Symrise Receives Supply Chain Management Recognition for Vanilla Sourcing

05 Aug 2013 --- Symrise was named one of the four finalists for the Supply Chain Management Award. The fragrance and flavoring manufacturer impressed the independent jury with its sustainable vanilla sourcing in two preliminary rounds. From the vanilla bean to customers’ end products, Symrise shows full transparency and creates added value for all stakeholders along the vanilla value creation chain.

The Supply Chain Management Award honors intelligent and innovative solutions that significantly enhance a company’s competitive position and take on a pioneering role in the industry. According to the jury, Symrise is one of these companies. The company thus was among the final four in the competition.

Symrise was able to set itself apart from the top-class competition with its sustainable sourcing approach in addition to its innovative solution for tracking products from source to customer. The jury selected the four finalists from more than 20 candidates – all of whom were subject to two preliminary rounds which included an on-site visit. Each company set a unique focus for its application and presentation.

Symrise concentrated on its approach to the vanilla supply chain. The company has been involved to supporting vanilla cultivation in Madagascar for years. Symrise is the only market participant from the fragrance and flavoring industry to work directly with the farmers from the East African island nation. Along with numerous social projects covering the areas of education, nutrition and health, Symrise also supports farmers to meet internationally recognized certification standards in cultivating and processing the beans.

These activities both enhance the farmers’ independence and improve their living conditions. At the same time, they anchor Symrise’s broad network in these village communities. This cooperation between the farmers and the company enables both parties to jointly optimize cultivation, establish the best harvest times and achieve the highest possible vanillin content after fermentation. The result is premium quality for customers in the beverage, food, cosmetics and fragrance industries.

With its local involvement, Symrise ensures a short supply chain in addition to complete traceability and transparency. But even on the other end of the value creation chain, the company displays its innovative strength: With e-business solutions, Symrise is closely connected to its customers. This allows for optimal sales estimates, highly efficient processes – from placing orders through to delivery – and therefore a seamless supply chain. The overall result is outstanding customer satisfaction.

“The vanilla supply chain is just one example of how we are innovatively linking sustainability and efficient business processes,” says Stephan Sielaff, Senior Vice President Global Operations Flavor & Nutrition at Symrise. “In all of this, we are faced with partially diverging stakeholder expectations and a number of practical challenges when implementing these principles. With the intelligent combination of our global expertise and local experience, we are overcoming these challenges in a responsible and forward-thinking manner.”

In 2013, the Supply Chain Management Award is part of the recently launched “EXCHAiNGE – The Supply Chainers’ Convention” international specialist conference. 180 guests from industry, science and specialist media were in attendance at the HOLM forum at Frankfurt Airport for the celebratory evening event, where the winners and finalists were honored. The various solutions were presented to the large audience at this year’s EXCHAiNGE conference.

The Supply Chain Management Award is awarded annually to the best value creation chain in the manufacturing industry and is bestowed by the management consulting division of the globally leading auditing and consulting firm PwC, the specialist magazine LOGISTIK HEUTE, the Institute for Supply Chain Management (ISCM) and the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM) e.V.

The award honors innovative solutions in supply chain management that contribute to substantial improvements in competitiveness and act as models for other companies to follow. Both end-to-end supply chain solutions and outstanding implementations in parts of the value creation chain are eligible for the award. An independent, highly qualified 14-member jury of experts from industry, science, specialist media and consulting vote on the award winners.