVie and help ensure business and operational continuity.

Requirements for foreign suppliers shipping to the United States

AbbVie participates in the U.S. Customs & Border Protection supply chain security program known as C-TPAT. Our participation in C-TPAT requires AbbVie to ensure that all our overseas suppliers have implemented security processes and procedures that protect the integrity of our supply chain.

As a valued business partner, all non-US suppliers are required to complete the Supply Chain Security Questionnaire below and sign the accompanying Memorandum of Understanding or provide evidence of their own participation in C-TPAT or an equivalent supply chain security program. Submit completed surveys and questions regarding C-TPAT requirements to: Trusted_Trader@AbbVie.com.

Failure to complete the security questionnaire may jeopardize our ability to purchase and import materials from your company.

Download the Supply Chain Security Questionnaire here.

Payment requirements

For questions about payments or to submit invoices via electronic data interchange (EDI), fax or email, contact our Accounts Payable Call Center.

AbbVie uses the following requirements for all payments:

• AbbVie’s standard payment terms are net 90 days after receipt of an undisputed invoice.
  
• Suppliers must have an up-to-date supplier registration for orders to be placed.
• Invoices must use the unit of measure on the purchase order for the invoice to be paid.