P&G is the leading consumer goods manufacturer and every second year the company announces the awards to be made to its best performing business partners – this year, to only 12 of its more than 50,000 suppliers.

“Fibertex Personal Care has been a supplier to P&G since 1998, supplying, among other things, fabrics used in Pampers diapers and Always sanitary towels. Each year we supply large quantities of nonwovens to P&G from our factories in Denmark and Malaysia, and it’s our ability to be much more than a supplier that has now landed us this prestigious award,” commented Mikael Staal Axelsen, Group CEO of Fibertex Personal Care. 

Promoting partnerships

Fibertex Personal Care has received P&G supplier awards five times in the past, but this is the first time the company was recognised with P&G’s highest award. Novozymes is the only other Danish company to have received this award. According to Mr Axelsen, P&G uses the awards to promote partnerships rather than traditional customer-supplier relationships. And to have a partnership with P&G, the entire organisation must excel.

“Forget all about just delivering the agreed quantity at the agreed time and place. You can also forget all about just focusing on making zero mistakes. It takes a lot more than that: You need to consistently deliver more than the recipient expects in terms of quality, service, innovation and other key parameters – across the entire company. Everything needs to be better today than it was yesterday, and you must strive to surpass expectations on every parameter,” he said.

“In order to build a business partnership with the world’s leading player within its field, you must maintain a corporate culture in which everyone works towards the same goals and everyone’s focused on customers. It may sound cliché, but regardless of your function in the organisation, the customer must always be your main concern.”

New, positive prospects

Owned by Danish industrial conglomerate Schouw & Co., Fibertex Personal Care generated revenue of DKK 1.8 billion in 2015. The company produces 100,000 tonnes of nonwoven a year, corresponding to 10,000 container loads.

“Fibertex Personal Care is one of our greatest successes. The company currently supplies 8-9% of the world’s consumption of quality nonwovens for diapers, sanitary towels and incontinence products, and we recently invested DKK 400 million to expand production in Malaysia where the market is growing rapidly,” said Jens Bjerg Sørensen, CEO of Schouw & Co.“Receiving P&G’s highest award is a great honour that we can use proactively going forward. It’s simply the gold medal of the industry.”

Back at the Aalborg headquarters, Mr Axelsen has no doubts about what it takes to build on the international success: “We have a unique corporate culture, and maybe that's what really allows us to stand out from the rest. When everyone pulls in the same direction and shares the same passion, it’s extremely powerful. Nothing in this world can match that, and that gives us an excellent platform for continuous growth,” he concluded.

www.fibertexpersonalcare.com