Through the first quarter of 2023, supply and demand forces continued to normalize. Still, persistent inflationary pressures continued to drive increased input costs in most industries, making Bunzl Canada’s role in business enablement that much more critical to our customers’ success.
To that end, we recently brought our sales professionals and vendor partners together at a national conference to discuss, demonstrate and learn about new ways to help you drive efficiency, become more sustainable, increase effectiveness, and reduce costs. The event was a resounding success and generated a high degree of excitement about the many opportunities we have to create value for your business!
Labour Shortages
Most businesses still view the labour market as tight, even though labour shortages and wage growth pressures are easing. Changing demographics play a key role, and many of our customers struggle to complete the necessary work with the complement of available staff. With that in mind, we continue to invest in automation technology to offer new ways to drive efficiency, most recently with a new line of autonomous floor scrubbers from Gausium.
Equipment isn’t the only way we can help you to optimize labour. Our vendor partners have introduced a myriad of labour-saving innovations and you’ll be seeing them in our in-house innovation events in branches across the country this quarter and next.
Sustainability
Sustainability is at the top of the agenda for both our customers and our Category Management team. In the last quarter , we introduced a wide range of new SKUs in food packaging that boast 100% recycled content along with more sustainable, recyclable or compostable substrates. We also continue to look for more ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our operations through better use of space, load and route optimization technologies and a host of new pilot initiatives to be announced later in the year. Soon we’ll be launching a new, environmentally responsible chemistry that helps to protect workers and the environment while packing a solid punch when it comes to tackling tough commercial cleaning challenges.
Cost Escalation
Cost escalation is a universal concern and a key area of focus for both our Category Management team and our industry-specific product experts. They’ve worked to refine and refresh our brand offerings to include new product assortments designed to deliver quality, performance and exceptional value. Look for specific promotions in this and our other publications and take the opportunity to try these cost-intelligent solutions.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the Bunzl Business Insider. We continue to work hard to find new and better ways to support to your businesses, and we welcome your thoughts and feedback.
Best Regards,
John Howlett
President, Bunzl Canada