RS Supplier Newsletter – June 2025

Head into summer with your latest RS Supplier Newsletter

Welcome to your summer edition of the RS Supplier newsletter

Welcome to our June 2025 newsletter, covering the latest news and updated on our strategic projects and initiatives that we have been working on, or have in plan for the months ahead.

I’d like to start by giving an update following Release 1 of our Product Management Solution (PMS) project in August 2024.

Whilst PMS has delivered significant improvements in our capacity and capability to drive range expansion and introduce your new products to the RS range, I recognise that this has come with some challenges and frustrations for you, our supplier partners, as our new processes and ways of working are embedding. And for this, we apologise.

We recognise that our processes could have run smoother, but thanks to our strong partnerships and your valued feedback, we have been able to address the challenges and put clear resolutions in place. We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to you for your steadfast support and patience - your constructive feedback and continued engagement have been pivotal in addressing these challenges and implementing necessary corrective actions.

The strength of our partnerships is evident, and we look forward to furthering our successful collaboration. Together, we have a significant opportunity to realise the full potential and value the PMS project can deliver when we have all the necessary data and content to enable us to make your products available across our considerable database at speed.

Our teams have been working hard to review your valued feedback and assess early lessons learned, with a focus on early and iterative improvements, and as a result, we’ve implemented a number of actions to address your concerns and improve the overall process, which are outlined further in this newsletter.

You can also learn more about our ambitions to expand our range of ‘Better World’ products over the next five years, in line with our commitment to our ESG 2030 strategy, and how you can get involved as we look to extend our offer and support our customers make sustainable and responsible purchasing decisions.

And finally, I’m proud to share the recent recognition we have received for our ongoing efforts to drive our sustainability initiatives and ESG performance, including making the CDP A-list (recognising leadership in climate action and environmental transparency), being awarded the EcoVadis platinum rating, and our inclusion in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2025.

All that is left for me to say is Thank You for your continued partnership and support, and I look forward to achieving even greater success together in the months ahead, as we go in to the second half of 2025.

Kristian Olsson

Senior Vice President EMEA Product & Supplier Management

An update on our Product Management Solutions project

As you will be aware, in August 2024, we launched the first release of our Product Management Solution (PMS) to enhance our systems and simplify processes. This initiative aimed to improve the volume, speed, and ease of launching new products. The initial release has significantly increased our capacity, enabling around 30,000 new product introductions (NPI) per month. However, this transition has also presented challenges and frustrations for our supplier partners, for which we apologise.

Our teams have been working hard to review your feedback and assess early lessons learned, with a focus on early and iterative improvements. As a result, we’ve implemented a number of actions to address your concerns and improve the overall process, which we’d like to update you on.

Backlog of NPI Launches

Issue: From September 2024, we experienced higher than anticipated volumes of un-forecasted NPIs, which caused bottlenecks. Our processes for navigating and prioritizing this demand were not able to keep up.

Solution: We have introduced a more robust process for managing the balance of forecasted and ad hoc NPIs. This includes setting a maximum monthly capacity for ad hoc product introductions, with any surplus lines carrying over to the following month’s quota. Additionally, we’ve implemented automatic prioritization of NPIs (both forecasted and un-forecasted) that are complete with commercial data, full content, and categorization. This will allow such products to move through the system more efficiently and improve communication accuracy regarding launch timelines.

This means that: • For forecasted, planned range expansion, we will be asking you for content sources earlier in the process to enable us to gather all necessary data ahead of time. For these launches you can expect more visibility and of when we will launch your products. • We will use the un-forecasted NPI for the smaller in number, new to market launches where we must be highly reactive. • By providing us with the full commercial data, sources to gather images, datasheets and product attribution, we can maximise both the system efficiencies and capacity of the new processes.

Communication:

Issue: During the transition, our automated system notifications failed as the volumes increased, leading to inadequate updates.

Solution: We have resolved these notification issues and tested the improvements to ensure timely updates. Further enhancements in PMS Release 2 will make calls to action clearer for suppliers.

New Processes:

Issue: Embedding new systems and processes takes time to achieve the maximum output, and our teams needed additional support during this transition.

Solution: We have provided additional training and resources to our teams as they move from the early phase to business as usual. This support aims to maximize output and efficiency.

We recognise that our processes could have run smoother, but thanks to our strong partnerships and your valued feedback, we’ve been able to address the challenges and put clear resolutions in place.

Thank you for your steadfast support and patience - the strength of our partnerships and collaboration is evident. Your constructive feedback and continued engagement have been pivotal in addressing these challenges and implementing necessary corrective actions.

We’re confident that these measures will alleviate the frustrations you have experienced over the past few months and, as we continue to work together, we will maximise the benefits our PMS project offers.

Your continued support, patience and constructive feedback has been invaluable in driving these improvements and, as always, your Category Manager is available to assist with any questions you may have as we move forwards with our improvements and look ahead to PMS Release 2 later in the year.

Accelerating our ‘Better World’ products range

We’re accelerating our strategy with the curation of the 'Better World’ products range, designed to help customers make sustainable and responsible purchasing decisions.

Launched in 2023/24, our claims-based framework empowers customers to make informed choices backed by credible and verified sustainability claims. This is a key differentiator, especially for our high-value, strategic customers, who are seeking tangible ways to reduce their carbon footprint and enhance sustainability.

Our Better World product range now includes c. 30,000 products from more than 130 suppliers, featuring over 1,700 items that support energy and carbon reduction or renewable energy generation across customer facilities. This year, we’ve expanded the range to offer more options for specific product types, such as personal protection equipment and workwear, engaging 32 suppliers to add 245 products.

Big News: Sustainability Takes Centre Stage

Our ambition is to grow the Better World product range to over 100,000 products by 2030 establishing a clear and robust sustainability standard for our industry that benefits both customers and suppliers. As we advance our framework, we will focus on evolving product families and encouraging new suppliers to participate.

Whether you’re already a part of our Better World product portfolio and want to expand your range, or want to find out more about how you can get involved, visit our Better World product section of our website, or email the Better World Team.

Fluke and RS combine to support The Washing Machine Project

Krzysztof Stoma, Jai Gandhi and Katrin Maltaverne from Fluke

Over the last four years, RS has proudly partnered with The Washing Machine Project (TWMP), a collaboration that has seen over 1,000 volunteers from across our business contribute their skills and time to help communities facing hardship. These volunteers have shared their expertise in areas such as IT, marketing, social media, and logistics and, as well as organising fundraising events, many have also participated in hands-on activities, building washing machines, also known as Divya manual washing machines, to support those in need.

Since 2021, we’ve raised over £960,000 to make a difference to the lives of over 46,000 people worldwide. Through these efforts we have given people the dignity of clean clothes and precious time to invest in raising their family, education and employment.

Back in January this year, in a cold and slightly snowy Bad Hersfeld, 60 colleagues from teams across our German business were joined by Krzysztof Stoma, Jai Gandhi and Katrin Maltaverne from Fluke, who also kindly made a generous donation to the TWMP project, to take part in a ‘Divya Build Challenge’.

In just over three days, the team built a staggering 20 new Divya machines, which have now been despatched to the Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) in Lesbos, Greece.

The new equipment at the CCAC, which is currently operating at maximum capacity, is a crucial addition. Currently, residents at the camp can only wash their laundry every two weeks - a challenge for individuals and even more so for families. The Divya machines offer a much-needed alternative manual solution, allowing people to wash their clothes themselves.

The build also attracted regional TV and radio coverage, which led to a number of other local companies being inspired to partner with TWMP.

If you would like to find out more about how you too can get involved in working together with us and our global charity partners, please contact our Social Impact Partnerships Team, or speak with your Category Manager.

ESG ratings recognition for our commitment to sustainability.

We’re proud to announce that we’ve recently been recognised by top ESG ratings, reflecting our teams' dedication to value-generating initiatives that benefit our people, customers, suppliers, shareholders and communities, striving for a better world.

Here are our recent achievements:

1. CDP A-list selection We were delighted to join CDP’s prestigious A-list for the first time, having improved our CDP rating this year from A- to A for our commitment to climate action, environmental transparency and disclosure.

CDP is a leading global benchmark for climate action, with top companies from 130 countries disclosing critical environmental data.

2. Platinum EcoVadis medal We retained our Platinum EcoVadis medal for the third consecutive year, placing RS Group in the top 1% of over 150k rated companies.

EcoVadis is a trusted global provider of business sustainability ratings, recognising RS Group's leadership in Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.

3. S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook
We were listed in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook for the second time, placing us in the top 15% of our industry for ESG action. This Yearbook, based on S&P Global's Corporate Sustainability Assessment, is a leading publication recognising companies with strong corporate sustainability progress.

Andrea Barrett, Chief Sustainability Officer says: "This recognition is testament to the hard work of all our teams to decarbonise our business and supply chain and offer our customers more sustainable products and service solutions. But the work doesn’t stop here! We’re continuing to accelerate our 2030 ESG action plan to protect our people and the planet, support our sustainable growth and create more long-term value for all our stakeholders.”

You can find out more about our 2030 ESG Action Plan here. And don’t forget to look out for our 2025 ESG report, which will be available on the RS Group website from 26 June 2025.