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Press Release

Gries Deco wins Supply Chain Management Award 2017

Frankfurt am Main, September 26, 2017 – Gries Deco Company, the home accessories and small furniture retailer behind the DEPOT brand name, has won the Supply Chain Management Award 2017. The prize was presented on September 26 as part of “EXCHAiNGE – The Supply Chainers’ Conference” in Frankfurt’s House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM). The four finalists – Adidas, Airbus, Covestro, and Gries Deco Company –presented their outstanding ideas live to the audience before the jury sat down to make its final decision. For the third year in a row, the winner was chosen right then and there during the ceremony. Industry professionals attending the event had the opportunity to submit their votes, and the result was considered by the jury during its on-site deliberations.

A winning idea Gries Deco Company made the decision in recent years to create a digital supply chain solution that consolidates the movements of goods across borders without losing preferences, guaranteeing full control of all important steps in the value chain. One of the primary hubs for this solution is the company’s highly digitized distribution center for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A cross-border cloud solution reduced inventories and operating costs and greatly enhanced material flow transparency.

Praise from the jury “Gries Deco impressed the jury in all the evaluation criteria – strategy, processes, organization, and innovation”, explained Dr. Bernd Rosenkranz, who accepted the award last year on behalf of the PERI Group and presented this year’s award. “The supply chain plays a critical role in the company’s success, and this project really drives that point home.”

“Gries Deco is the role model for a highly digitized global supply chain. Global transparency combined with the insourcing of critical supply chain activities allows efficiency to really take off”, emphasized juror Harald Geimer, a Partner at PwC Strategy&.

Fellow juror Dr. Petra Seebauer, publisher of the trade journal LOGISTIK HEUTE, adder her thoughts about the award-winning solution: “Gries Deco presented a cloud-based supply chain solution that combines automation and material flow transparency to achieve end-to-end efficiency. They recognized the value of the digital supply chain as a competitive factor and worked to fully implement it within the company, bringing their own employees and supply chain partners on board for a concerted effort. The jury was particularly impressed by Gries Deco’s unconventional cloud based solution for the delivery route from Asia via Germany to Switzerland, despite of different customs systems.”

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“We are pleased that our performance in the digital supply chain is appreciated and has been honored by recognized experts, and we are proud to have won the award”, responded Dr. Patric Spethmann, Managing Director and COO of Gries Deco Company GmbH. “What makes us especially proud is that the digital supply chain at Depot is an interdisciplinary achievement that came about in large part thanks to those in charge of general logistics, inbound logistics, and IT. With a team like that, I feel extremely confident facing the challenges of digitization and Industry 4.0 that lie ahead.”

About the award Strategy&, the global strategy consulting team at PwC, partnered with the industry trade journal LOGISTIK HEUTE to present the prestigious award, now in its twelfth year. Presiding over this year’s award ceremony was Dorothee Bär (CSU), Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Government Coordinator for Freight Transport and Logistics.

Each year since 2006, the Supply Chain Management Award has honored outstanding solutions in industrial value chains and the companies that exhibit perseverance or creativity in optimizing their supply chain. The prize recognizes innovative solutions in supply chain management that have made significant contributions to competitiveness and paved the way for other companies. Candidates must exhibit powerful end-to-end supply chain solutions or outstanding implementations within individual links in the value chain. An independent jury of prominent industry experts, researchers, journalists, and consultants chooses the winner. Past winners have included PERI (2016), Nokia Networks (2015), GF Piping Systems (2014), ADVA Optical Networking (2013), Infineon Technologies (2012), BASF (2011), and BMW-Motorrad (2010).

SAVE THE DATE “EXCHAiNGE – The Supply Chainers’ Conference 2018” | September 25 – 26, 2018 Additional information: www.exchainge.de/en For more information, please contact: Annika Kagermaier Marketing/Press EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH +49 89 323 91-240 annika.kagermaier@euroexpo.de www.exchainge.de/en (Characters with spaces: 4,548) EUROEXPO press materials may be reprinted free of charge. Texts and images can be found at the EXCHAiNGE press page under www.exchainge.de and www.euroexpo.de. Please send a copy of any republication by postal mail to EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH, Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Joseph-Dollinger-Bogen 7, 80807 München, or by email to annika.kagermaier@euroexpo.de.

EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH was founded in 1996. Today, EUROEXPO organizes LogiMAT – the annual international trade show for intralogistics solutions and process management –and TradeWorld, the professional platform for e-commerce and omnichannel. Since 2014, EUROEXPO has also run the annual LogiMAT China trade show in Nanjing, Jiangsu. EUROEXPO also organizes EXCHAiNGE – The Supply Chainers’ Conference.

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Supply Chain Management Award 2017

Award Winner 2017: Gries Deco Company GmbH / DEPOT

Happy winners: Dr. Patric Spethmann (Managing Director COO; 5th from right) and Melanie Wirth (Strategy & Coordination, both Gries Deco Company GmbH / DEPOT; 4th from left) accepted the Supply Chain Management Award 2016 on behalf of their team. Dr. Petra Seebauer (Publisher LOGISTIK HEUTE; 2nd from right), Harald Geimer (Partner, PwC Strategy&; 2nd from left) and Dr. Bernd Rosenkranz (laudator and representative of PERI, award winner in 2016; right) offered congratulations on behalf of the entire jury. Pictured here other jury members: Alf Behnke (PERI Group; left), Ralf Busche (BASF; 3rd from left), Prof. Dr. Michael Henke (Fraunhofer IML; 4th from right) and Kerstin Gliniorz (ADM Wild; 3rd from left).

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Finalists 2017

The finalists for this year’s award also included Adidas, represented here by Michael Bode

(Vice President Distribution Solutions; left) and Jérôme Dziersan (Distribution Solutions, both

Adidas AG; 2nd from right). Dr. Petra Seebauer (Publisher LOGISTIK HEUTE; right), Harald

Geimer (Partner, PwC Strategy&; 3rd from left) und Dr. Bernd Rosenkranz (laudator and

representative of PERI, award winner in 2016; 2nd from left) offered their congratulations.

Portrait of finalists: Airbus was among the award finalists. Pictured here: Manfred Wenninger

(Executive Business Manager; 5th from left) with his Airbus team and jurors Dr. Petra

Seebauer (Publisher LOGISTIK HEUTE; left), Dr. Bernd Rosenkranz (laudator and

representative of PERI, award winner in 2016; 2nd from right) and Harald Geimer (Partner,

PwC Strategy&; right).

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The finalists also included Covestro, a leading global polymer manufacturer that operated as

Bayer MaterialScience until 2015, represented by Iveta Kozlickova (Head of Center of Supply

Chain Expertise, Covestro GmbH; 3rd from right). Jurors Dr. Petra Seebauer (Publisher

LOGISTIK HEUTE; right), Harald Geimer (Partner, PwC Strategy&; 2nd from right) and Dr.

Bernd Rosenkranz (laudator and representative of PERI, award winner in 2016; left) offered

their congratulations.

Images: EUROEXPO