Jacques Sebban, Director of the Asia Sourcing Centre, L’Oréal

More than 380 people were invited to attend the latest edition of the L’Oreal Asia Pacific Supplier Convention, on December 1st, at the Intercontinental Expo Hotel in Shanghai. The long list of attendees represented over 150 suppliers from four purchasing domains (Raw Material, Packaging Material, Contract Manufacturing & Capital Expenditure) across the Asia Pacific region and nearly 60 staff from L’Oreal Asia Operation Divisions, L’Oreal China R&I and L’Oreal Europe Sourcing Center.

Following last year’s L’Oreal Supplier Day in Hong Kong, which was more focusing on strategy and vision sharing, L’Oreal Asia Pacific Supplier Convention, aimed at the down-to-earth interactions with suppliers,” explains the French cosmetics giant in a release.

Supporting L’Oreal’s expansion

Speeches were delivered about L’Oreal’s operation expansions in the Asia Pacific region and ethical sourcing issues. They were followed by several programs and workshops designed to encourage interactive discussions to progress towards “common improvements”.

The social audit program has been a hot topic in the event due to the suppliers’ increasing awareness of the importance of social responsibility. Supply Chain Efficiency & Lean Production program has been demonstrated with a real case from one of L’Oreal’s selected suppliers on how to become lean and therefore to bring mutual benefits to the supplier and L’Oreal.

Meanwhile, concerning the group’s four different purchasing domains, tailor-made workshops have been designed, in particular regarding E-bidding and quality chart trainings for Contract Manufacturing and Packaging Material suppliers, specific programs for raw material suppliers, etc.

Finally, the group’s Supplier Management Program was introduced to all the attendees. “This program is about managing expectations from suppliers and from stakeholders. Supplier survey program, supplier scorecard, supplier rating system and supplier incentive program were elaborated in this session,” L’Oreal says.

Stronger relationship

According to L’Oreal, just a few days after the event, emails and phone calls were received from many suppliers not only expressing their appreciations and congratulations but also addressing their strong interests in different subjects presented in the event.

To mention one of the vivid cases, one supplier from south of China had tried hard to find solutions to increase production efficiency and reduce cost and waste but with little progress during the past years. Nevertheless, this supplier was glad to witness the program of Supply Chain Efficiency & Lean Production as delivered in the event. They came to L’Oreal immediately after the event and were so anxious to know more about this program and wanted to get a systematic training with the help from L’Oreal.

These workshops and trainings should have a far-reaching influence with regard to the future business relationship between L’Oreal and its suppliers. Taking into consideration the positive feedback from suppliers, L’Oréal considers this kind of events will become a regular exchange platform with them. “There is no doubt that we have paved the way for L’Oreal’s sustainable development and innovations with the full dedications and supports from our suppliers,” the group concludes.