Responsible sourcing is something that we at UPM take very seriously. As one important element in deepening the co-operation with our supplier network, UPM’s paper businesses conduct thorough supplier performance surveys annually.
This year we have initiated a process to grant an award to our top-performing supplier based on the survey results.
GmbH & Co. KG (left) & Frank Bruns from UPM.
The first-ever ‘Best in Category Supplier’ award of UPM Paper ENA and Paper Asia went to Paul & Co, a German-based supplier of paper cores to UPM mills.
This is the fourth year running that Paul & Co have ranked as UPM’s best packaging supplier. They also achieved overall high scores across all categories.
“We want to work with best-in-class suppliers and continuously aim to find ways to further improve our joint performance. Paul & Co is a great example. Over the past four years they have demonstrated their ability to continuously improve efficiency in line with UPM’s requirements. Our open dialogue has brought many mutual benefits,” says Tuomas Sovijärvi, Vice President responsible for Sourcing at UPM Paper ENA and Paper Asia.
“This award makes us very proud and is an incentive for us to carry on proving our high performance and innovation level. Thanks to our very close partnership, we are always kept up-to-date on all relevant issues, which allows us to offer optimum solutions together,” says Manfred Kunert, Managing Director of Paul & Co.
“The annual supplier assessment as well as meetings at the sites and with UPM Sourcing team are of great help to us in this respect. Our aim is to continue to improve our performance and to further strengthen and expand our cooperation with UPM also in the future,” he adds.
The purpose of UPM’s annual survey is to gather feedback on supplier performance directly from the paper mills. The mills evaluate their suppliers on cost, safety and environmental performance as well as quality, supply and service performance. In general the mills were satisfied, with most suppliers averaging scores of 3.19 on a scale of 1-5.
The survey gives suppliers an opportunity to gauge their performance against peers, thus providing incentive for continual improvement. In 2015 UPM proposed more than 200 corrective actions based on the results of the survey. For many suppliers UPM is the only customer that provides systematic feedback on their performance, addressing issues that need to be corrected.
“Our suppliers are very keen to hear the results and take action. Our objective is to identify and eliminate product, process and service performance issues. The survey also helps us identify opportunities for future improvements and helps us work together to eliminate inefficiencies in the in-bound supply chain,” Sovijärvi says.
The next supplier survey will be conducted at the beginning of 2016.
Paul & Co in brief:
Paul & Co produces paper cores for the paper, films and foil, metal and textile industries at 12 factories. The product range also includes angular edge protectors and edge protectors for reels, u-profiles, fibre drums and composite cans. Paul & Co is a company of the Kunert Group. www.paulundco.de/en