Around 130 attendees of Ensto Supplier Days in Tallinn agreed that in an era of digitalization, success depends on the extent to which companies are able to work together instead of competing with one another.
Ensto Group CEO Ari Virtanen says that honesty and transparency should be the basis on which companies in the same value chain operate. “Since we strive to be a recognized provider of electricity solutions, Ensto can’t develop production within a closed space,” he said. “Growth in our production has a direct impact on our key suppliers, and vice versa. That’s why we need open dialogue and honest cooperation with our suppliers.”
Virtanen added that developing an organization that is guided by the needs of its clients is perfectly conventional, but the idea of contributors placed at different points along the value chain working together is much less commonly used. “As a provider of electrical solutions, Ensto puts the megatrends that surround us and the concept of the smart city at the core of its strategy,” he explained. “In this field, things become reality sooner rather than later. We made history here in the Creative Hub in Tallinn, because for the first time in our almost 60 years of operations we brought together partners who are important to us. Basically we did ask our suppliers what they need from us so that we all win from the growth in the digital era and what our suppliers can offer us for the development of the field, such as contributing to design in product development.”
Ensto Group Procurement Director Tomasz Bilinski says that the company has very clear expectations of its suppliers. “In addition to basic requirements like agility, quality and on-time delivery, we expect suppliers to continuously develop their operations and products to become more cost competitive. Ensto also expects suppliers to help us develop Ensto new products, shorten the time to the market by getting involved in earlier stages of product development cycles. Suppliers have a greater role to play – we can both learn from each other and in the end win together if we communicate earlier and more”
Ensto’s Supplier days were held on 13–15th of November in Tallinn. Suppliers were able to visit two of Ensto’s biggest factories in Tallinn and Keila. The culmination of the event was a dialogue conference at the Tallinn Creative Hub, which was attended by over a 100 representatives from almost 70 different companies from around the world.
Margita Tuulik