Meet Chris - The Supply Chain Changemaker

I’ve been with Cranswick for 27 years, becoming more and more experienced with production, operations, raw materials and processing. In my current role, I bring together my skills and experience to link the purchasing of raw materials with technical and processing knowledge.

We undertook a supplier engagement project to find out what packaging was being supplied to us. It was a big task, taking around 6 months, and involved a lot of perseverance. When the data was in, we could see a quick win was eliminating cardboard from our beef suppliers – it wasn’t being recycled, caused inefficiencies in delivery, hindered quality assessment and caused rejections.

By collaborating with our beef suppliers, together we replaced the cardboard containers with plastic returnable crates. This was a great result for all involved, saving 543 tonnes of cardboard a year - 100% better for the planet, both businesses and our product. My biggest advice is not to give up on your quest, and work as a team.

Chris, Divisional Purchasing Operations Manager, Convenience Division

“With a little bit of focus, we could see that there was a major cost and environmental saving to be made. No one person can undertake these projects alone, it’s all about working as a team. If you look hard enough, you will see the efficiencies.”