Inlight Case Studies and Testimonials

Improving Supply Chain Risk with Fressnapf

Fressnapf | MAXI ZOO is the market leader of pet supplies in Europe. With over 1,300 modern stores across 12 European countries, the company has created an extensive and competent network for animal lovers and pet owners from Denmark to Italy. Fressnapf stores offer a wide range of pet food, accessories and services. Fressnapf | MAXI ZOO also has a comprehensive range of private labels to suit every pocket. The Fressnapf Group employs more than 10,000 people who work continuously to make the relationship between pets and people simpler, better and happier.
 

The Challenge

In 2013, Fressnapf decided to map their supply chain to help identify any social and environmental risks their supplier partners may pose. Fressnapf was searching for a solution that would profile their suppliers’ current practices, so they could measure their non-food suppliers in terms of social and environmental compliance. They needed a solution that provided the supplier with next steps on "how to improve" based on the result of the completed assessment, and were looking for a provider that could assist them with follow up actions for supply chain improvements. As Freesnapf had never done such an exercise before, they also needed support to create a supplier self-assessment questionnaire as a basis of this profiling activity. Freesnapf was looking for a solution that was seamless – something that wouldn’t create more work, more spreadsheets, but rather would use technology for added efficiencies.
 

The Solution

Freesnapf came to Intertek to see how we could support their company with creating a questionnaire, collecting profile and compliance information from their supplier partners and assign risk ratings to each supplier based on the questionnaire. Intertek offered its web-based Inlight as the backbone of this endeavor, which gave Fressnapf the opportunity to upload a client specific questionnaire, roll out the questionnaire to all relevant suppliers and collect information in one online platform. To create the questionnaire, Intertek worked with Freesnapf over a 1 day working session to identify client specific content, which was also determined in collaboration with Inlight’s existing standard questionnaire. The end result was a questionnaire and profiling protocol that covered the social and environmental compliance areas Freesnapf needed.

When the program launched, Intertek translated the questionnaire into German to assist suppliers in and around Germany with understanding the supplier risk assessment and profiling process. Local Intertek offices were also on hand to work with suppliers should they have any questions regarding the process – this proved a tremendous benefit, as suppliers had access to experts in their time zone and who speak their languages.

Once a large number of suppliers were profiled in the system, the risk analytic tools in Inlight gave great benefit to the client, and Freesnapf was more informed and could prioritize which suppliers needed more or less additional support for compliance education, and improvement. Suppliers posing the highest risks were then prioritized for an onsite audit, using Intertek’s Workplace Conditions Assessment (WCA) social and environmental audit program.