Chr. Hansen wins prestigious logistics award

Chr. Hansen receives award for its compelling results and innovative supply chain strategy.

On October 23 Chr. Hansen received The Danish Logistics Award 2008. The award which is presented to a company making an outstanding contribution to the logistics profession was presented to Chr. Hansen by Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, Denmark (formerly Princess of Denmark) at a logistics conference in Copenhagen, Denmark which featured presentations by MIT, Solutia, Volvo, Velux — and Chr. Hansen.

“Naturally, we are thrilled and proud to receive this award,” says Chr. Hansen’s Asger Roennow, VP, Global Logistics, Cultures & Enzymes Division. “For us it is the culmination of years of hard work and the foundation for continued fantastic results based on our award-winning vision and strategy, I am sure,” says Roennow.

Tango with the market

“We have several challenges ahead of us,” explains Roennow: “Continued high growth, maintain high service level, relative reduction of inventory, continuous productivity improvements, and focused and differentiated service towards key accounts. These are the challenges that the award-winning strategy is addressing.”

“Metaphorically speaking, the objective is to ‘swing in time’ with the customers by following the rhythm of their actual consumption of our products. We want to adopt that rhythm backwards through the supply chain and organize flow around the high volume products.” says Roennow.

Year-long process

“Of course, this is not done in six months,” adds Chr. Hansen’s Kent Bergenholtz, International VP, Product Supply, Cultures & Enzymes Division. “It’s a year-long process which has just begun. But the first customer projects are promising and confirm that the ‘logistically impossible’ with our advanced products is feasible after all.”

An important acknowledgement

“We are very proud to be presented with this award,” says Chr. Hansen's Knud Vindfeldt, EVP, Cultures & Enzymes Division. “It’s been a long journey with tough challenges. We’ve been working focused to optimize our supply chain and inventory management for 10 years. This award is an important acknowledgement of our efforts so far and of our strategy going forward.”

That’s why Chr. Hansen won

The committee representing the Danish companies Netto, Novozymes, Grundfos, Aurora Group Danmark, Tulip Food Company and Copenhagen Business School points out the following reasons for awarding Chr. Hansen based on achieved results and the new strategy:

• Ability to increase flexibility while reducing variance.
• Right decoupling point without increasing stock.
• Globalized company accommodated to local need for fresh products.
• Successful utilization of SCM best practices and IT solutions.
• Systematic LEAN approach, not just for optimization purposes but also for creating FLOW.
• Radical growth in a business where logistics is not a traditional competitive parameter.

The Danish Logistics Award

The companies competing for the 15th Danish Logistics Award are kept confidential but winners in previous years include well-reputed, large companies such as Danfoss, Oticon, Grundfos, Arla, Bang & Olufsen, Carlsberg and Coloplast. Chr. Hansen is now a candidate for The European Award for Logistics Excellence Award awarded annually by the European Logistics Association.