Question for Rémi Chenard, Key Account Director.
Updated: Feb 9, 2022
A key account unit that is always close to its customers!
Rémi, you are in charge of CGP Coating Innovation's key account unit. Why did you set up this dedicated unit?
"We decided to create this key account service in 2012 to better support our largest customers, who are often multi-site in Europe, in particular. You know, with our contacts at Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mars, or Nestlé for example, we have a relationship of trust and co-construction. Confidence between the interlocutors that is earned with time, reactivity, flawless follow-up, by being a force of proposals… and of course through exchange as well. Little by little, they are beginning to view us as a full-fledged member of their own team and from that moment on, we can be in this function of co-construction of added value that I mentioned.
You know, we sometimes have 15 different contacts for the same customer, with one per site. It is our role to optimize progress for all and new developments, and to pass on feedback… this sometimes leads us internally to think about new solutions and new products that we develop in parallel. It's a win-win virtuous circle.
We have been in a delicate period for two years, has this impacted your relationships?
Quite the contrary. Together we all have shown solidarity and responsibility. We have been working to find alternatives to protect supplies for all, for example. Both in 2020 to meet high demand and in 2021 when the shortage of paper and cardboard has impacted us all.
Our role in 2022 will perhaps be less focused on development than on securing supplies and finding appropriate solutions. We anticipate and work hard to put in place alternatives when they are useful or necessary. With our Excalibur solution, for example, our integrated interleaf-format cutting machine, we bring a real possibility of flexibility to the production lines. It immediately means fewer references our customers have to manage thanks to the multidimensional cutting, the optimization of the weight of the palletization interleaves, and the ease of handling of these light formats. We are responding concretely to the market which is tightening, and it is a good example of an alternative that we offer and that we regularly set up today in factories that had not yet recognized their potential interest.
Does this period of time not facilitate the exchanges?
Again, this goes to the core of our key account unit. Our dedicated European team is a real added value. It supports and takes care of our customers.
It will of course continue to do so during this still quite difficult period of time with the appropriate means. This does not prevent us from working and carrying out our projects. But I must admit that we do miss the direct exchanges with our interlocutors. Digitalization cannot replace human relationships!