next Sourcing’s “Suppliers’ Seminar 2019” shines spotlight on top performing partners

next Sourcing Sri Lanka Associate Director Wilhelm Elias (right) with top suppliers

next Sourcing, a fully-owned subsidiary of the retail clothing and accessory giant next Plc – UK, recognised and rewarded the top performing partners amongst all of the company’s suppliers at the “Suppliers’ Seminar 2019” held recently. The 2019 edition of this annual event was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo and was attended by a large gathering that included representatives from the supplier organisations as well as the management and staff of next Sourcing.

The key highlight of the evening was the special awards of recognition presented to the three top-performing suppliers for their exceptional performances in 2018. Accordingly, the Gold Award was won by Nobleswear Ltd., the Silver Award by next Manufacturing Ltd. and the Bronze Award by Crystal Martin Garments Ltd. next Sourcing also commended the positive contributions made by all suppliers in helping the company achieve sales targets while also ensuring that high production quality and on time delivery standards were adhered to. 

Over the course of its 25 years of operations in Sri Lanka, next Sourcing has successfully built long-standing relationships with the entire supplier base with a large majority of the partners having associations with the company for over 15 years. As next Plc - UK is known to source only the finest, most exclusive fabrics and garments from Sri Lanka, next Sourcing always maintained close links with all suppliers to ensure that they continuously improve their manufacturing process to meet the stringent standards of the UK office. 

The event also included a comprehensive performance overview of next Sourcing’s sales achievements during the previous quarter together with an updated analysis on the current performance in line with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by next Plc – UK.

next Sourcing is engaged in the design, sourcing, buying, merchandising and quality control of next Plc products. The company also coordinates with a global network of offices to negotiate market prices, manages the supply chain, and ensures on-time delivery on behalf of next Plc. The next Sourcing management carries out bi-annual factory evaluations allow to make the selections for the top three factories out of a relatively large factory base operational in Sri Lanka. The criteria for selection includes elements such as on time performance, capacity offered, sample lead-time and several others. 

next Sourcing Associate Director Wilhelm Elias stated, “This year has been an exceptional year for us with 12% growth achieved on the year and credit goes out to all of our teams and our suppliers. Working together towards one objective has resulted in great service and with great service builds confidence and owing to the increased levels of confidence we have beaten our sales targets. 

“2019 marks our 25th year in Sri Lanka which is the very first office across the next Sourcing group, I have seen the office go from our humble beginnings of $ 7.0 mil sales to now $ 120.0 mil sales. We are a very wisely and prudently managed business and reason for us to have had great success in Sri Lanka. We take pride in our product and disciplined in our work ethic yet embrace a fun loving culture. The Sri Lanka office will be planning growth on the year for 2020.

next Sourcing Technical Manager Dinesh Senaratne stated, “We have had countless achievements and accomplishments especially from last year which proved to be exceptionally productive and we have still managed to consistently ship stock that meets the customer’s standards. With commitment and the high standard of quality performances with our supplier base, NS Sri Lanka still achieving better STS performances from NUK warehouse goods intake. Even though we have changed the product range, we managed to establish reliability and quality performances with Next UK. 

“While the competition from other countries and independent suppliers continues, Sri Lanka office stands as top performer for maintaining its quality standards and retain the ‘Best Region for Quality’. Sri Lanka has now built a reputation for managing the most difficult products, which is a credit to the improved skill level of our suppliers and their continuous improvement.”

next Sourcing Senior Merchandising Manager Thikula Samaradivakara stated, “During the year, next Sourcing team members visit all key suppliers. We not only visit factories but also other important parties in the supply chain such as washing plants, embroidery plants, fabric mills. We carry out discussions proactively on how to improve various aspects of their performance so that we can provide an even better product/service to the client. We are proud to state that we have received a lot of praise from a large number of suppliers on our level of transparency, which is definitely above their expectations. Since most of the suppliers have been with us for over 15 years, we have been able to build close ties with them and they are like family to us.”

next Sourcing Sri Lanka produces next-branded children’s and women’s garments, as well as women’s lingerie and menswear. Over twenty years of experience gives the company an edge over the global competition and an opportunity to create greater value for their stakeholders. Exclusive, coordinated collections of stylish, cost-effective garments are distributed through the next retail network, which consists of more than 500 stores in the UK alone and almost 200 stores serving customers in over 70 countries.

next Sourcing offices are located worldwide, including in Leicester, London, Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan, North India, South India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.