Unilever hosts Supply Chain Business Partner event

The Supply Chain Business Partner (SCBP) event hosted by Unilever Sri Lanka at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in January brought together the company's supply chain team and their business partners. It was the first time such an event was held to host and felicitate the company's leading suppliers.

At the event, Unilever Sri Lanka shared business strategies and future plans with the business partners to facilitate their involvement and enhance their input to the overall business.

The key objective was to ensure that the SCBP's are aligned with Unilever Sri Lanka's business strategies and deliverables so that the partnership is rendered more effective. Business partners (BPs), including raw and packing material suppliers and outsourced manufacturing operations personnel attended.

The highlight of the evening was the awards ceremony at which awards were presented in recognition of outstanding work delivered by the BPs during 2010.

Partners were evaluated throughout 2010 by means of a vendor evaluation scheme for both packaging materials and outsourced manufacturing sites for quality, timely delivery and customer service. Suppliers were also rated on their compliance with Unilever Goods Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and their overall contribution to the company's enhancement.

In 2010 the Unilever supply chain team also worked with their BPs to upgrade them to the highest rating they could achieve in accordance with the standards of the company.

The result was gratifying, as Unilever Sri Lanka bestow an "A" rating on seven of their BPs.

Outsourced manufacturing BPs were rated on Quality, Safety, Health and Environment, and Customer Service.

A systematic process of auditing has ensured that the BPs complied with standards related to these categories, with optimum benefits to Unilever and their customer base.