Sourcing Principles

In addition to embracing the company’s mission and values, our procurement team adheres to the following seven principles when conducting strategic sourcing. These serve as the foundation for purchasing activities and guide our interactions with external suppliers. Our success depends on productive collaboration between us and our business partners. While individual ownership and contributions make a difference, teamwork is equally important to achieving great results.

Total Value

We take pride in understanding the specific business and functional needs for our directly sourced materials and indirect services to present options based on the optimal overall total value. We determine total value based on the right quality, quantity, price, technology and innovation from the right supplier or partner.

Strategic Alignment

We consider business needs, market knowledge, and supplier capabilities to deliver effective supply options designed to align with company objectives and maximize business results. Our most important call to action is to drive profitable growth, and we need to take bold, decisive actions to ensure external supply partnerships deliver as intended to meet our goals and support a winning future.

Supply Assurance

We must minimize vulnerabilities in our supply chain, providing our internal partners with reliable business continuity plans. We must ensure all external partners are committed to all aspects of sustainable supply assurance. Assurance of supply is built on a foundation of trust, close partnerships, supply contracts and active relationship management.

Competition & Collaboration

Competition and collaboration are equal factors in all strategic sourcing decisions. Competition is used to encourage sourcing improvements with the objective of enhancing savings, quality, value, performance, innovation and simplicity. Collaboration with existing supply partners can offer these same improvement opportunities while providing continuity and risk reduction. In general, new suppliers must offer a clear advantage to secure business from incumbents.

Business Ethics

All sourcing activities are conducted in a fair, responsible and equitable manner, providing all participants with a level and objective playing field. Assumptions or predetermined conclusions never dictate the outcome of any supplier competition. We require all business partners to meet or exceed our expectations of the principles set forth in our Business Partner Code of Conduct.

Diversity

We strive to do business with suppliers that reflect the diversity of our employees, retail customers and consumers. Our diversity program identifies, advocates, and tracks our spending with minority, women, service-disabled and veteran-owned business enterprises as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender business owners in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Innovation

Because we operate primarily in mature categories, we must focus even more on accelerating innovation across all segments of our product portfolio. We look to external collaborative partnerships that can provide us insights and technology for commercial innovation to drive speed to market for future consumer offerings.

What We Source

Want to work with us? Below are examples of goods and services we source.

Direct

  1. Agriculture Products
  2. Bags, Paper and Plastic
  3. Bottles
  4. Cans & Tubes
  5. Cartons, Displays, Inserts
  6. Chemicals
  7. Closures, Pumps, Triggers
  8. Coals, Lignite, Anthracite
  9. Contract Manufacturing
  10. Corrugate
  11. Films & Pouches
  12. Flavors
  13. Fragrances
  14. Ion Exchange Resin
  15. Labels
  16. Minerals, Limestone, Clay
  17. Resin
  18. Solvents
  19. Surfactants

Indirect

  1. Advertising & Creative Services
  2. Business Process Outsourcing
  3. Capital Equipment, Engineering & Construction
  4. Computer Hardware & Software
  5. Consulting Services
  6. Employee Services
  7. Facilities
  8. Financial & Insurance Services
  9. Information & Data Management
  10. Legal Services
  11. MRO for Plant & Equipment
  12. Market Research
  13. Marketing & Sales Materials & Services
  14. Office Equipment & Supplies
  15. R&D Clinical Labs & Research
  16. Lab Equipment & Supplies
  17. IT & Telecomm
  18. Transportation & Logistics Services
  19. Travel
  20. Utilities