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BARBARA FRENCIA
Hello and welcome to Trust and Transformations - Leaders Navigating Change. I'm Barbara Frencia, CEO of Business Assurance at DNV, and I'm very pleased to be welcoming Michele Rota, Chief Quality Officer at Bolton Group to the podcast today.
Bolton Group is an Italian family-owned multinational conglomerate that has been producing and distributing for over 75 years a vast range of innovative and sustainable branded products.
75 years since it was formed in 1949. Bolton Group now has over 10,500 employees present in more than 150 countries with 60 well-known brands that have become household names for millions of consumers. These brands span multiple industries, including food, home care, adhesives and beauty. Welcome to Trust and Transformations, Michele. I will start with a really personal question to you, just to use it as an icebreaker. And also because I'm curious, Michele, your role as Chief Quality Officer at Bolton Group requires you to oversee a wide range of critical responsibilities and drive standards within the group's food brands. How do you balance the demands of your position with your personal life, whether that be your wellbeing, passions or ambitions, for example?
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MICHELE ROTA
Thank you very much indeed, Barbara. I'm very pleased to be here with you today. To answer your ice-breaking question, I believe I'm lucky to be part of the group of people who truly love their job and whose family acknowledge and support it. Having lived over 10 years overseas with my family, it helped in that sense. We moved because of my job and for the same reason we recently returned back to Italy. So I'd say that the first answer to how can I have a work-life balance is I love my job and my family supports that.
But another thing is identification of priorities. Covering a global role often requires you to be connected around the clock. And for that, you have to be good at identifying priorities among the many different matters you deal with on daily basis. And putting the right focus on what is more important and urgent is the key.
Lastly, I'd say that discipline is necessary to understand when you have to break and dedicate time to your family on yourself. Having a routine, for instance, is very helpful to me. Being there reading the daily news or exercising before starting with my day. Or, for instance, establishing a weekly task to be done with your loved ones.
These tasks done regularly really help me to disconnect and think to other things, relax and be ready for what comes next. So ultimately, I believe that we have to be good in what we do in a sustainable way that allows us doing it for long time. And that has to be one of our responsibilities.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Thank you, Michele. And I really recognize a lot of what you are saying in terms of discipline, routine, and try to make sure you have the right time for the right things. Thank you so much for sharing that. Now, if I move to the leadership part, as a leader in a global organization like Bolton Group.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
What do you believe are the most essential qualities of effective leadership in times of transformation?
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MICHELE ROTA
Over the past few years since I started working, I have recognized three things that are very important to me. First off, whether I'm dealing with peer colleagues, company owners or factory workers, listening is key to me. Albeit it's probably one of the most difficult exercise to perform. Just think about the quantity of information we all receive every day and how tough is to choose which ones are the most relevant to us. But when you actually listen to what other people want to tell you and ask to articulate to better understand until it is clear, then you realize the amount of knowledge and passion is sitting within the people you work with every day. Sometimes I see companies looking outside to find the best advice for their business practices without realizing that they already had the answer, simply they did not look toward the right direction. So that's the very number one to me. Then another quality a leader should have is trusting the people you work with. I believe in creating a circle of trust with your team. They have to trust you, you have to trust them. Particularly when you are several thousand kilometers away apart one another and see each other every now and then. Think about what happened during the pandemic. Probably you haven't seen people for one year or two and if you didn't have trust in what they were doing and they didn't have trust in what you were doing, that was very difficult. Basically, you couldn't accomplish anything. And related to trust, being able to delegate is also something I believe it's very important. I often see managers that want to be the ones doing the things by themselves or always reviewing the co-workers jobs before releasing it to others. I myself has always thought that one should know how to do everything by oneself, but one alone cannot do everything. This is very crucial to me. So in short, you should listen to people, trust and let them do the job. After all, what's the point of hiring or developing the best talent if then it's always only you who does the job.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
This is so true, definitely, Michele. Thank you for sharing that. You know, I would like to move a bit to the food quality, safety and trust again. So as you know, back in April, DNV awarded the Tri-Marine with the BRCGS agents and brokers certification at Global Seafood Expo.
Gladly presenting the certificate to you and the chief sustainability officer at Bolton, Luciano Pirovano. Could you share what this certification means for Tree Marine and Bolton Group and how it reflects the company's commitment to global food safety and quality standards and sustainability?
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MICHELE ROTA
Sure. Tri-Marine is a global leader in tuna trading and manufacturing and it focuses on three core businesses. Whole round frozen tuna, a precooked vacuum-packed frozen loins and shelf stable products such as cans, pouches, glass jars, whatever. We supply from all over the world and to all over the world.
That means our customers and suppliers could be geographically far away one another and having a trusted partner in between them is essential for a smooth business. This company has built an impressively good reputation that spans from Asia to the Americas, built thanks to the business model that has always been pursued which is having a competent and reliable people where the product is handled to secure its quality. Nowadays, keeping the same rigorous principles that were part of the success of Tri-Marine, we have embraced the BRCGS agents and broker standards in our daily job so that we not only continue guaranteeing the safety of the products we trade, but also we have the support of an important organization such as BRCGS that on one hand helps us in keeping the focus to the right direction in this continuing changing world. On the other, it is a further guarantee for our customers on our commitment to provide them with the best quality possible.
Besides to that, Tri-Marine is also certified ISO 9001 and that allowed us to build a rigorous framework not only for the quality of the products we offer, but also for the service as a whole, from the contract issuance to delivery of the goods to customers. Integrated to the quality management system, we have built and got certified for a robust traceability system. that covers the whole supply chain. Being a key player of the tuna world, we set a role model for a sustainable fishing industry. In developing such certifications within Tri-Marine over the past few years, I've been amazed by the commitment and dedication I've found within our organization at all levels. And it was like everyone really wanted to reach that recognition for the good job done and was formally recognized by a third party through our certificate.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Thank you. And I think you have already partially answered my next question, Michele, but I will ask it anyway, because I think it has a global and a more, I would say, Bolton-related coverage. Because what in your view is the role that certifications like BRCGs play in driving industry-wide improvements in food safety, in sustainability and responsible sourcing? And how will this award is influencing and will influence the future direction of Tri-Marine and Bolton Group's operations.
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MICHELE ROTA
Well, as a commitment to quality and safety, Bolton Food factories and most of its suppliers are GFSI certified and there's a tremendous amount of job done every day by dedicated teams of people to guarantee the adherence to the standards. From the supplier management to satisfy customers' requests. Quality and sustainability in Bolton Food work very closely to ensure the definition of the right procedures to be followed by the company and its subsidiaries. This is a cross-functional job though, where all the company's departments are truly engaged in their daily job. At the same time, I see this as a starting point. We just started now when we got the certifications, right? Obtaining these certifications like BSE, for instance, help you to put things in order. Thanks to the clear standard, you're asked to follow. But what comes next is even more important to me because you have to change the way you work and you have to follow those principles in taking decisions from the day to day business to the more strategic ones.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Thank you, thank you. And in your role as a chief quality officer, ensuring food safety and maintaining high quality standards, I'm sure are central to your role. But how do you approach building and sustaining trust and how we are back to the trust with consumers, particularly in a global market where expectations continue to evolve.
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MICHELE ROTA
If you think to our company from Bolton Food as a business unit, we are brand owners, Rio Mare is the most known brand in the tuna world. And we're also business to business players. Therefore, reputation is the key to us. However, the specification you're producing may vary depending on the brand, the market and other things. But food safety has always to be the same regardless of other variables. You may produce products with different specification, but them all have to be safe to eat the same way. For us, this is not negotiable. The food industry is an ever-changing one, and being ahead of such changes is something you cannot trade.
We need the support of certification like BRC and others to help us in setting the framework to operate within. They have a broadened view of the risks that lie ahead for full operators and give both the guidance to identify the most challenging ones and the tools to work across different functions of the organization to find the way to address them.
Commitment to quality is something that we build at all levels in the organization, from the food safety culture to the quality awareness of our products in different markets. When they are important decision to be taken, I always think first to our customers and consumers, and I asked to myself, would this strengthen the trust toward our brands? If the answer is yes, that's the way to go.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
That's great. That's really inspiring.
Now, looking at sustainability and digitalization, sustainability has become a critical focus across industries, especially within consumer goods. In your role at Bolton Group, how are you integrating sustainability into your quality standards and processes?
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MICHELE ROTA
Well, I've mentioned earlier how close quality and sustainability work in Bolton Food. This begins from the supplier due diligence, the traceability data collection until the cooperation with the key customers to satisfy and implement their requirements in our complex and global supply chain. But the cooperation is not only to satisfy customer demand, it is also to exercise, again, the necessary verifications we have to do throughout the supply chain, understanding what the challenges are at all levels of the supply chain, from the fishing to the fish landing, manufacturing and so on. And it is very important you do that so that you can identify the common grounds. You are there not only to tell your suppliers what to do, but you also have to help them in doing what you need them to do. And here, the cooperation between quality and sustainability is crucial, particularly because Quality team has people working all over the world from the landing ports to the manufacturing sites. And this gives you a deep understanding and control of the supply chain. And it allows to implement and verify the compliance to the standards in real time and through the whole process. It is very helpful because sometimes you may think to set a standard and you don't really know how easy or difficult would be to implement such a standard. Then it comes the cooperation between the two companies function and having people there all year round it is very helpful to see how the standards will be easily to implement and what challenges are there and how we can cooperate with suppliers to do better.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Sounds great and something to learn in terms of cooperation to implement things. Thank you, Michele. Now digital transformation, digital transformation has significantly impacted the industries across the board including also consumer goods.
How has Bolton Group embraced the digitalization? And as usual, what challenges and opportunities have you encountered during this journey?
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MICHELE ROTA
Well, digital transformation is the hot topic nowadays and speaking about that more than other things probably. You have to think that we're present in all continents and collect a huge amount of data every day, both at our own factories or by our representatives at the offloading port or contractors manufacturing sites. These data are essential to the business but in some cases, the platforms and databases in use are not the same among different regions. The main challenge I'm facing is to be able to process, consolidate, and read all the data in real time. And for this, I'm currently working on a project with other companies' functions that will allow us to develop a tool that can satisfy our global needs. I was saying earlier that we are present all over the world.
And this is certainly an advantage but could also be a challenge when it comes to security of the data and the device our representative people are using. You have to set up procedures and the verifications to make sure there are no breaches. Lastly is the connection. Not all the countries of the world allow the same application or the internet connection does not always work the same way. we are using in, let's say, in developed world. Therefore, you need to think about that too when you depend on IT to collect data from across the world. Lastly, I'd say that a strong connection with the IT team of the company is crucial to succeed in such environments. Not only you have to cooperate, but it's very important that you have to make sure your colleagues well understand the challenges and work together for a solution. So it is probably part of my responsibility to transfer the needs and the challenges the right way to people who little know about fish offloading or being in Madagascar collecting data, right? Or in China, for instance. So that's very important.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Yes, yes. Thank you, Michele. And this is definitely, you know, putting those challenges under a different perspective is not only about the wider technology, but sometimes it's the lack of technology in part of the world. And those who are working in countries where this is not an issue, sometimes forget it. I think it's a very, very relevant point. So in an age where transparency is key to building customer trust. How is Bolton Group leveraging these digital innovations to foster greater trust with customers? And how do you see this evolving in the future?
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MICHELE ROTA
Good question. Transparency is what we have built our traceability system on. Nowadays, if you go to the supermarket and you buy a Rio Mare product, you can go on our website, type the code you find on each can or glass jar or pouch, and you'll get all the full traceability data related to the tuna you're eating. You can get the fishing vessel name, FAO caching area, fishing trip period, and so on. You'll be satisfied because you can know where the tuna comes from and when was caught and so on.
However, to get there, took a while. Considering the complexity of our supply chain, this system has been built several years ago and it took a while to implement it. We succeeded thanks to the strong partnership we have with all of our suppliers and the rigorous systems we have implemented in our own factories and our contractors. The system is also periodically inspected, verified by us internally, but also by the certification body, DNV, who sends its auditor literally all around the world to verify in person its actual operation. And I believe this is also a very important thing. So, say we have a partnership with our suppliers, but what we have with DNV is also a partnership because the job you're doing for us, it's very important because you're going there in person and you verify by yourself that what we say we do, we're actually doing it.
About the future, what we have nowadays, I believe it's an already complete system, but there are some changes in the EU regulation related to IOU. Therefore, I foresee that it might evolve even further in the near future to be compliant to what's coming up.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Thank you, Michele. I would like to conclude this interview with a question for the use of others. So, as someone who has successfully navigated leadership in a dynamic and evolving industry, what advice would you offer to the next generation of leaders who are looking to make an impact in the consumer goods sector?
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MICHELE ROTA
Thanks, Barbara. This is also about sustainability, making sure that your business will be sustained in the future, therefore having the right people in the right place when the time will come. To answer your question, I'll start saying that I've spent the past 10 years of my life living overseas and even more than that, traveling the world, making connection with the key players of the tuna industry and not only also packaging suppliers, shipping agents, certifications bodies, ingredient suppliers and so on. I've had the luck to be given the chance by Bolton to truly know the world and this is something you cannot learn from a desk. You have to get your stuff packed, jump on a plane and ready to embrace the different cultures you will find. My advice to the next generation is that the focus has to be on the product you're producing to make sure your consumers trust what you do and appreciate your quality. To do so, you have to love it and spend time to know it, understanding how it's made, what makes it better, and what makes it worse. A food product to me is not made only in the facility manufacturing it. That's just the last step of a much longer process that starts from the supplier of ingredients and raw materials to those who provide packaging. Think about the tuna. How can you know your product if you don't understand the challenges the fishermen face or those faced during the offloading at the port? Which might vary depending on the country where you're doing it. But the same applies to any supply chain, in other ingredients, raw material. Again, think about the corn, think about the meat for our Simmenthal brand, the beans, mackerel, mussel, whatever, the glass jars even. Understanding to me is the key to keep the right focus on your products. Ultimately, it's all about patient and this is tough for a new generation who are used to have the word in their hands. There's a saying that goes Rome wasn't built in a day and you don't build your expertise just looking at the world from a desk. You have to live within it.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Thank you so much. And I would add, you have to live with it and to smell it and to get your hands dirty, right? And I super recognize that. Thank you very much, Michele, for being with us and all the best for a fantastic continuous partnership between Bolton Group and DNV. Thank you.
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MICHELE ROTA
Thank you very much Barbara, it was a pleasure for me. Good luck.
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BARBARA FRENCIA
Take care.
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