Procurement strategy for Seeds & Nuts


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Hugo here to give you an update from Copenhagen, Unibake and the Procurement department. During the last three months I have supported the team with the analysis part of the procurement strategy for the Nuts & Seeds category, and it’s been a great experience!

As some of you might remember I already introduced this project briefly in my last post. However, as I’m now in the end of this project I will let you know some more about it and how I’ve experienced it. The background of the project is that Unibake procurement has an ongoing extensive change program, referred to as One Unibake Procurement (OUP). A key part of OUP is promoting a strategic long term approach to procurement at Unibake, and creating category strategies that secure maximum value from procurement. One of these is the category strategy for seeds, nuts and kernels.

So this is what it’s all been about (at least some of them). Do you know them all? (Correct answer would be, from left: Almonds, Hazelnuts, Pumpkin kernels, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds and Poppy seeds)

So in order to set up a strategy and how this category should be maintained going forward, a greater understanding of the current situation was needed. This is where I came in. I’ve deep dived into the spend data to understand where and how much we spend, researched online for market insights and reached out to suppliers to understand were our growers for the seeds & nuts are located, and much more… All this was then compiled into one report which was used during the Kick-off meeting to get all the stakeholders up to speed with what’s going on within this category, with the aim to set up a strategy for the category further down the road.

It was really great to see how the analysis was received during the kick-off meeting and how all the participants from different areas contributed with their knowledge and area of expertise. Because even if it is the procurement team driving this project, input from other areas such as quality, finance and of course the representatives from each country is key in order to find the best path forward.

I had high expectations for CPH, however, not did I expect to attend the opening of Denmark’s first ski slope (on top of a power plant!?). Crazy Danes!

As this is the final rotation and the end of the trainee program a short summary is at its place. I have now spent my four rotations in four different companies (Swecon, Cerealia, Agro Oy, Unibake) in three divisions (& three nordic capitals!) and it’s safe to say that I have gained a lot of valuable experience which will be highly useful moving on with my Lantmännen career. So what’s now? Next week I will once more go for unexplored terrain taking on a full time position in a fourth division. The exciting times continues!

Until next time,

Hugo

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Going nuts in CPH!


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Hi all,

Time for me (Hugo) to share my latest experience with you! Since last time I’ve left Finland and Agro Oy, had a nice summer vacation and then moved to Copenhagen to join UBI (Unibake International). A few weeks into this project and it feels as if I’m beginning to get my speed up with the project and getting to know the city. Actually, have already bought a bike and weared it out, had it repaired and collected it, so it feels as if I’m a true Copenhagian already!

Sightseeing in CPH never lets you down

My project at Agro Oy was to look into the seed business and where to produce and pack it. Now at UBI, my project is also focusing at seeds but this time seeds that go on top of the Danish rye bread, and not seeds that are sown in the Finnish fields. More specific, my project is part of Unibakes overall procurement strategy and in order to align the Nuts & Seeds category with that strategy some analysis needs to be made – that’s where I come into the equation! So far that has led to some deep dive in spend data and to reach out to colleagues and suppliers. Also, especially in the role as a trainee rotating within the group, it is really interesting looking from a “helicopter view” identifying other parts in the Lantmännen Group were we procure similar products and where we could find potential synergies.

But, even if the office is great there’s also a lot going on in the rest of the city. For example, this week a big running event took place where pretty much all companies from CPH participate. A great event where you team up with 4 other colleagues and run a relay (5×5 km), and then hang out by the tent with the rest of your colleagues, grill some burgers and drink some Tuborg while cheering at the passing runners. Fun thing!

Many excited Unibake-runners!
Great job by team Supply Chain – Jóhann, Anne, Katja, me & Frank

Finally, even if it’s still the beginning of this fourth period, it is quickly approaching the end of this trainee program. Thinking back to a year ago when starting this program I really thought I would have figured out what I wanted to do by now, but after three great projects and one going in the same directions, i must say it will be difficult to decide!

Well, next time we meet we’ll know, exciting!

Until then,

Hugo

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Hello neighbor!


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Hugo here and great to be back in the blog-warmth again! After two periods in my hometown Sthlm it was time to pack my bags and head over to our dear neighbor in the east, and more specific to Helsinki!

Here in Helsinki I’m working at Agro Oy, the finnish leg in our agriculture business and I’m looking into their seed business and its production plants, volumes and cost structure. The project has been really interesting and quite closely related to my studies within supply chain management which have been a great experience to try it out in “real life”. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not been new territory for me, born and raised in Sthlm my agriculture knowledge was on the same level as my finnish, combine the two and you have quite a suuri (well, I’ll just let you guess) adventure in front of you!

Fields, fields and more fields, here at the Hauho Trial farm where Lantmännen Agro are doing research to offer the best products for their customers!

Trying to summarize my last few months here in Finland I would say that it’s been a real pleasure, meeting a lot of great colleagues patiently describing the finnish agriculture, living in a real nice city (underestimated!) that offers a lot of city sightseeing as well as some accessible nature and genuine finnish sauna (can’t write a blogpost about Finland and not mention sauna…). And of course, living in Finland when they win the World Championship in hockey, well that just doesn’t happen every year!

Me together with Finland, waiting for the National Hockey team

Take care and see you at the next place!

/Hugo

PS. And a picture from the first week in Finland:

Conference in the finnish winter gave time for some teambuilding activities – apparently they put the slowest driver in the front, who could have thought!

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Exploring new territories, finance at Cerealia!


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Hi best blog-followers!

This period I’m positioned at Cerealia within their finance department, which has been really interesting for me since I where more or less clueless about what actually goes on in a finance department. My project is about facilitating the move to the new organisational structure for Cerealia by establishing new monthly reporting material. Now, with a few weeks left of this assignment I can start to condlude my learnings and it’s been a very insightful and interesting time, giving me an holistic view of the organization, much thanks to the nature of the project. Because, to be able to put together this reporting material that is expected to cover large parts of the organisation, it have forced me to explore and understand many unfamiliar territories. So basically the essence of the trainee program! 🙂

As told in the previous post, a whopping 78% (or exactly 7/9 for those that prefer) were able to sync their calenders and take a weekend to Sälen. A few days packed with skiing, sauna, afterski etc etc teambuilded our group even stronger and we left with a big smile on our faces. And maybe some aches in our aging muscles, 1/1 (100%) worth it!

Almost whole crew lined up before another unforgettable ride in the slopes

Also, Johan left last post with a big cliffhanger, promising pictures from an epic squash game. Unfortunately, all I can offer is an anticlimax since the game was postponed due to a striking knee (not ski related). However, might be for the best not to test that teambuilding too soon 😉 Instead I will leave you with a picture from this week’s dinner at Vanessa’s!

Indonesian dinner. Good food – Great company!

Next time you hear from me I’ll be in Finland looking into the agriculture business, talk to you then!

/Hugo

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Taking the construction equipment industry into a digital era


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Hi blog!

This week it’s me, Hugo, who will tell you about my first time at Lantmännen and my position for the first rotation, which took me to Swecon.  For those of you that are not fully familiar with the construction equipment industry (as me for example, at least not yet!), Swecon is the reseller of Volvo Construction Equipment in Sweden, a large part of Germany and the Baltic states.  I will be stationed at the Swecon Headquarters which is located in the same building as the Lantmännen HQ in Stockholm, which also means moving back to my home town after five years of studies in Linköping, exciting!

A Volvo wheel loader at the Nordbau fair in Germany

At Swecon I will conduct a market and competition analysis within the mySwecon-project, which is a digital platform developed to give the customer an overview of its machine fleet, and simplify and digitize the customer’s relation with Swecon. For me, somewhat of a rookie in both digitization and (especially) construction equipment it’s been all about diving into an ocean of new terms and concepts in order to get an understanding of the task and structure the execution of the project. This will certainly be a recurring theme during the trainee program and it feels really exciting to get the chance to explore a number of completely new territories during the upcoming 15 months!

The first three weeks have been just as fun as hectic, and already at the second day at Swecon we went to Germany to participate at Nordbau, a large fair for construction equipment, exhibiting everything from wheelbarrows to excavators. Really an amazing start in order to get an initial understanding of what the business and competition is all about! At Nordbau mySwecon had a booth in the Swecon-tent in order to show customers the soon-to-be-launched mySwecon, and even myself held a few customer demonstrations.

Me (left) discussing all the perks of a digital platform in general, and mySwecon especially, with Robert (my instructor and former trainee) and Christina

So in short, it was a couple of days full of learning, customers educated about the mySwecon-platform and me picking up my first german words: baumaschinen (construction equipment), kraftstoffverbrauch (fuel consumtion) and betriebstunden (operating hours), who would have thought! 🙂

That’s all from me now, take care & stay tuned!

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3…2…1…and we’re off!


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A big welcome to Lantmännen’s trainee blog! During the following 15 months you will be able to follow nine excited, eager and curious trainees during our rotations within the Lantmännen group.

It has now been little more than a week since our three introduction days that initiated the programme. These were spent at Säby Säteri (40 min outside Sthlm) and were packed with fun! Interesting lectures about the company´s vision and strategy, its diverse business and the strengths of dedicated owners (25 000 farmers!) were alternated with team building, farm visit, photo shoots, and meetings with parts of the Group Management Team and former trainees.

After leaving the introduction days filled up with Lantmännen-wisdom, new friends and latest clothing trends (see picture for proof) it was time to relocate to start our first 3-month position.

Johanna, Anton, Vanessa, Johan, Sebastian, Lovisa
Moa, Hugo, Hampus (Program Manager), Mikkel

So, who are we? Here’s a short presentation about our background and our first position at Lantmännen:

  • Johanna
    • Education:
      • KTH Royal Institute of Technology
      • MSc. in Industrial Engineering and Management
      • Specialization: Efficient Energy Utilization
    • First trainee position:
      • Common Function, Brand and Communication, Stockholm
      • Further dev of Lantmännen cutivation concept Climate & Nature
  • Anton
    • Education:
      • Linköping University
      • MSc. in Industrial Engineering & Management, International (Chinese)
      • Specialization: Biotechnology, Strategic management and corporate governance
    • First trainee position:
      • Agriculture, Malmö
      • Commodities climate performance as a competetive advantage
  • Vanessa
    • Education:
      • Chalmers University of Technology
      • MSc. in Industrial Ecology
    • First trainee position:
      • Energy, Agroetanol, Norrköping
      • The effect of raw material variation in a biorefinery
  • ​Johan
    • Education:
      • Stockholm School of Economics
      • MSc in Accounting & Financial Management
      • Specialization in Accounting & Financial Management and Finance
    • First trainee position:
      • Food, Unibake, Copenhagen
      • Execution of innovation strategy
  • ​Sebastian
    • Education:
      • Uppsala University
      • MSc. in Business and Economics in Strategic Marketing Management
    • First trainee position:
      • R&D, AS-Faktor, Stockholm
      • Functional and medical foods in Sweden and internationally
  • Lovisa
    • Education:
      • Lund University School of Economics and Management
      • MSc. in Accounting and Finance
      • Specialization: Accounting and Management Control
    • First trainee position
      • Food, Cerealia, Stockholm
      • Financial planning development
  • Moa
    • Education:
      • Linköping University
      • M.Sc. in Electrical engineering
    • First trainee position:
      • Increase sales of the right products by improving the Product Information Management platform
      • Food, Unibake, Copenhagen
  • Hugo
    • Education:
      • Linköping University
      • MSc. in Industrial Engineering and Management
      • Specialization: Supply Chain Management, Mechanical Engineering
    • First trainee position:
      • Swecon, Stockholm
      • Global competition and market analysis for mySwecon
  • Mikkel
    • Education:
      • Copenhagen Business School
      • MSc. in Business, Language & Culture – Business & Development Studies
      • Specialization: International Business & Economic Development
    • First trainee position:
      • Food, Cerealia, Stockholm
      • Re-position the MIX portfolio in the Nordics

Hope you will follow us throughout the program for interesting updates from each of our position, stay tuned! 🙂

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