Crimson & Co was delighted to host its inaugural Drinks Industry Forum at The Sanderson Hotel, London on 22nd January 2015. Guests from some of the world’s leading drinks and packaging companies joined us to explore the theme of ‘Agility and innovation through collaboration: A new era for supplier development in the drinks industry’. Some of the key insights included:

  • Selecting the right supplier to collaborate with is essential
  • Focus your efforts on a very limited number of supply chain partners each year
  • Benefits don’t have to be financial to be valuable, but will ensure continued support for the activity
  • Collaboration means different things to different people and/or functions
  • Be clear what you are looking to achieve from the outset, and overtly measure progress against that
  • Agree what is off-limits and the boundaries of what you can work within before you start
  • Established solid personal relationships are fundamental to success
  • It is a journey not a one-off exercise: aim to get some quick wins and build trust from there
  • Sponsorship needs to be from the very top, at least the Supply Chain Director but ideally the CEO
  • Procurement is a potential blocker to collaboration – its role must be handled sensitively

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who came and especially to Steve Fisher of Avon Cosmetics and Tim Hobbs of Accolade Wines for their presentations.

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