Why use a Social Firm as your supplier?
Why Use A Social Firm As Your Supplier – A Buyer’s PerspectiveDavid Donaldson is Director of Supply Chain at The Edrington Group and uses Star Social Firm, Haven Products Ltd as one of their suppliers. David explains why…..
"The Edrington Group’s whisky brands are internationally known (The Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark, The Macallan & Highland Park) - many of them use gift cartons. Haven receives the flat-packed cartons from the printer. They assemble them and put them into the appropriate case with the right label. What may sound straightforward is actually very complicated as we ship to over 120 markets worldwide. With high value, branded products, it is really important to get this final packaging assembly stage right, needing a high level of attention to detail.
One of our top five suppliers
I have worked with Haven for five years. They provide just the reliable, flexible and cost-effective service we need. Last year, we introduced a Supplier Award scheme which judges things like quality, delivery reliability & flexibility and other factors like innovation & collaboration. The objective assessment judged Haven to be one of our top five suppliers. We don’t treat them any differently to any of our other suppliers, they just are excellent - performing the job much better than the companies we have historically used for this service.
Matching values
But more than that, it is really good to deal with a company who you can trust and that which shares the same values. The Robertson Trust holds the voting shares in The Edrington Group and donates over £7 million a year to good causes in Scotland, mainly in education, health and community support, so we have a lot in common with Haven. Working with Haven fits our Corporate Social Responsibility very well, in addition to fulfilling an essential part of our supply chain.
Would you recommend other private sector companies work with Social Firms?
I would recommend that other private sector companies work with Social Firms so long as there is a business need and you build up a trusting relationship as we have with Haven. David Whyte & his team at Haven have never let us down. Indeed, Haven employees seem to have a greater pride in their jobs than many other companies I have dealt with over the years. So, if you can meet your business and ethical targets in one go why not do so?
Star Social Firm quality mark
The Star Social Firm quality mark (www.starsocialfirm.co.uk) that Haven has been awarded reinforces what we already knew – that they are excellent employers to their staff and deliver a first-class service. I'm sure the Award process will help them benchmark improvement areas and create a platform for ongoing business growth in new sectors.
The Future
We plan to begin a pilot with Haven using the complimentary workforce scheme and have a Haven employee working at our factory.”
Haven Products Ltd offers services and solutions to companies looking to outsource their production processes. (www.havenproducts.co.uk.)
Find out more about the Edrington Group at www.edringtongroup.com
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