to Overcome Today’s Challenges
BUSINESS INTERVIEW
to Overcome Today’s Challenges
Wilbert Baerwaldt, Head of Sourcing at Duni Group, discusses business solutions to the current supply chain challenges.
Duni Group is one of the leading creators of sustainable and innovative concepts for the set table and takeaway.
t offers a range of high-quality and environmentally-sound products, such as napkins, table covers, and candles, along with packaging and packaging systems for takeaway.
Wilbert Baerwaldt, Head of Sourcing at Duni, explains, “We want to sell articles to the market that can be used during dinner occasions, as well as
events where people gather such as weddings and other celebrations. The articles that we bring to the table are fashionable, colourful and practical in design.”
Until recently, the concept of single-use products was viewed as convenient, but this is now being
challenged by the drive to close the loop and be more sustainable. Wilbert continues, “We are working hard to keep up with changing customer demands. In France, for instance, new legislation banned single-use plastics from the market. Many countries develop similar laws to reduce waste. For us, it meant that customers were not able to buy parts of our assortment and that we had change our offer. We are putting a lot of effort into making our products more circular through cooperation with other organisations. This process is driving the organisation forward in new, exciting territory.”
The journey of becoming more sustainable does not come without its own set of challenges, as Wilbert explains, “It is an interesting time, but reducing our Scope-3 emissions is a top priority. It is critical for the environment, as well as our customers because they are increasingly asking for more sustainable solutions.
From a procurement perspective, we have to run the business in the current environment, which is already extremely volatile due to the war in
Ukraine, summer weather patterns, and lack of raw materials. A lot of factors are making it more difficult to source the materials that we need on time and in full. At the same time, we are on this journey to become more sustainable, so we need to expand our network and make sure we always have access to the newest technologies from our suppliers to reach our goals. This is valid for energy and materials.”
The Covid-19 pandemic was a huge disruption to supply chains everywhere, and according to
“Our operation’s organisation is set up in a flexible way so that we can meet demands of our customers”
Wilbert Baerwaldt, Head of Sourcing at Duni Group
Wilbert, companies are not quite out of the woods yet. He says, “When the first wave hit Europe, many countries went into lockdown, and up to 90 per cent of our employees were on short working time contracts. It had a massive impact on our organisation. We are now in the opposite situation where a lot of people in Europe are again going out for dinner, while many are also still sick, so we are facing challenges with producing all the products that are needed in the market. At the same time, there is a lack of materials in some areas
because of disruptions in the supply market, like the sanctions imposed upon Russia. To mitigate some of these effects, we are working continuously to make sure we develop our employees so that they have broad competences and can support where it is most needed. Our operation’s organisation is set up in a flexible way so that we can meet demands of our customers. Although this is still an uphill battle, we are making good progress and are getting stronger by the day!”
The organisation is divided into two separate business units:
1. The business unit selling mainly napkins and table covers to hotels, restaurants and retail chains, and
2. The business unit selling food packaging solutions to a variety of customers like takeaway restaurants.
Wilbert adds, “At the time during Covid when restaurants were not allowed to receive guests, they
were getting more requests from people to prepare food to take home. The takeaway business unit therefore flourished during Covid, which has helped us to get through the last two years.”
In helping companies to prepare for what the future might have in store, Wilbert believes that digitalisation can play a key role. He elaborates, “Digitalisation is very important because it allows you to connect to your suppliers and automate transactional process steps. It requires
you to be disciplined when it comes to maintaining structured information about your suppliers in the system. However, suppliers do need time to familiarise themselves with these systems and some training is involved. Digitalisation is critical for our network, but it takes time, and technology is also developing fast so that it is sometimes hard to keep up. It is another dynamic that we must consider in our sourcing and purchasing activities throughout the year. The purchase-2 pay software providers also put a lot of time into the development of predictive methods. Are we late ordering due to lead time patterns from this or that supplier? Or the system advises us that we need to avoid a certain route due to weather conditions, for example. It could even propose certain new suppliers that might be relevant. It is an interesting and important area to follow.”
However, Wilbert also holds the view that it will be unlikely that a customer-supplier relationship will be operating on a fully digital process. Purchase-to-pay technologies will continue to face challenges to create a fully secure network. Within an increasingly volatile environment, we will fall back on relationships, as we have seen during the last six months.
Wilbert explains, “In order to secure deliveries and the availability of materials, it will be important that
“As buyers, we are the in using the technology, technology people. right people involved
the responsible category leader maintains a wide network of suppliers and has good relationships with all of them. Automation will get us far, but not all the way. There are simply too many service providers offering this connectivity in the value chain, both from the supplier side, but also from the buyer’s side. This complexity limits our possibilities to create a fully transparent and a 100 per cent connected network. So, relationship management is another key to success.”
So, how does a Head of Procurement decide which technologies to leverage? Wilbert answers, “It starts with finding out which technologies are appropriate for the question you are solving. You need to pay close attention to what is being developed and talk to potential suppliers to understand what their offer looks like. What are the key parameters to use when selecting a supplier? One consideration is obviously cost, but you also need to look at whether the technology is built on a combination of technologies or built from scratch, how advanced the technology is and whether there is the possibility to use the data, as well as how often it is being used by the market leaders. It is a very complex process. As buyers, we are the key stakeholder in using the technology, but we are not technology people. You need to get the right people involved to support you.”
the key stakeholder technology, but we are not You need to get the involved to support you”
With innovative green chemistry, we mimic nature’s own solutions and create sustainable materials and products of the future with cuttingedge technical performance and functionality.
An example of our green innovations is the entirely fossil-free and biodegradable binder that is used to replace plastic binders in nonwovens. Our binders are made from biopolymers derived from side streams in the food industry. By using Nobel prize winning organocatalysis we thereafter “click”-on the biopolymers to the cellulosic materials to improve their mechanical properties.
A great example where our biobased binders are used is fossil-free and home compostable premium napkins. With our technologies we have developed many more 100% biobased and biodegradable materials for different applications. We say the material has been Made Green Inside—for a sustainable future.
Read more about how we replace plastic in a number of disposable products at www.organoclick.com
The same is valid to reach the Duni Group sustainability targets. As these targets result in challenging activities, decisions have been taken to cooperate more with partners in the market, along with its own expertise. The Duni Group is cooperating with companies to ‘close the loop’ or to develop new materials. One of these organisations is raw materials supplier Organo Click. Wilbert says, “Organo Click is helping us to make some of our articles more sustainable. They are using new technologies and raw materials to make the materials that they sell into the market. They are quite advanced in developing these raw materials.”
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“Organo Click is helping us to make some of our articles more sustainable. They are using new technologies and raw materials to make the materials that they sell into the market”
Wilbert adds, “We have a fantastic opportunity to keep suppliers closer to the organisation by supporting each other in how materials can be developed. I believe that the current challenges can only be overcome through cooperation. It will require a mindset shift when people start to realise that, as an organisation, we cannot be perfect at everything. We need to work together to take us further, so that we can then support others. It is extremely motivating, and very different to how we operated in the past. Cooperation is central, and companies have to be bold.”
There is currently very little alignment at European level on how companies can become more sustainable going forward, so they need to make appropriate decisions that will steer them in a certain direction. Wilbert says, “We are often in discussions about the next steps we need to take. Sustainability means different things to different people, and this lack of alignment can be a real problem for companies.”
“Different people bring different skillsets to the organisation, and having a good mix is key”
Outside of the boardroom, Wilbert enjoys mentoring, educating and supporting the development of individuals. He is also involved in activities with the University of Lund, where they investigate how sourcing organisations should prepare themselves for further future increased dynamic environments. Wilbert elaborates, “For me, mentoring is really important. It is all about communication and sharing your experiences so that others can learn from them. I am connected to a school where I am supporting with workshops on purchasing, sourcing, supply chain, logistics etc. It is essential to inform the next generation about the challenges we are facing to prepare them in the right way for their tasks.”
Wilbert believes that there should be more people from the business world entering into education. He concludes, “Good education strikes a balance between reallife examples and theory. I enjoy supporting colleagues in our organisation, as well as younger people coming into the industry. I have to be humble because we are often hiring people with competencies that I lack. Different people bring different skillsets to the organisation, and having a good mix is key.”
For further information on Duni Group, visit www.dunigroup.com
www.dunigroup.com
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