Newsletter
Fit4Future
Celebrating Success
Illovo Sugar South Africa has realized that in order to remain competitive, it must re-evaluate its business approach, adopt new norms and regulations, and become more forward-thinking in order to accept new workplace dynamics, and the Fit4Future project has been successful in this regard.
The Focus Awards honours outstanding work and allows for learning to be shared across AB Sugar, inspiring us all to replicate with pride.
This year's entries were divided into five categories, which included the supply chain from agriculture to sales, our relentless focus on cost control, internal and external collaboration, and recognizing the importance of Health and Safety management.
These categories were:
- COMMERCIAL APPROACH TO AGRICULTURE
- BECOMING SUSTAINABLY LOW COST
- MOVING BEYOND SALES
- WIDENING THE HORIZON
- HEALTH & SAFETY EXCELLENCE
The winners of the 2021 Focus Awards which were announced at the AB Sugar Leadership Conference:
Rainer Talanda won the “Becoming sustainably low cost” Category.
Illovo Fit4Future Project
“It has been a great privilege for me to have led the RDO during the bulk of the F4F project execution and represent Illovo on this ABS Focus Awards application. The ABS focus awards category “Becoming Sustainably Low Cost” describes the F4F project very well! It was launched as one of the strategic Group initiatives to transform the way Illovo operates, addressing substantive opportunities and challenges, to enable the Group vision.
While embedment of the Operating Model still has some way to go and the journey to maturity of some the initiatives still very much in focus, progress and value delivery has been very substantial and second only in terms of ISA Group EBIT impact to the strong commercial performance. Against baseline, a cumulative benefit of more than R700M has been achieved! Highlights for me include the way the most significant change that the Group has seen in decades was managed, seeing the many examples of how our people have been empowered, reaching a turning point of shift staff no longer having to work 21 days in a row before having time off and introduction of an enabling utility shift, both of which were solved through the 4-team, 3-shift system which also helped secure employment as structural inefficiencies were resolved. The giant leap forward towards world class procurement category management and enablement, factory recoveries enablement, agric reset strategy and the impact of end-to-end supply chain management through the efficient supply reliability initiative, are further substantial achievements. Above all, the highlight of not regressing in our improving safety performance as far as LTI’s are concerned during the major change, but at the same time we need to acknowledge that much improvement is still needed as we build and embed our Illovo Safe culture.
Natalie Davey (Howlett) – nominated for the “Widening the Horizon” category
From Surviving to Thriving: Seizing a Crisis as an Opportunity for Sustainable Growth
“This entry speaks to our continued efforts as a business to work creatively and persistently around the difficult circumstances posed by the Pandemic, and in particular – the embedded new ways of working that were bred through innovation and creativity in a time of crisis. I was very proud to listen to various colleagues (Group & Country) across the broader supply chain on the great work their teams had done to keep the business going. The Pandemic is certainly not over, but the efforts of many teams have not only led to great performance, but accelerated key aspects of the Illovo strategic intent. Well done all and thank you to those that contributed directly to this Focus Award entry”.
Congratulations to the other Illovo finalists, namely the Project Leaders:
Nishana Baboolall in the Moving Beyond Sales category;
Accelerating Margin Growth through Supply Chain Efficiencies and Sustainable Business Tool Implementation
Pranisha Maharaj in the Moving Beyond Sales
Leveraging the Price Management Capability to Deliver Revenue Growth
Congratulations to Illovo Sugar Africa, British Sugar and Azucarera on their winnings.