The Manufacturer LIVE 2006

22 September 2006

Oliver Wight and its clients were very much in evidence at the Manufacturer LIVE 2006 event, held last week at Coventry's RICOH Arena in the UK.

Oliver Wight was a main sponsor of The Manufacturer LIVE, and Smith and Nephew Wound Management, a client of EAME for more than two years, emerged as the winner of a major accolade at the event’s accompanying Awards ceremony - The Manufacturer 2006 Award for Logistics and Supply Chain.

The Award was announced in front of an audience of 500 manufacturers and Smith and Nephew was named as the winner after the rigorous evaluation of 125 entries by a panel of 17 independent judges.

Paul Adams, supply chain director at Smith and Nephew, receiving the Award from the BBC's John Humphrys and Andrew Purton, president of Oliver Wight EAME, said, "Our company’s mission is simple: to help people regain their lives. To do that, and ensure business success, the supply of its products is vital."

The Award recognises the strength of Smith and Nephew's supply chain strategy (currently stretching out to 2011), its business performance visibility, improvement activities and progress, and its commitment to communication. The centralisation of European stocks this year has generated a £2 million saving and the judges commented: "The [Smith and Nephew] submission suggested that Paul Adams and his team have created a highly motivational environment and are producing some great results against some stretching targets... and it looks like there's more to come."

Andrew Purton said: "Oliver Wight has been working with Smith and Nephew Wound Management on its strategic business improvement programme since 2004; we are delighted for Paul Adams and the entire Smith and Nephew team who have worked tirelessly to deliver real benefits straight to the bottom line."

Oliver Wight EAME clients Caterpillar, Henkel and IFF were also main attractions at the event, all three companies attracting large audiences of senior manufacturing managers for their presentations on the work they’ve each done with Oliver Wight:

Kirsty Braines, European supply chain and business manager for Caterpillar Logistics, explained how implementing Integrated Business Management had seen the company’s entire Spanish operation move from Class D to Class A in just three years, achieving performance levels of 98%; Mark Hamlin, operations director at Henkel Loctite, talked about the adoption of a local business improvement programme by the parent company, which has delivered global business excellence for the operation, and Marc Smith of IFF Flavours described how an Oliver Wight programme helped the company take control of its business and implement process acceleration in every aspect of its operation.

Meanwhile Andrew Purton, EAME president and Dave Manning, senior partner, each presented to invited audiences at separate breakfast briefings on the evolution of S&OP to Integrated Business Management.

The Oliver Wight exhibition stand was busy for entire the two days of the event (held on 20th and 21st September), with a series of one-to-one meetings with manufacturers arranged for the attending partners.

Event Date:
22 September 2006

Address:
Ricoh Arena Coventry