Johnson Controls Denmark ApS

“RIVAL makes heavy demands – on itself”

Johnson Controls Denmark ApS has chosen RIVAL as a supplier of custom-made items for chilling and freezing equipment. In this collaboration, Commodity Manager Marlene Gronbjerg places special emphasis on quality, flexibility and understanding of the task.

“We base our assessment on total costs and on what is the best set-up in the long term. Flexibility
is also important for the products we are dealing with, so we have to work with people who are
quick to respond,” says Marlene Gronbjerg from Johnson Controls about choosing RIVAL as a sub-supplier

Johnson Controls 

Ms Gronbjerg began working at Johnson Controls in 2004 as an apprentice in the purchasing department and has since been given more responsibility. She now holds the position of Commodity Manager. She is responsible for the agreement with RIVAL regarding the production of machining parts. “We primarily use RIVAL for the processing of non-standard items, such as items that require milling, welding, drilling or bending. These tasks require flexibility, a quick response and understanding of our challenges – our customers’ needs. It often involves new items and new drawings. In this context, we place a lot of emphasis on timely delivery, quality and price – it must all come together,” says Ms Gronbjerg.

Praise or criticism
Ms Gronbjerg has the overall responsibility for making the collaboration work. All quality and delivery problems end up on her desk. She monitors that RIVAL delivers as expected and meets defined targets. “I get an opportunity to both praise and criticise”. What do you do most? “As far as RIVAL is concerned, we have had a couple of challenging situations,” she says cryptically. “But I think we tackled them really well, so I have praised them a lot. I have also heard that the quality is really good, and we need that. We don’t have time to do things over again when it comes to non-standard products. We can’t just pick another product on the shelf. When we get it, it must work. That’s important for our supply chain and that’s why we have chosen RIVAL. RIVAL makes heavy demands on itself and is very aware of what they want to achieve with their company and what they can offer their customers.”

Cheaper than abroad
Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to send the drawing to Poland? “Well yes, we could easily get it cheaper if we only look at the product, but if we look at overall costs including freight, administration, resources spent on collaboration as well as quality, it turns out that RIVAL is cheaper on more demanding items. They are really good at that. We also have items where the material is really important and requires certificates. RIVAL is on top of that. For me, it is important to have a total supplier who makes sure that we don’t have to handle a lot of the
administration. Their logistics set-up functions well. In addition, RIVAL has some machines that can produce automatically what in Poland is done manually. This is precisely what results in a better quality and guarantees that tolerances are respected. RIVAL is good, especially when it comes to quality, delivery and flexibility. They’re really good at that.”

>>"RIVAL is good, especially when it comes to quality, delivery and flexibility. They’re really good at that.”<<

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