The Engineering and General Manufacturing sector has made a comeback this year, with Rexam Beverage Can Europe & Asia taking the top prize in The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005. As the runner up to the Overall Winner last year, Rexam Beverage Can Europe, deservedly scooped the top trophy at this year’s Awards Gala Dinner at The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington on the 17th November.
It was a very close call for first place this year, with Entertainment UK taking the runners-up position and O2 coming third overall. But Rexam is a new business and has had to make great strides in its supply chain from a mixed set of operations, with all the legacy and cultural issues that come with such mergers. Rexam was also considered impressive for the way that it is reaching past the direct customer (the can fillers) to the customers’ customers – the retailers. But perhaps, the most striking aspect of their business is their innovative approach to the market, which revolves around their concept the ‘one day can’.
This concept demonstrates the company’s ability to cater for the needs of the retailer in creating promotional opportunities – an initiative that converts an essentially commodity business into a very responsive, market-driven operation.
The judges believed that, ‘Rexam have demonstrated an understanding of the adaptive supply chain and have turned this into a pragmatic route map. This route map is being implemented and is delivering business benefits through a structured portfolio of projects. They adopt a business driven perspective and understand the need to collaborate with both suppliers and customers, while appropriate IT is being implemented to support the business needs’.
Every year The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards bring examples of companies that exceed the limits of the norm. All the finalists demonstrate traits of leadership in supply chain management and it’s clear to see that innovation and excellence abounds. As a benchmarking exercise, the Awards offer all entrants the opportunity to benchmark themselves against the very best in Europe. If you would like to enter next year’s Awards please drop me a line at nick.allen@centaur.co.uk and register your interest.
One final point – Logistics Europe in it’s own pursuit of excellence has joined a winning team. The magazine has, in the last few weeks, transferred to a leading publishing group, Centaur Communications Ltd, where we will be playing alongside such leading magazines as Logistics Manager and the Engineer.
Nick Allen, Editor
