Last week Greif held its first Global Supplier Summit in Columbus, OH USA. The event brought together more than 220 leaders from 125 of the company’s key strategic suppliers representing 20 countries from around the world. Joined by Greif’s Executive Leadership Team and colleagues from finance, operations, legal, commercial, human resources, and digital technology, the Global Supply Chain team hosted an engaging event that provided a platform for Greif to share insights on its strategic roadmap and ambitious growth plans.
Tina Schoner, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Greif, said it best in her opening remarks, “If we want to retain relevancy in the customer value chain, we must take our relationship beyond the traditional buyer/seller approach and build strategic relationships that help to differentiate us in our markets. Supply chain must be the competitive advantage.”
Why a Supplier Summit?
Since Greif was founded in 1877, the company has evolved. In the last year, Greif acquired five new companies bringing annual sales to $5.2B with more than 14,000 colleagues operating out of more than 250 facilities across 37 countries.
Schoner explained, “Our suppliers are a critical component to enabling Greif to deliver legendary customer service, so investing time in helping each other better understanding Greif’s business objectives and the Greif Business System 2.0 will help us achieve our ambitious vision to be the best performing customer service company in the world.”
The Global Supplier Summit was an opportunity for Greif and its suppliers to share perspectives on how we can improve performance, remove waste from the supply chain and deliver even more value to our customers.
Highlights from the Event
The 1.5-day event included presentations from Greif’s leadership, who shared their insights on why a high-performing supply chain matters to delivering legendary customer service, Grief’s Build to Last business strategy, an overview of the Greif Business System 2.0 and valuable Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement program, a deep dive into the product portfolio and how Greif creates packaging for life’s essentials, and Greif’s digital modernization roadmap with an emphasis on how artificial intelligence will play an important role in its manufacturing and supply chain.
Greif’s suppliers had an opportunity to engage and provide feedback during interactive break-out session led by Greif’s Global Supply Chain leadership team. This open-forum discussion encompassed topics such as materials supply and demand planning, strategic sourcing, responsible supply chain practices, procure-to-pay process, and optimization of Greif’s expansive global logistics network.
Suppliers shared their perspectives on Greif as a customer and two themes quickly surfaced:
- Greif is a reliable, trustworthy and dependable customer. In an ever-changing world, Greif consistently delivers on its commitment and is a steadfast supply chain partner.
- Greif is present in the communities where it sources, makes, delivers and serves its customers. They are embedded in the fabric of these communities in a way that they understand and respect the institutions, cultures and values.
On day-two, Greif hosted a networking event at their corporate headquarters in Delaware, OH which provided suppliers an opportunity to learn about the rich heritage of the 147-year-old company, tour the campus, conduct business review meetings and experience the personality and culture of the company in person.
Greif Recognizes Suppliers
In another first for Greif, the company recognized several of its valued suppliers for their outstanding performance and superior partnership. Congratulations to the suppliers and their teams that support Greif.
Those recognized at the Greif Supplier Summit include:
Excellence in Direct Materials
ArcelorMittal Europe Flat Products
MaxSteel
Borçelik
ExxonMobil
Nalco/Ecolab
Dow
Aalterpaint
Berger Global
Excellence in Indirect Materials & Services
Coupa
Reworld
Merco Machines
Multipli Machines
Advantage xPO
Motion Industries
Responsible Supply Chain
Solenis
Excellence in Logistics
CH Robinson
Cowan Systems, LLC.
Menzies Distribution Solutions, LTD
GLM Transport, Inc.
Our Appreciation
Thank you to all of Greif’s supplier partners who attended the event. This is an exciting time for Greif and our relationship is a critical factor to our success. Our increasingly complex supply chain provides us an opportunity to maximize the talents of our teams, leverage the scale of Greif and its network and to be a high-performance supply chain that is the advantage.
A special thank you to our Greif colleagues who planned and executed this valuable event.
