Supply chain disruptions can arise with little warning from natural disasters, climate events, utility failures, cyber incidents, labor shortages, supplier insolvencies, transportation disruptions, geopolitical developments, or operational failures. A disruption at any point in the supply chain can quickly affect material availability, production schedules, logistics, quality performance, customer commitments, and ultimately business continuity.
To help strengthen resilience across our supply network, Solenis has developed a comprehensive Supplier Business Continuity Planning Guide and Self-Assessment for chemical and packaging suppliers. The guide provides practical tools and best practices to help suppliers evaluate their readiness, identify potential vulnerabilities, and establish robust continuity arrangements appropriate to their operations and risk profile. It is based on ISO 22301 business continuity principles, although ISO certification is not required.
What the Guide Covers
The guide follows a practical lifecycle approach designed to help suppliers understand what is critical, prepare for disruption, respond effectively, and continuously improve. Key topics include:
- Business Continuity Management governance and ownership
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and recovery priorities
- Risk identification and risk assessment
- Climate resilience and natural hazard preparedness
- Continuity strategies for manufacturing, logistics, utilities, workforce, IT/OT and supply chain dependencies
- Incident response and recovery management
- Customer and Solenis communication during disruptions
- Training, awareness, exercises and testing
- Continuous improvement and corrective action management
- Supplier maturity self-assessment and improvement planning
Why Business Continuity Matters
A robust Business Continuity Plan helps suppliers:
- Protect employee safety and environmental performance during disruptions
- Reduce the likelihood and duration of supply interruptions
- Improve recovery speed and decision-making capabilities
- Better manage climate-related and operational risks
- Strengthen customer confidence and business resilience
- Protect critical products, services, facilities and supply networks
Business continuity is not solely about documented procedures. Effective programs are regularly reviewed, tested, exercised, and updated to reflect changes in operations, products, sites, technologies, and emerging risks.
Self-Assessment and Continuous Improvement
The guide includes practical worksheets, maturity self-assessment tools, corrective action tracking, scenario exercise prompts, and a one-page BCP checklist that suppliers can use to benchmark their current capabilities and identify improvement opportunities. Suppliers are encouraged to periodically review their plans, conduct exercises, verify recovery capabilities, and address identified gaps.
Communication During a Disruption
Preparedness is important, but timely communication is equally critical.
If a supplier becomes aware of an actual or potential event that could impact products or services supplied to Solenis, the supplier should notify their Solenis Category Leader as soon as possible. Early communication enables collaborative risk assessment, contingency planning, and implementation of mitigation measures to minimize business impact.
Due Diligence and Evidence Requirements
As part of the Solenis Supplier Risk Management Program, suppliers may be requested to provide Business Continuity Planning information or supporting evidence through a risk diligence process managed within the Coupa Risk platform. Requests will be proportionate to the supplier's criticality, risk profile, supplied products or services, and potential impact on Solenis operations. This supports Solenis' broader supply chain resilience objectives and supplier risk management framework.
Suppliers who would like to proactively share information regarding their Business Continuity Program may send it to:
supplierrisk@solenis.com
For questions regarding the guide, business continuity expectations, or the Solenis Supplier Risk Program, please contact supplierrisk@solenis.com.