September 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to the latest edition of the RS Global Supplier Newsletter

Supplier Newsletter

We’ve lots of RS news to share with you, starting off with the latest member to join the RS family – Distrelec B.V!

Also, why not take a look at some of the opportunities we have for you, such as the new Supplier Zone in our Think Hub tool, as well as upcoming events – and lots more.

RS GROUP ACQUIRES DISTRELEC

A new family member! Newly acquired Distrelec B.V now join us as part of RS Group.

This high service, digital-led maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) distributor is the perfect fit to help leverage our existing operations and drive value-accretive growth.

We are delighted to introduce the newest member of the RS family, Distrelec B.V - Distrelec is a high-service, digital-led distributor of industrial and MRO products with c.400 employees and is headquartered in Manchester, UK with an additional 12 sales offices across Europe. It operates two distribution centres in Switzerland and the Netherlands and a shared service centre in Latvia, serving c. 180,000 customers, across 19 countries, offering 146,000 stocked and a further 104,000 unstocked products.

This acquisition will significantly expand our presence in key European markets, extending the RS Group further into continental Europeand will leverage our existing operations to drive value-accretive growth in these key markets.

RS and Distrelec have begun working together on how our companies provide you with the very best supplier experience. We’re excited to follow the progress and development in realising the true potential and significant value created from bringing the two companies together. Watch this space.

RS ESG ROUND UP!

A strong ESG approach drives positive impact, supports a stronger and more successful business, differentiates your brand with customers and drives new, incremental revenue streams.

Returning your signed ethical trading declaration

Back in February we asked you to read, sign and return our Ethical Trading Declaration Policy, which is a minimum mandatory requirement for doing business with RS.

If you haven’t already, please sign and return the Ethical Trading Declaration Policy(or your equivalent signed policy) to the RS Procurement Governance team at procurementgovernance@RSgroup.com. If you have any questions or need any further support, please contact us.

Have you been EcoVadis assessed yet?

Did you know 50% of our suppliers are now EcoVadis members? And over the last year the average medal rating for RS suppliers increased from bronze to silver. Well done to all those involved in driving these improvements!

EcoVadis is the world’s leading and most trusted social and environmental sustainability rating for businessesand getting assessed is a key requirement of being an RS strategic supplier.

A key benefit for you is reporting efficiency. Getting assessed and sharing your scorecard with your customers, means you only need to report once, rather than completing lots of time-consuming individual customer questionnaires, leaving more time to deliver high-impact change activities!

If you missed our EcoVadis webinar you can watch the recording here.

By clicking on the link you agree that you won’t (i) download, copy or duplicate the recording, (ii) decompile, disassemble, modify, translate or alter the recording, (iii) extract or use any element or data from the recording for any purpose, or (iv) authorise any third party to use or exploit the recording on any media, for any use.

Science-based targets (SBTs)

The world urgently needs businesses to lead the way in the global drive towards net zero. At our supplier conference earlier this year we talked about the importance of taking science-based climate action, mapping and reporting emissions, setting SBTs and driving carbon reductions. If you haven’t already set science-based targets with the SBTi, please let us know your future plans.

Our ask of you:

Take action on our four supplier ESG priorities and share an update with your RS account manager:

Sign and return the Ethical Trading Declaration.
Get EcoVadis assessed and share your scorecard with RS.
Tell us about your sustainable products to feature in our Better World range .
Deliver carbon reductions and set (SBTs)
Share details of your sustainability or ESG lead, so we can connect and drive this agenda forward together.

Thank you for your ongoing support and action.

THINKHUB

Have you seen our Think Hub tool? Full of useful information, we’ve now added a Supplier Zone to make it even better. Discover Schneider’s experience so far…

Designed specifically for engineers, the Think Hub has a wealth of information to help them save time with product selection and comparison.

To add even more value to their experience we’ve now added a Supplier Zone, where brands can showcase their latest offers, spark discussions and share thought leadership on meaningful topics. They can also provide engineers with access to their digital tools, (e.g., calculators and configurators).

The first brand over the starting line is Schneider Electric. Here’s what their eCommerce Global Accounts Director has to say about the experience:

“While many of the key innovations RS previously brought to the market are becoming commoditised, Think Hub represents a unique opportunity to deliver a new customer value and experience that will differentiate RS in the market, plus allow Schneider Electric to collaborate inside this ecosystem to bring joint value to both our brands and ultimately the end customer.”

Want to get involved with this great opportunity? Contact Rashdeep.Kelf@rsgroup.com.

CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENTS ON NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTON

We’ve been working hard to identify quick wins to improve availability, increase stock turn and reduce provision and surplus. Find out how…

Last year, we shone the spotlight on cables technologies in the manufacturing and motion section of Automation and Control, (cable accessories, electrical and data cable, power and industrial cable).

NPI opportunities are much lower in comparison to other areas, so what could be done to improve the existing range to maintain strong performance.

Our taskforce focused on making improvements, these included:

Top runner investments
Investments in products with low customer satisfaction
Out of stock referrals
Margin optimisation and pricing strategies
Demand uplifts
First class content

Focusing on the quick wins to be made for the biggest impact, we conducted demand reviews on the top 1000 products to ensure the most accurate forecasts, adding uplifts where necessary. Lead time reviews also took place with those suppliers that had a higher rate of delivery failures or where orders were outgrowing inventory.

So far, we have:

Improved customer experience with order availability now at 97.6% on our own branded products in this area, (previously 96%)
We’ve increased our stock turn from 2.17 to 2.4 with no risk to service.
And reduced provision and surplus

A real success story showing how by improving the basics we can have a positive impact on main key performance indicators.

ITALIAN RS CONNECT

RS Connect 2023, our great networking event, will be held on 18 - 19 October at the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, near Milan.

For the second year, RS in Italy will bring its main stakeholders together to take a look at cutting edge Italian industry and identify new business opportunities across the organisation - creating synergies between the main market leading companies.

In the diary for many of our suppliers, this two-day event reinforces our commitment to become the main industrial distributor of solutions and services, demonstrating that through ongoing collaboration we can support long-term growth with our partners.

INTRODUCING A NEW AND IMPROVED INVENTORY PLANNING SOLUTION!

Find out more on how we are improving our inventory planning solution and what it means for you!

Great news, our Inventory Team have upgraded to a new inventory planning solution, which benefits our people, customers, and you, our suppliers!

Over the last year, we have successfully completed phase one of our inventory planning solution upgrade, (called Blue Yonder), which is a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to operational excellence.

Not only does this upgrade improve the user experience for our people, but it also brings a wealth of benefits to our customers, suppliers, and our business:

Benefits for our customers:

Enhanced forecasting abilities, leading to improved forecast accuracy, service levels and availability.
The Blue Yonder Planning solution comes with the latest demand and supply planning methodologies built in, these result in systematic responses/alerts to the ever-changing sales environments to make sure we respond appropriately to ensure supply of what our customers need.

Benefits for you, our suppliers:

The Blue Yonder System support team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Improved availability of system, ensuring you are consistently receiving your orders when expected.

Our business

Opting for the ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) model provides access to the latest innovations, ensuring our Inventory Solution remains up-to-date and fully functional.
Single Sign-On (SSO) streamlines user access by enabling seamless authentication across multiple applications, with just one set of credentials.

What next?

It doesn’t stop here. Phase two is already in motion, focussing on enhancing interfaces to sustain our long-term business growth, assessing existing processes and harnessing the latest functionality available in Blue Yonder.

RS SAFETY SOLUTIONS SUPPORTS KIDS CHARITY

RS Safety Solutions has been supporting KIDS Yorkshire, a charity which provide a range of services for disabled children and young people.

Since March 2022, RS Safety Solutions based in Melton, East Yorkshire have been supporting KIDS Yorkshire, a charity which provides a wide range of services for disabled children, young people and their families. Support from the team has included donating PPE, attending local fundraising events, and taking part in a Christmas present donation.

The fundraising target for 2023 is set to reach £2500.

Claire Crosbie, Senior Yorkshire fundraiser for KIDS Yorkshire, said: “KIDS Yorkshire is delighted to have been chosen by RS Safety Solutions as its Charity of the Year once again for 2023-2024.

“The charity partnership started in March 2022 and since then they have supported us by providing PPE, raising money and also have supported us with Christmas presents for all our early years and family activities groups.

“The relationship has grown over the past 14 months, and we look forward to this successful partnership flourishing as the RS team continue to be at hand volunteering for us at various events over the summer of 2023.

“Charity partnerships like this are vital for raising awareness, providing much needed funds and equipment. Thank you so much from all of us at KIDS.”

RS Group also partners The Washing Machine Project to improve lives and inspire a more sustainable world. Click here to learn more.

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF RS INTEGRATED SUPPLY!

In September 2022, RS Group announced the uniting of its global maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supply chain solutions business into a single brand, RS Integrated Supply.

Previously trading as two separate brands - IESA and Synovos - the transition to RS Integrated Supply provides expertise in MRO procurement and supply chain management. Services include the streamlining of production operations for manufacturing and industrial companies through customised solutions using strategic sourcing, Storeroom Solutions, transactional processing, data management and analytics to digital solutions and value solutions.

Through its global operation, RS Integrated Supply serves multi-site industrial organisations across North America, the UK, Europe, and other global markets and has offices in Warrington, UK, and Radnor, Pennsylvania.

“Our transition to RS Integrated Supply brings the combined value of the IESA and Synovos MRO solutions to organisations around the world,” commented Debbie Bowring, President, RS Integrated Supply. “As one global brand, our digitally enabled procurement and storeroom solutions and engineering skills provide unmatched reliability, consolidation, standardisation and total cost efficiencies across the supply chain.”

You can find out more here.

BETTER WORLD PRODUCTS FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT

Do you want to learn more about our Better World product framework, including the criteria for qualifying products and the supporting information we require. Check out our Supplier Webinar!

As you may be aware, we launched the RS Better World product range in the UK & Ireland in March and now into Australia, New Zealand and France, to help our customers make more sustainable product choices.

We have exciting plans to roll-out the range to our other markets in EMEA and the US), as well as grow the range with more products and suppliers included and expand our claims-based framework.

We are keen to go on this journey together and look to include your products where applicable into our Better World product offer.

About Better World Products

We’ve launched Better World Products to make it easy for customers to identify greener products and provide them with more sustainable purchasing alternatives that they can trust.

Our initial range of Better World products recognises products with improvements in at least one aspect of sustainability, that are supported with externally accredited sustainability certifications or eco Labels.

The products all feature the Better World icon, as well as the sustainability claim and certification, to ensure our customers can see clear and robust claims around sustainability credentials, which they can trust.

Over the next year, we will develop our framework to recognise additional improvements and sustainability claims at different stages of the product lifecycle, focused on how the product was made, the in-use benefits it has and its circularity features.

You can find a link to a Supplier webinar here (Supplier Webinar - YouTube) where we

Introduced our current Better World framework, including the criteria for qualifying products and the supporting information we require.
Shared details of the exciting marketing and stakeholder engagement activities we have planned to promote Better World products.

Provided insights into how we plan to expand our framework over the coming months.

As a supplier partner, we are asking you to help support the development of Better World Products, alongside some other suppliers from our network.

If you believe that you have products that qualify for the Better World product range, we ask you to tell us about these by contacting: betterworldproducts@rs.rsgroup.com.

This will enable us to:

Understand the products you have with sustainability improvements and a relevant certification or ecolabel which may qualify for the Better World product range, plus;
Provide us with useful insight about how you are developing your future approach to sustainable products, helping us to shape the development of our future Better World product framework.

We are still at the start of our Better World product journey and have high hopes to expand our range and framework quickly, to offer our customer’s increased choice. This will be a journey for RS, our supplier partners and customers. We very much appreciate your support and look forward to going on this journey together.

RS WILL BE TAKING PART AT SPS 2023!

SPS opens its doors again in Nuremberg from 14 – 16 November 2023. We’ll be there – will you? If so, pop along to Hall 3 stand 121 and say hello – we’d love to see you!

The SPS (Smart Production Solutions) will be opening its doors again in Nuremberg from 14 – 16 November 2023. If you’re going along, come and say hello in Hall 3 stand 121, we’d love to see you there!

What can you expect?

Covering the entire spectrum of smart and digital automation, SPS has a focus on practical automation solutions for all areas of work. It offers a unique hands-on experience with topic-orientated forums, cutting-edge presentations, and panel discussions around practical solutions to take on the challenges of tomorrow. On our stand you can see our Value-Added Solutions from RS Industria, to Okdo to our own brand range RS PRO.

Come and join us and be part of the future.