SUPPLY CHAIN and supply chain capabilities to marketing and R & D , and together , the information is translated to added value solutions for its customers – global converters and brand owners . Simon ’ s goal is for his team to be influencers ; in fact , employees even undergo influence training .
“ For a long time , for procurement people it was all about how to influence stakeholders ,” he says . “ In my team , I feel we ’ re beyond that , in the sense that my message to my team is that , to reach the maximum amount of growth , they need to allow themselves to be influenced .”
Simon believes it shows particular maturity to be confident enough to be influenced by someone else ’ s thought process .
“ If I allow my supplier to influence me with a good idea they have had with regard to what our customers need or what solutions might resonate in the market , or we influence each other and come up with an innovative material or process – and we marry those things – that ’ s the golden chalice .” Of course , this is an ongoing desire with no finishing line , because collaborative relationships are what Avery Dennison strives for as a company . High levels of communication mean that procurement aligns neatly with innovation , and so Simon ’ s department ends up working on leading edge technologies in a collaborative way .
Harnessing technology One component of this is implementing technology to work out aggregated costs of materials that go into a product .
“ For example , we have people in our business who sell labels ,” Simon explains . “ The label might have three components : a film face , an acrylic adhesive , and a release liner . It doesn ’ t do me much good , when I ’ m talking to the product manager , to tell him ‘ your base off price is going down two cents ’; the release liners might be going up five cents , but he thinks his costs are going down . So when I talk to a product manager , I actually want to be able to talk to him about the aggregated cost of
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