Procurement with purpose
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Procurement with purpose How procurement is critical in allowing Givaudan to be a force for good while leaving a lasting positive impact on the world around us...
Written by
Dale Benton
Produced by
Heykel Ouni
P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
3
B
y its own definition,
“Procurement organisations
Givaudan is committed
have proven that their contri-
to growth, with purpose.
bution to company growth is
A global industry leader creat-
paramount,” explains Willem
ing game-changing innovation in
Mutsaerts, CPO and CSO of
food and beverages, and inspiring
Givaudan. “They’ve also proven
creations in the world of scent
that involving them early in the
and beauty, Givaudan’s herit-
product development cycle is crit-
age stretches back over 250
ical – as a business with custom-
years. The company has a long
ers at its core, we have a vital role
history of creating and innovat-
to play here as we grow together.”
ing scents and tastes, and acting responsibly. As a company driving purpose-
“Over the past few years, sustainability has become increasingly important for
led, long-term growth, Givaudan’s
Givaudan with clear and bold
intention is to increase its positive
company objectives. It is fully
impact on the world by innovating
embedded in our corporate strat-
sustainable solutions while show-
egy and company purpose.”
ing its love for nature and leading
One of the first things notice-
the way to improve happiness and
able about Mutsaerts' role is
health for people.
its duality. Mutsaerts sits at the
Procurement, it goes without
executive table on behalf of both
saying given its position in the
the procurement function and
broader supply chain ecosys-
sustainability of the organisation.
tem, plays a pivotal role in this and
From this position, he can ensure
while sustainability is not exactly
that procurement truly influ-
a new topic for the procurement
ences the company’s strategic
professionals of the world, in
decisions while also being able
recent years it most certainly
to work with suppliers on their
has risen to the forefront of busi-
sustainability best practices and
ness strategy.
drive real lasting change.
P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
Willem Mutsaerts Chief Procurement & Sustainability Officer at Givaudan Willem Mutsaerts joined Givaudan in 1989, initially with responsibility for sales in Benelux. He moved on to become Regional Account Manager for the APAC region in Singapore before being appointed Head of Global Purchasing for Fragrances. In 2001, he took commercial responsibility for Fragrance consumer products in the EAME region, and in 2007 was appointed Head of Global Operations Fragrances. Willem was appointed Head of Global Procurement and a member of the Executive Committee in October 2015. He took on the additional responsibility of head of Givaudan’s Sustainability programme as of March 2017. Willem has a degree in international marketing, and is the holder of an MBA obtained at Golden Gate University in Singapore, and postgraduate certified in Sustainable Business by the University of Cambridge.
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Given the dual nature of his role, Mutsaerts’ represents something of an exception in the procurement space. “I often go to global external or sustainability meetings where people envy the positioning of procurement and sustainability at Givaudan as others sometimes depend on the chief financial officer to make a decision or they must work with the global supply chain manager to influence change," he says. “In my case, I have overall responsibility. Being able to see the manoeuvring and transparency on everything and being able to set the priorities and decide on that in line with the executive committee strategy is a great advantage for a company to progress and accelerate decision making. This makes a lot of sense as everything we buy (Scope 3) represents approximately 85% of our total GHG impact. So there is a clear natural overlap.” As Willem has already noted, doing business in a more sustainable way is at the heart of the company’s purpose. Much of this is being increasingly driven by a customer base which has access to more information about an organisation’s carbon footprint and sustainable best practice than ever before. So what about the how? How is Givaudan driving sustainable best practice across its entire P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
“ Collaboration is essential in delivering on our bold ambitions and a transparent dialogue with our suppliers is vital to ensuring the long-term sustainability of our supply chain” — Wi llem M u t s aer t s Chief P ro c ure m e nt & Sustai n abi l i ty Office r at G i vaudan
operation and embedding it within its global supply chain for direct and indirect materials and services? By 2030, Givaudan will look to have cut carbon emissions across all of its operations by 70%, supply chain emissions by 20%, replacing single-use plastics with eco-friendly alternatives across its sites and operations. By 2050 Givaudan will be a climate positive business. Focusing on the here and now, Givaudan recently introduced its Sourcing4Good programme which has been co-created with customers, specialists and internal stakeholders. “It represents a strengthening of our work in responsible sourcing as we continue to deliver on our ambitious goal to source all materials and services in a way that protects people and the environment by 2030,” he explains. “Sourcing4Good is an important 9
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P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
step-change in our approach as we strive to be a force for good and create for happier, healthier lives with love for nature. It is strongly tied to our purpose goals and bold ambitions to become a B Corp certified company in the years to come. As the first in the industry to have a published Responsible Sourcing policy, we have always shown leadership in this area.” Elsewhere, Givaudan has redefined how it works with its supplier base in order to standardise sustainable best practices throughout its entire supply chain ecosystem. Through a combination of a dedicated sustainability team working on its scope 3 roadmap together with procurement, Givaudan has trained its buyers to better understand what's at stake as well as setting defined sustainability objectives supported by a global Vendor Quality Organisation. “Since recently, we also work with organisations like Together for Sustainability (TfS); a global sector supply chain initiative,” adds Mutsaerts. “Collaboration is essential in delivering on our bold ambitions and a transparent dialogue with our suppliers is vital to ensuring the long-term sustainability of our supply chain. “As we take the next step in our responsible sourcing journey with the launch of 11
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our new Sourcing4Good programme, the
programme where for selected supply
additional knowledge and insight our TfS
chains Givaudan has “feet on the ground”
membership will bring will be invaluable in
to assure best practice and to protect the
helping ensure we can continue to accel-
environment and the communities.
erate our progress as we grow together with our customers and suppliers.”
“As the world changes, so does procurement,” says Mutsaerts.
So it’s clear just how integral procurement and the supply chain really is for sustainability and for Givaudan, but this is not a dynamic that happened overnight.
“ As the world changes, so does procurement...”
The evolution of procure-
— Wi llem M u t s aer t s
ment is a tale well told,
Chief P ro c ure m e nt & Sustai n abi l i ty
but it’s also a tale that
Offic e r at G i vaudan
continues to gather pace. As organisations the world over invest in their supply chain and
“Procurement had to evolve and adopt
procurement functions, Givaudan has
innovative and smarter ways to digital-
spent the better part of the last decade
ise the supply chains and unlock new
implementing the infrastructure neces-
growth opportunities. From Procurement
sary for the company to continue oper-
1.0 (focus on price and seen as mainly
ating to the best of its abilities again and
a negotiator), Procurement 2.0 (focus
again. “Suppliers are also an important
on total cost of ownership and acting as
part of our success. For this the company
strategic collaborator), Procurement 3.0
has developed the Connect to Win initi-
(focus on value and acting as a trusted
ative which is a dedicated platform for
advisor) and lately to Procurement 4.0
suppliers to work with Givaudan on its
in line with Industry 4.0 with a focus on
unmet needs.”
digital where procurement is seen as an
Another important activity that contributes to the increasing demand from
innovation catalyst.” In 2015, Mutsaerts spearheaded a
consumers for transparency and showing
new procurement direction, connecting
love for nature is Givaudan’s Origination
procurement to all functions across all 13
levels of the organisation. This
Sustainability: procurement as
strategy, which ran from 2015-
key contributors to Givaudan’s
2020, saw procurement move
global sustainability ambitions
from cost control to value crea-
by leading the way in supplier
tion and increased collabora-
engagement and scope 3
tion. Establishing procurement
“The past cycle was our strong
as a key stakeholder involved in
foundation to be well equipped to
the market strategy, procure-
overcome the many challenges
ment needed to be an agile team
in procurement and sustainability
that seeks alignment with inter-
we have to face,” he says. “Our
nal customers and stakeholders
new strategic direction takes into
ensuring continuous support to
account the fast-moving external
divisional and corporate strate-
developments, the evolving busi-
gies. Procurement, as we know,
ness needs and also the lessons
cannot stand still. As Mutsaerts
learned from the past. It also
noted, the world changes and as
takes in account internal devel-
we speak today Givaudan has
opments such as our company
embarked on the next stages of
purpose and the corporate,
its procurement evolution. One
divisional long term strategy as
that will focus on 5 key pillars:
everything we do in procurement and sustainability is in response
Fuelling Performance: gener-
to an overarching clear business
ating value beyond savings and
ambition and need.”
fuelling growth of the company
The continued evolution of digi-
by driving innovation
tal procurement, which over the
People: empowered and
last few years has accelerated
engaged people with the right
exponentially, cannot go unno-
skills in the right place
ticed. While technology does not
Simplification: a continuous
define the procurement story, it
improvement mindset
certainly enables it in a way like
Business Continuity: striving
never before. Procurement is a
not to lose business opportuni-
function which relies on informa-
ties caused by supply disruptions
tion and so technology has vastly
P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
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improved the way in which an organisation both captures and understands data which for an enterprise looking to improve its environmental impact, can and very much does make all the difference. As Mutsaerts notes: “The current technological evolution is enabling databased decision making, lower costs, enhanced faster delivery, improved level of service and increased automated processes (i.e. invoicing).” “This is a journey, we still have quite some complexity to manage due to the challenges of the industry we are in and the complexity of the raw materials and services we buy, but we are confident that in the long run, technology can help organisations like ours be more efficient. It is key for our decision making processes to rely on data.” He acknowledges that where procurement once found itself struggling to access the right information, it now exists in a world where information is more accessible than ever before. Over the coming years, Givaudan will continue to adapt its interfaces and simplify its processes to ‘drive adoption of new ways of working”. “Only good adoption will allow us to fully grasp the opportunities that can come with the technological advancements we continuously integrate in our organisations,” he adds. 17
“ We see many opportunities; to do things differently, to push ourselves to go further and to contribute to tackling the big challenges for society. These are exciting times for us all” — W i l l e m M u t s a er t s C hi ef P ro cu re ment & Sustaina bility O ff i c e r at Givau dan
P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
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Looking back over the last five years, Mutsaerts has great pride in the work that he and his team have done in bringing procurement to the fore and significantly improving the way in which Givaudan operates. A humble man, Mutsaerts is a firm believer that where he and the procurement function are today is a culmination of incredible collaboration - he does not see himself as the key to any of the successes achieved. He is but a harbinger for procurement’s true value. He recalls a time where, at the start of this procurement journey, he gathered his team together in a hotel as part of a strategic exercise. “A procurement strategy has to be owned by the decision-makers and not by somebody who writes it for somebody else,” he says. “We as a team went to a hotel and said: ‘We don't come out of here until it's done and we're all aligned.” He continues: “It was tough because everybody had different ideas from people who were interested, but strangely enough, the outcome of a four-day intensive discussion was a one pager. Everybody knew exactly every word, what it meant, why it was there and why some other things were not there. It gave us a lot of clarity on decision making, what the priorities are and how we want to work together as a P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
high-performing team and to this day, it’s worked out pretty well.” With procurement now well and truly recognised by its business partners, Mutsaerts and his team are shaping its maturity from version 1.0, which focused solely on price to version 4.0; utilising big data, leveraging digital processes and tools, enabling meaningful partnerships to address top line challenges, and sustainability topics as part of the company's 2025 vision. The duality of Mutsaerts’ role is not the only unique thing about him. Where we often hear of procurement professionals overseeing a transformation project before moving on to new chapters in their careers, he has had the luxury of working with Givaudan for more than 25 years. Over the course of that time he has worked in sales in Paris, customer relationships in Singapore and headed global operations for fragrances based in Switzerland. He is a successful example of how Givaudan grows its leaders having been exposed to many facets of the business from sales functions in various regions to leading a development center and heading global operations for fragrances. This gives a unique set of skills and credibility to bridge the business with procurement 21
P ro cure m e nt w i th p ur p ose
and sustainability for both divisions.
local producers and their communities
As he stands today as CPO and CSO,
truly benefit from working with us.”
Mutsaerts shares his passion for
“Challenges bring opportunities for us
procurement and how it is a passion
to innovate. We want to capitalise on our
shared across his team. A passion that
innovation programme (Connect to Win)
shows no signs of fading away.
to work together with a selection of our
“I really enjoy the journey together with all my team members. In both procurement and sustainability within
suppliers to find innovative solutions for our unmet business needs.” Every day is different and on a daily
Givaudan, you can make a real impact,”
basis you have to work with internal
he says. “Currently we buy over 13.000
and external stakeholders across the
raw materials from rare natural ingre-
globe which is really enriching. We see
dients to large bulk commodities and
many opportunities; to do things differ-
also a large variety of Indirect Materials
ently, to push ourselves to go further
and Services with increased complex-
and to contribute to tackling the big
ity due to the many acquisitions made
challenges for society. These are excit-
during the last several years. Our team
ing times for us all.”
of approximately 200 global category managers and procurement business partner teams based in all regions of the world and supported by our 3 Global Business Supports (GBS) centers work closely work closely together with the rest of the organisation to ensure that products are responsibly sourced and secure a stable supply to make sure that
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