First Ever Vaisala Supplier Awards Working at Vaisala For the first time ever, Vaisala organized Supplier Days, gathering over 38 of its key suppliers in Helsinki in July 2017. The two-day event focused on involving suppliers further in Vaisala’s operations, business and R&D. The event culminated in awarding the best performing suppliers in six categories. The Sustainable Business Award was received by the electronics manufacturer Enics, with which Vaisala has cooperated regarding suppliers’ sustainability KPI development. The aim of the Vaisala Supplier Days is to tighten co-operation between Vaisala and its key suppliers. “Sharing our strategies with and opening up business models to suppliers improves co-operation, as suppliers are more aware of our customers’ businesses and needs,” says Tuukka Farin, Head of Sourcing at Vaisala. Suppliers have solid knowledge in their various competence areas, and thus Vaisala, its suppliers and – in the end – its customers benefit from co-operation early on, for example in developing new products. On the first day of the event, the suppliers had an opportunity to visit Vaisala production and participate in product trainings conducted by product managers. The second day contained several workshops, where people from Vaisala businesses and the key people from the suppliers discussed new and current ways of working, learning from each other. Six Awarded for Excellent Performance On the second day of the event, the first ever Vaisala Supplier of the Year Award was granted to five suppliers based on their outstanding performance. The top five was selected out of a total of 500 international suppliers. The award is the highest honor Vaisala can bestow upon a supplier. The recipients in 2017 have performed well in one or several of the following six categories: Sustainable Business, Quality, Technological Development, Customer Service, Delivery or providing a service to Vaisala. “The selected suppliers help us in many ways to deliver customers’ customized order from Finland to Fiji in three days, without end-product inventories”, says Vesa Pylvänäinen, EVP for Operations at Vaisala. “It is great to see how committed our suppliers are to do long-term development together with us. It keeps us on the top also in the future”, Pylvänäinen comments. Sustainable Business Award Recognizes Value-Based Operation “To us at Vaisala, striving to become net positive is a vision that means doing business in a way that puts more back into society, the environment and the global economy than it takes out – having a bigger handprint than footprint,” says Vaisala’s CEO Kjell Forsén. “Since the performance of the whole supply chain is crucial when it comes to responsibility, we want to encourage our suppliers towards that goal too.” The 2017 Supplier of the Year Award in the Sustainable Business category was granted to the electronics manufacturer Enics for its excellent performance in developing sustainable supply chain. Enics participates actively in the development of Vaisala’s sustainable supplier KPI’s as one of the pilot companies. The Supplier of the Year awardees were chosen by a global team of Vaisala’s specialists in Sourcing, Purchasing, Logistics, Quality, Manufacturing and R&D. The 2017 Vaisala Supplier of the Year Winners Are: Sustainable Business: Enics Enics develops the sustainable supply chain with Vaisala, serving as pilot company in the development of Vaisala's sustainable supplier KPI's Quality: Plastoco Oy In the course of one year, Plastoco, the supplier of plastic parts and molds, has undergone significant quality improvements by investing in people as well as software and hardware, thus guaranteeing the good quality of its products. Delivery: Sorv-Elektro Oy The electronics supplier Sorv-Elektro was awarded for its strong delivery performance (OTD 98% in 2017). Vaisala received over 2 500 deliveries. Customer Service: Darekon Oy The electronics and compilation company Darekon merited recognition for good customer service thanks to its very fast response time as well as flexibility and adaptability to Vaisala's needs. Proactive approach to risk management produces solutions. Technology: Enics The electronics manufacturer Enics actively scans new ways of implementing different technologies. Fast delivery of prototypes as well as processibility feedback regarding Vaisala's new product introductions provide excellent support for Vaisala's Product Development. Services: DHL Express With over independent 47 000 shipments, DHL Express transports Vaisala's products to over 150 countries every year. DHL Express develops its operations together with Vaisala in order to make sure that customers get their customized products even in three days within placing the order.
