Acco Brands's Suppliers Performance

The primary materials used in the manufacturing of many of our products are paper, plastics, resin, polyester and polypropylene substrates, steel, wood, aluminum, melamine, zinc and cork. These materials are available from a number of suppliers, and we are not dependent upon any single supplier for any of these materials. Based on our experience, we believe that adequate quantities of these materials will be available in the foreseeable future.

Our products are either manufactured or sourced to ensure that we supply our customers with appropriate customer service, quality products, innovative solutions and attractive pricing. We have built a customer-focused business model with a flexible supply chain to ensure that these factors are appropriately balanced. Using a combination of manufacturing and third-party sourcing also enables us to reduce our costs and effectively manage our production assets by lowering capital investment and working capital requirements. Our strategy is to manufacture locally those products that would incur a relatively high freight and/or duty expense or have high service needs and source those products that have a high proportion of direct labor cost. We currently manufacture approximately half of our products locally where we operate, and source the remaining half. Low-cost sourcing primarily comes from China, but we also source from other Far Eastern countries and Eastern Europe.

The primary materials used in the manufacturing of many of our products are paper, plastics, resin, polyester and polypropylene substrates, steel, wood, aluminum, melamine, zinc and cork. These materials are available from a number of suppliers, and we are not dependent upon any single supplier for any of these materials. Based on our experience, we believe that adequate quantities of these materials will be available in the foreseeable future.

Our products are either manufactured or sourced to ensure that we supply our customers with appropriate customer service, quality products, innovative solutions and attractive pricing. We have built a customer-focused business model with a flexible supply chain to ensure that these factors are appropriately balanced. Using a combination of manufacturing and third-party sourcing also enables us to reduce our costs and effectively manage our production assets by lowering capital investment and working capital requirements. Our strategy is to manufacture locally those products that would incur a relatively high freight and/or duty expense or have high service needs and source those products that have a high proportion of direct labor cost. We currently manufacture approximately half of our products locally where we operate, and source the remaining half. Low-cost sourcing primarily comes from China, but we also source from other Far Eastern countries and Eastern Europe.