Procurement strategy for Seeds & Nuts

Hugo here to give you an update from Copenhagen, Unibake and the Procurement department. During the last three months I have supported the team with the analysis part of the procurement strategy for the Nuts & Seeds category, and it’s been a great experience!

As some of you might remember I already introduced this project briefly in my last post. However, as I’m now in the end of this project I will let you know some more about it and how I’ve experienced it. The background of the project is that Unibake procurement has an ongoing extensive change program, referred to as One Unibake Procurement (OUP). A key part of OUP is promoting a strategic long term approach to procurement at Unibake, and creating category strategies that secure maximum value from procurement. One of these is the category strategy for seeds, nuts and kernels.

So this is what it’s all been about (at least some of them). Do you know them all? (Correct answer would be, from left: Almonds, Hazelnuts, Pumpkin kernels, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds and Poppy seeds)

So in order to set up a strategy and how this category should be maintained going forward, a greater understanding of the current situation was needed. This is where I came in. I’ve deep dived into the spend data to understand where and how much we spend, researched online for market insights and reached out to suppliers to understand were our growers for the seeds & nuts are located, and much more… All this was then compiled into one report which was used during the Kick-off meeting to get all the stakeholders up to speed with what’s going on within this category, with the aim to set up a strategy for the category further down the road.

It was really great to see how the analysis was received during the kick-off meeting and how all the participants from different areas contributed with their knowledge and area of expertise. Because even if it is the procurement team driving this project, input from other areas such as quality, finance and of course the representatives from each country is key in order to find the best path forward.

I had high expectations for CPH, however, not did I expect to attend the opening of Denmark’s first ski slope (on top of a power plant!?). Crazy Danes!

As this is the final rotation and the end of the trainee program a short summary is at its place. I have now spent my four rotations in four different companies (Swecon, Cerealia, Agro Oy, Unibake) in three divisions (& three nordic capitals!) and it’s safe to say that I have gained a lot of valuable experience which will be highly useful moving on with my Lantmännen career. So what’s now? Next week I will once more go for unexplored terrain taking on a full time position in a fourth division. The exciting times continues!

Until next time,

Hugo