Transferring knowledge and experience in supply chain management

What supply chain challenges do Southeast Asian Food Ingredient companies face? How to optimise your supply chain management to export successfully to the European market? During a Supply Chain Management workshop Fresh Studio shared knowledge, experience and criteria companies should focus on to improve their supply chain.

Following the successful training courses held in Vietnam in Hanoi and HCMC later last year, Fresh Studio was contracted by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to train Food Ingredients companies in Southeast Asia in Supply Chain Management (SCM). The SCM workshop, a highly practical and interactive training course, was designed to help Food Ingredients Companies to improve their supply chain in order to export successfully to the European market.

The first training was held at the Ministry of Trade in Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2015 with over 40 participants representing CBI companies and Indonesian ministries (Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Industry). The training did not only focus on principles of SCM but also gave the opportunity to analyse and evaluate the supply chain of participating companies. More importantly, concrete action plans were made. Success stories of for example The Fruit Republic, a company exporting Vietnamese fruits to European market, were used to demonstrate the possibility of EU market penetration for small and medium enterprises from Asia.

In June 2015, the second SCM training was conducted at Davao City Chamber of Commerce, the Philippines. Top managers of CBI companies in the Philippines attended the 2-day training workshop. Although business activities and product specialties differ between the Philippines and Indonesia, CBI companies from both countries share common limitations in supply chain management, covering from sourcing, quality assurance, certification and packaging to marketing. This second workshop also achieved the same level of success as the previous ones.

Comments of some participants about the workshop:
“Now I realise that our knowledge on SCM was so limited at the start of this workshop. We have a lot to do when I am back. I learned that all departments in the company need to better coordinate if we want to improve our supply chain and to expand our export to Europe”.

“My knowledge and experience in SCM has improved substantially after the 2-day training course. I will request a meeting with all departments in the company to analyse our SCM issues. For me, the ultimate goal is to make an action plan involving all important actors in the company’s supply chain and to make it a success story”.

Training Supply Chain Management: understand and manage your supply chain

As part of the CBI Food Ingredients Export Coaching Program (ECP), Fresh Studio provided a two-day workshop on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for pre-selected high potential food ingredient business ranging from honey, spices to tea.

The aim of the SCM workshop was threefold:

  1. to create awareness of the importance of SCM in order to become successful in the EU market
  2. to increase the knowledge of workshop participants on supply chain management
  3. strengthen the capacity on the requirements of European markets.

The workshop was in collaboration with Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and the Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI).

During the workshop Mr. Siebe van Wijk (Managing Director of Fresh Studio) provided insights in the flows, forces, dynamics, evolutionary path and the key functional processes in SCM. The subjects were illustrated with different case studies in the field.

Important message of the presentation was: “Companies who want to export to EU market need to understand their chain and they should be able to control it.

 “This workshop was a good chance for me to learn about supply chain and value chain methodically. The games and case studies during the course were very meaningful and applicable. I will bring back and apply these useful knowledge to my company”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Truc Loan – BaseaFood Hochiminh Branch.

In order to adapt the information and to improve the SCM of each participating business the flow of information was interspersed with (group) assignments. By analyzing their own supply chain, companies were challenged to identify and share their strong and weak points and to turn issues into working solutions.

Participants analyzing their supply chain during the workshop in HCMC

Besides insights in SCM, Mr. Richard de Boer (Managing director of Control Union) provided information about his company services: certification, inspection and warehouse monitoring services. A much appreciate presentation for the food ingredient businesses, since quality is a frequent issue and the standards of the EU market for agricultural products is high.

The workshop was an effective platform for the food ingredient businesses to gain knowledge about SCM, to make the issues in the chain more transparent and to learn from each other.

“I hope that the knowledge I gained in these 2 days will help my company to become successful in the CBI program and to penetrate the EU market”

Mr. Bien, Hagimex JSC.
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