Antalis presented Sappi Europe with Supplier Excellence Award 2013. Sappi Europe has become the first supplier to win the Antalis award for two successive years.
Andy Christian, Purchasing Director for Antalis UK and Ireland presented the trophy in London to John Clinton, Managing Director Sappi UK and Flavio Froehli, Sales Director at Sappi Europe.
Christian said, ‘This really is a tremendous achievement by Sappi. Our Supplier Excellence Programme focuses on improving consistency of manufacturing lead time, accuracy of delivery, product quality and speed of complaint resolution. Sappi scored highly across all categories. To win the award once is an achievement, but to beat off the competition to retain it for a second year in succession is a real endorsement of the quality of the Sappi team and their commitment to driving for continuous improvement.’
Clinton said, ‘All involved at Sappi are delighted that we have managed to secure this valued award for the second year running. Achieving the results to win this award involves many of our employees co-operating across a range of functions and locations such as manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, IT, and customer service, sales and marketing. Working closely with our counterparts at Antalis has enabled us to understand issues and adapt processes to be more efficient and effective which benefits both companies. We look forward to continuing to improve and will compete heavily for the 2014 trophy also.’
Christian added, ‘Providing fast, reliable local service on quality products to our customers is of course a fundamental requirement. Being able to provide that service cost effectively when you stock over 100000 pallets across 15 UK warehouses is heavily reliant on large scale partnerships with suppliers who are committed to supply chain efficiency.
‘All of our suppliers understand that, and our track record shows that we will continue to grow our business with partners who have the same mind-set as us, that the true value of doing business goes way beyond the apparent up front cost of the product.’
Previous winners of the Antalis Supplier of the Year award include UPM, Sealed Air and Tullis Russell and Christian is anticipating a strong push from these and all other suppliers to wrestle the trophy away from Sappi in 2014.
