Sourcing & Supply Chain Management
Management Approach
Avient’s global supply chain presents both opportunities and responsibilities to manage risk, supplier performance, and sustainability. To address these responsibilities and support our strategy as an innovator of materials solutions, Avient applies a structured and multifaceted approach to sourcing and supply chain management. This approach integrates risk identification and mitigation, compliance and due diligence processes, sustainability principles, and performance expectations, supported by continuous improvement practices and collaborative engagement with suppliers who share these values.
Our Supplier Code of Conduct lays the foundation of our approach and sets expectations for our suppliers. It demonstrates our commitment to upholding human rights, environmental standards, and ethical compliance throughout our value chain. It is aligned closely with internationally recognized laws, standards, and practices including the International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, United Nations (UN), and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines.
Our contract language and purchasing conditions incorporate the Supplier Code of Conduct. In 2025, legacy key suppliers were asked to acknowledge the Code through a phased confirmation process. Where suppliers fail to meet applicable expectations, Avient reserves the right to take appropriate action, including termination of the business relationship.
Policies
Avient is committed to continuing partnerships with suppliers who align with the following policies:
- Environmental Policy
- Global Supplier Quality Manual
- Safety and Health Policy
- Supplier Code of Conduct
- Human Rights Policy
- Quality Policy
Avient equips the Global Sourcing Team with knowledge, tools, and resources needed to monitor supplier performance and manage compliance with applicable requirements. Suppliers are expected to assess and improve their practices over time in alignment with Avient’s expectations. To support these efforts, Avient employs a risk management and due diligence framework designed to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts, while strengthening the resilience of its global supply chain.
Risk Management
Avient manages sourcing risks through a structured process that includes ongoing monitoring, prioritization, assessment, and action. Key suppliers and materials are prioritized annually by spend and criticality of materials. This initial prioritization is followed by targeted risk evaluation using internal expertise and inputs from third-party platforms such as Resilinc and EcoVadis to develop risk scores based on metrics such as supplier performance, quality, supply continuity, and ESG assessments, and other elements to develop supplier and material risk scores. Sourcing team members use risk scores to develop mitigation actions. Results are monitored to inform continuous improvement.
Avient utilizes corrective action plans and on‑site audits to support supplier accountability and continuous improvement, primarily in response to identified quality and operational performance issues. Over time, Avient expects these mechanisms to continue supporting broader supplier risk management objectives.
In 2025, members of Avient’s Sourcing team developed and executed more than 250 targeted action plans focused on mitigating risk in priority areas. These actions contributed to measurable reduction of risk across the prioritized areas.
Sustainable Sourcing Program
Avient’s Sustainable Sourcing Program incorporates environmental, social, and governance considerations into our sourcing and supplier management approach, process, and policies. The program leverages our third-party risk assessment tools to incorporate sustainability factors including supplier sustainability performance into risk-based decision-making.
The principles of Avient’s Sustainable Sourcing Program are laid out in detail in our Supplier Code of Conduct. These principles guide supplier performance expectations and support consistent evaluation and management of supplier-related sustainability risks throughout the supply chain.
Program Principles
Human & Labor Rights
Avient expects its suppliers to respect fundamental human and labor rights and to operate in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Avient supports efforts to prevent human rights abuses within the supply chain and conducts business in a manner intended to avoid knowingly contributing to such abuses. Forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking are strictly prohibited. Suppliers are expected to respect freedom of association and collective bargaining rights and provide safe and healthy working conditions for their employees. Suppliers must operate in a responsible manner that is protective of the communities in which they are located.
Anti-Corruption and Ethical Business Practices
Avient expects suppliers to uphold high standards of ethical business conduct and strictly prohibits fraud, bribery, and other corrupt practices. Suppliers must comply with applicable trade compliance, import, and export control laws. Stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, and customers, may report supply chain‑related concerns through Avient’s established Ethics and Compliance reporting channels.
Environmental Responsibility
Avient expects suppliers to operate responsibly with respect to environmental compliance and performance and encourages continual improvement across areas such as energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water stewardship, waste management, and biodiversity protection. Avient engages with suppliers to support its climate‑related objectives, including, where appropriate, the collection of Product Carbon Footprint data to enhance understanding of Scope 3 emissions and respond to customer requests.
Supplier Sustainability Assessments
Supplier sustainability assessments are a key mechanism through which Avient applies its sustainability values in practice, utilizing third-party risk management tools such as Resilinc and EcoVadis to evaluate supplier sustainability performance via supplier assessments. Through Avient’s risk management process, key suppliers are identified, and as of 2025, key suppliers representing 80% of Avient’s direct raw material spend had valid sustainability assessments that were reviewed for policies, actions, and performance in environmental, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement.
Conflict Minerals Process
Avient conducts due diligence for conflict minerals in accordance with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and files an annual Conflict Minerals Report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Suppliers are required to comply with Avient’s Supplier Code of Conduct and Conflict Mineral Policy, which includes conducting due diligence within their own supply chains and ensuring products supplied to Avient do not directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo or an adjoining country.
Avient expects suppliers to utilize the Conflict Mineral Reporting Template (CMRT) provided by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), which facilitates the transfer of information through the supply chain regarding country of origin of gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten mineral (3TG), as well as smelters and refiners. RMI audits smelters’ due diligence practices through their Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) and provides lists of conformant smelters.
These processes support Avient’s commitment to responsible mineral sourcing and regulatory compliance.
Training & Education
In 2025, 100% of Avient Global Sourcing Team members responsible for managing relationships with key suppliers completed training and education on Avient’s sourcing risk management methodology, including sustainability assessment processes.
Supplier Collaboration
To support its role as an innovator of materials, Avient seeks to develop multifaceted, collaborative relationships with suppliers who value the importance of managing compliance risk, delivering strong performance, and embedding a sustainable mindset.
Since 2009, Avient has hosted an annual supplier summit, where all suppliers across the supply chain, both direct and indirect, are invited to attend. The summit facilitates collaborative, two‑way dialogue on topics such as sustainability, shared expectations, supply chain challenges, continuous improvement, and strategic alignment.
Recognizing Suppliers
At the annual supplier summit, Avient presents Supplier of the Year awards based on multiple factors, including supplier performance and alignment with Avient’s values related to ethics, environmental responsibility, human and labor rights, and sustainable sourcing.
