For our
sourcemap assignment, I decided to look at my IKEA bed and try to understand where all its various parts came from. I started by poking around IKEA's website, and found a few generic documents about IKEA's commitment to 'global responsbility' and 'social practices', but no specifics about where they source their material.
Unsatisfied, I decided to try calling IKEA--after several transfers, I finally got the phone number for IKEA's executive customer service, where I politely inquired as to the countries of origin for their products. I was told that such information was confidential, and not given out to the public. When asked why such information was not given out to the public, IKEA responded that that kind of information is "not for consumers to have". weird.
However, after a bit more poking, I found this great
document. It's a research document put out by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences that looks at where and how IKEA gets its wood. Apparently, the top 5 suppliers are Russia, Poland, China, Romania, and Sweden. Armed with this knowledge and basic knowledge of where tree species grow, I could begin to guess as to where IKEA's wood comes from.
However, for the rest of the materials, I had to guess based on known production centers of certain materials, and main sources for steel.
The conclusion seems to be that your average IKEA product is made of materials sourced in Eastern Europe, Asia, and possibly Africa, assembled in China, and shipped to the USA.
