SUPPLIER SUMMIT
team led by Les Doyle and Shannon Docherty who’s been liaising with the suppliers and Lisa Duffy who as input all the data. I think that team has done a really great job.” As is stands at the moment, the PIM system has 277 suppliers who have provided some sort of data on 362,000 products. However, Oates said that at the end of 2021, only 35% of the templates
chartering ships to bring goods in from the Far East as they couldn’t get their product in via the normal routes, others were using long train journeys through Asia rather than risk then coming via ship, some others were investing in new production lines really quickly, even new factories. So, there is some really good proactive stuff happening out there, but our appeal is that, after 18 months, we do need to get back to some normal level of good service from all our Suppliers.”
Moving forward, Oates said he believed that traditional merchanting needs to digitise the supply chain if it is to prosper in the long-term. NBG has started down this route with its PIM system, which launched in July 2022. “We did have fantastic support from Knauf Insulation on this, who worked very hard testing the system, the processes, and ensuing that the whole thing worked the way we wanted it to. During this journey we have been guided by some of our NBG Partners who have been heavily involved in specifying the templates we need to use, the likes of Rex Nye, Jon Moore in particular, Mark Smith and Andrew McLellan, as well as our own
asked for had been submitted.
“We really want full product data: it needs to be complete, it needs to be accurate, and it needs to make sense. Secondly, we need it on time and in the right format. So, for example, when Suppliers launch a new product, they need to get their data people to send us the information before the launch, not afterwards. And we need good images because we want to ensure that all the vital product information can get into our back offices and onto our Partners’ websites,” he said. “Better data leads to fewer errors, fewer invoice queries, fewer credit notes and less cost for everyone, but also better customer information. We know, post-Grenfell, the requirement to obtain good data to make sure products get into the right applications is going to increase more and more. Our PIM system is a conduit to make sure this happens.”
The project isn’t an easy one, Oates said, and he understands that there may be things that NBG also hasn’t got quite right. “We need Suppliers to talk to us, to tell us if and when things are wrong. We want to make
sure we are a conduit for all that information to get from our Suppliers, through our Partners to the end users. And, most importantly, to help sales”.
Digitalisation will continue to be a key focus for NBG, he said, with direct invoicing starting to develop. “We have really good solutions already in place with the help of NMBS and we know those solutions work because we have a number of Suppliers who are already using them. That’s really key for us, so I would urge all Suppliers to implement digitisation into their plans for 2022.
Another important issue for NBG in 2022 will be the carbon agenda, something Oates said has been added to NBG group policy and will form an important part of supply negotiations. He added that it will be important for Partners and Suppliers to get involved in the carbon agenda conversation: “Through the Builders Merchants Federation, we really do now have a conduit to influence government, and that is something we’ve never had before so we need to take advantage of it.” At its core, however, NBG is about building sales and buying better. “We want to be working with our Suppliers on key account plans, on joint initiatives and we want to grow all our sales,” Oates said. “But before we do that, we want to get the basics right. Our core basics are: good service, excellent communication, competitive pricing and best in class agreements that enable us to compete. Then we believe we can build together. Remember that at NBG we are brand supporters, we are manufacturer supporters. We don’t have any own label, that’s not part of our plan. Instead, we rely on our Suppliers to provide the products at the right prices because we at NBG want to build strong brands, and we want to do that with our Suppliers.”
January 2022
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