Press Release 9 October 2006

Cloetta Fazer and IBX initiates partnership – eSourcing expected to render significant cost savings

Cloetta Fazer has signed a five-year partnership agreement with IBX, Europe’s leading provider of services and solutions for efficient purchasing. By adopting IBX’s e-sourcing solutions, Cloetta Fazer aims to increase the volume and efficiency of sourcing, securing a long-term strong position on an increasingly competitive market. The partnership is an important part of Cloetta Fazer’s recently initiated cost reduction programme.

Cloetta Fazer is looking to increase the efficiency of its strategic sourcing process through IBX’s on-demand solutions in both Finland and Sweden. By adopting e-sourcing, Cloetta Fazer is hoping to achieve savings not just in the form of lower purchase prices, but also in terms of the administrative time required for the sourcing process. Cloetta Fazer expects to achieve material improvements with immediate effect.

In previous projects with similar qualities, IBX has managed to generate savings of 5-30 percent on purchase prices and 30-50 percent in terms of the administrative time required for sourcing. The partnership between IBX and Cloetta Fazer is expected to generate cost savings in the same range.

“IBX’s solution plays a major role in the cost reduction programme. In particular, our aim is to improve and increase the efficiency of the competitive tendering processes that we employ in sourcing. The user-friendliness and versatility of the system and access to technical support locally were critical as decisive factors,” says Mikael Hellström, Lead Buyer at Cloetta Fazer.

The new electronic sourcing process covers all of Cloetta Fazer’s direct and indirect purchases.

“Direct purchasing has the greatest cost-cutting potential, and even if the savings would be only a few percent, we are talking about large figures. That is why we now employ electronic sourcing processes for acquiring raw materials, packaging and other things that we use directly in our own production, as well as for buying office supplies and services and making other indirect purchases,” Hellström explains.

Focus on Strategic Sourcing

The partnership will centre on strategic planning and implementation of sourcing functions. The key issues at Cloetta Fazer are needs assessment, market- and supplier analysis, category planning and goal definition. These issues form the basis for sourcing and are used to build an effective and practical e-sourcing process with all the relevant electronic tools – for managing categories, planning tenders, performing internal enquiries, producing requests for information and quotes, practising reverse auctions and producing analysis with the aim of choosing suppliers and signing contracts.

Harmonising the processes across the different departments of Cloetta Fazer is a critical issue, and the aim is to achieve effective cooperation on all levels. The goal is for the purchasing staff at Cloetta Fazer to master the new system as quickly as possible in order for Cloetta Fazer to be able to manage its sourcing process independently.

“Our task is to help Cloetta Fazer to configure its strategic sourcing process and to provide the tools that the enterprise needs for putting the process into practice. We will provide support in the implementation of the process and the tools for as long as we are needed, but the plan is for our clients to learn to use our on-demand services independently over time,” says Ari-Matti Purhonen, Country Manager, IBX Finland.

For more information, please contact:
Mikael Hellström, Lead Buyer, Cloetta Fazer, tel. +358 (0)50 56 86 785,
e-mail: mikael.hellstrom@cloettafazer.fi
Ari-Matti Purhonen, Country Manager, IBX Finland, tel. +358 (0)50 995 5995,
e-mail: ari-matti.purhonen@ibx.fi
Peter Lageson, Marketing Director IBX Group AB, +46 70 37 55 105,
e-mail: peter.lageson@ibx.se

About Cloetta Fazer
With a market share of 22%, Cloetta Fazer is the Nordic region’s largest chocolate and sugar confectionery company. The company has production facilities in Sweden and Finland. Strong brands, such as Fazer Blue, Kexchoklad, Dumle, Geisha, Polly and Center are Cloetta Fazer’s most important business asset. The corporation employs around 1,500 people and its turnover amounted to around SEK 3 billion (EUR 330 million) in 2005. www.cloettafazer.fi