Transparency & Ethics in Supply Chains – A Personal Experience

As the IT lead at a medical institution, I am sharing a serious case involving a UPS unit (APC SRTG5KXLI) that was sold to us as brand new in June 2024 by an authorized distributor.

Upon installation, we reviewed the internal event logs and discovered entries dating back to April 27, 2022, including:

• Manual configuration (e.g., SNMP setup, IP address assignment)
• Bypass relay fault
• Event log clearing

These entries do not align with Schneider Electric’s documented factory testing procedures, as confirmed by both public technical resources and direct communication with their support team. However, later responses contradicted this, attributing the logged activity to “internal factory testing” without providing technical documentation to support that claim.

We officially reported the case through Schneider Electric’s EthicsPoint system and escalated it through all available corporate channels. Unfortunately, no clear resolution or corrective action has been provided to date.

As a healthcare provider, we cannot tolerate uncertainty about the authenticity or prior usage of critical infrastructure equipment.

All claims in this post are backed by verifiable documentation, available upon request, including:

• Extracted event logs showing the April 2022 entries
• Official responses from Schneider Electric (before and after the shift in position)
• Warranty invoice and delivery documentation
• Relevant Schneider documentation stating what is not included in factory testing (e.g., IP assignment, event log clearing)

I am sharing this in good faith, with the hope that transparency, accountability, and quality standards will prevail in global supply chains.

#EthicsInTech #HealthcareIT #SupplyChainTransparency #Accountability #SchneiderElectric #MedicalTechnology