Tulip played host to more than 150 suppliers ranging from pig producers to ingredients, packaging and equipment companies at a recent event to mark the launch of its new “Winning Together” initiative.
Chief executive Chris Thomas told members of the audience that Tulip is looking to achieve end-to-end collaboration across its supply chain by forging long-term strategic partnerships with its key suppliers.
“This is first time that we have ever got our suppliers together in this way and I hope we have given everyone a real insight into our vision to establish Tulip as the number one consumer food solutions business,” he explained. “The post-recession landscape delivers a number of challenges to our industry however, more importantly it affords a fantastic opportunity for those organisations, like Tulip, that are genuinely prepared to start thinking and behaving in a very different way.
“We now operate in a marketplace where value and quality are a given,” MrThomas added. “We know we can only differentiate ourselves from our competitors and deliver growth in our market if we truly understand what consumers want and are able to translate that knowledge into exciting formats that anticipate and meet their needs.
“We have a tremendous amount of expertise across our supply base and we want to work much more collaboratively with key suppliers to ensure we harness that in the best possible way.
“Winning Together is about exactly that, we are being very honest and open about our intention to reduce our supply base and that the big winners will be those suppliers who genuinely want to enter into sustainable long term partnerships that ultimately help Tulip to achieve its vision.”
The audience also heard from group technical director Gayna Quinn, who outlined Tulip’s post-Horsegate approach to supplier self-assessment, risk assessment and audit processes explaining.
“Consumer confidence is at an all-time low and even suppliers like ourselves, who came through Horsegate totally unscathed, are being challenged to be even more robust,” she said. “We want to work with our supply base to make that process as effective and efficient as possible.”
