In an interview Heiko Ziegler, managing director and owner of KOLIBRI GmbH and Karin Jagersberger, managing director of KOLIBRI GmbH, relate about the joint purchasing optimization project with Kloepfel Consulting. They also provide insights into the special, sustainable corporate management of KOLIBRI GmbH.
What are the biggest challenges for your purchasing department?
Our biggest challenge is the large number of suppliers in our portfolio in order to be able to cover as many of our customers’ needs as possible. This ranges from 30 ballpoint pen manufacturers to 10 cup manufacturers, all of whom in turn offer different article models.
The challenge is to quickly find the right supplier for our customers. Here we have to look at each customer order individually, there are no commun solutions. A strong reduction in the number of suppliers would therefore also lead to a restriction of our creativity and thus ultimately lead to a loss in the quality of our service. Since we work in a creative industry and are almost permanently looking for current trend articles and novelties, the number of our suppliers is therefore difficult to limit. Negotiating the head conditions often falls by the wayside.
In indirect purchasing, like many other medium-sized companies, we are traditionally not optimally positioned. Especially in the areas of insurance, vehicle fleet or IT we have enormous potential. This is primarily due to a lack of time and personnel resources.
We had to struggle with a massive price increase of our previous partner in the logistics/fullfillment area and found it difficult to find a better alternative with the same service portfolio. This severely inhibited our growth, which is why it was essential for us to find an appropriate solution.
What is the focus of the cooperation with Kloepfel Consulting?
In the first step Kloepfel concentrated on identifying the key suppliers, negotiating better head conditions with them and thinking intensively with us about the topic of advertising cost subsidies. In this way, the first major savings were already achieved and additional potential could be identified.
In the area of indirect purchasing, the experts from the Kloepfel Group were able to achieve significantly better conditions from our previous partners or switched to other partners. Here we worked together with the specialists from Kloepfel, for example in the areas of IT or insurance, compared prices and in some cases received impressively better conditions.
At the same time, potential logistics service providers were researched, with whom we were able to implement very large savings. We did not know in advance exactly which service provider we were looking for, as a normal logistics provider would not have been the right one for us. Here the Kloepfel Group was able to find us an ideal partner.
As an additional special project, Mr. Sarikaya accompanied us to Turkey in order to consolidate our textile supplier pool on site, to get to know new suppliers and to improve our conditions. For our Chinese partners we also prepared a supplier convention, which was postponed due to the current situation.
Why did you choose Kloepfel Consulting?
We liked the approach of believing so strongly in one’s own ability and quality that one is also prepared to take risks. That fits our own DNA perfectly.
At the same time, we were already told in the preliminary talks that you don’t get a consultant here who works “without consideration of losses”, but a real partner who is oriented towards our company culture and yet works very consistently and goal-oriented.
Were you skeptical or rather open-minded at the beginning of the project? And how does it look now?
One part of the staff was rather skeptical, the other part very open-minded towards Kloepfel. Mr. Sarikaya and Mr. Henze picked up the employees very well during the first visit, addressed any fears openly and did an excellent job of persuasion. This very credible and authentic presentation was well received by the staff. At the beginning of the project it also quickly became clear that Kloepfel did not want to make savings at any price, but also showed consideration for our suppliers and our working methods. In doing so the team strongly oriented itself towards our corporate culture.
In the meantime, everyone is completely convinced that the decision for Kloepfel was the right one. There has been a change of thinking in people’s minds and the topics of cost awareness and negotiation have again become more important to everyone. By the way, the savings results so far are much better than expected and everyone is now only wondering: Why not earlier?
How would you describe the way the Kloepfel team works?
The Kloepfel team approached the matter with a lot of verve and a high level of commitment and very quickly familiarized itself with our company-specific framework. Savings potentials were clearly identified, prioritized according to needs and in parallel immediately realized. The team worked at a high professional level in all areas. Care was always taken to consult with us, to define limits together and not to destroy established supplier relationships.
On your homepage you position yourself as a ” lighthouse of the industry”. What exactly makes KOLIBRI so special?
KOLIBRI defines itself primarily through professional quality, both in product selection and in support. With us, customers get everything from a single source, from give-aways to custom-made products, workwear and premiums.
We offer all our services related to promotional items, such as product range consulting, design creation, procurement, webshop solutions, trend scouting and much more.
Many customers choose the complete full service with stock management, an own webshop including budget monitoring and regular controlling and reporting.
We offer all this at attractive conditions because we bundle purchases, have an international network of suppliers and guarantee competitive prices.
Sustainability and social commitment are very important to Kolibri. How are you positioned in these areas?
We have been dealing with the issue of sustainability for a very long time, our heart has always been green. We have been offsetting our CO² emissions every year since 2013, our company building is energy-optimised, we have 2 charging points, 6 electric cars, our own beehive and we are actively reducing plastic packaging in the supply chain.
Many customers are pleased to take part in this and are even excited about it. Often we also bear the additional costs, which is worth the benefit of the environment. We motivate our employees to live sustainably, which is very well accepted by the entire workforce. For example, each of our employees receives 10 cents for every kilometre travelled by bicycle. Our guiding principle is that we are merely guests on this planet and want to be good guests.
All of this is now benefiting us because the spirit of the times has caught up with us. More and more customers are paying more and more attention to the ecological footprint when choosing their supply partners and their promotional items. With our experience, we are of course ideally positioned for this and simply a credible partner.
MORE information about KOLIBRI
Press contact
Kloepfel Consulting
André Vollstädt
Pempelforter Str. 50
40211 Düsseldorf
T: +49 211 / 882 594 17
a.vollstaedt@kloepfel-consulting.com
www.kloepfel-group.com