The lives of procurement and purchase officers are about to get a little harder. Dennis Rossbach has worked in this field his whole life. He has created “Supplier Sentinel” to help companies of all sizes to remain compliant next year when the “Supply Chain Act” comes into force. Interview.

 

Can you tell your story in a few words?

I have worked for eleven years in procurement and logistics for companies like Accenture, Rolls Royce, and BNP Paribas. In 2019, I moved to Luxembourg and developed my own practice. During Covid, I had time to write a book – Changing Purchasing towards Procurement 4.0 - and study the upcoming “Supply Chain Act”. This gave me the idea to create the “Supplier Sentinel” solution. The first version was released this June.

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“All companies with more than 3,000 employees will be impacted by the “Supply Chain Act” in 2023” 

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What exactly will the “Supply Chain Act” change for companies of all sizes?

All companies with more than 3,000 employees will be impacted in 2023 and smaller ones in the next two or three years. In short, each company will have to monitor its suppliers and business partners. If one of them produces in India or China for example - where the laws are different – they will need to be able to demonstrate that they conducted specific checks regularly, making sure that they remain compliant with European laws. But they also need to verify that the management does not have any legal issues or conflicts of interest. Fines go up to 2.5% of revenue, so I am seeing a fast-growing number of companies preparing for this new process.  

 

How is Supplier Sentinel functioning?

It is very simple. Users create an account, login, and insert basic data about their supplier. When they submit the form, the supplier receives a link with a login/password and enters the required data: General information, CSR, certifications such as ISO for example. They can attach documents, and when they click “Submit,” the person in charge of procurement gets a notification. He provides five quick answers for context by ticking boxes. This allows the algorithm to calculate a risk score. A yellow alert is issued above 60% and a red one above 80%. The system is searchable, allowing a procurement person or a risk manager to enter a company or a CEO’s name to look for information on Interpol, EU Sanctions, FBI, or UN databases. In the coming months, we will include the use of artificial intelligence, a blockchain in the system, sources and generate new workflows, for example for PEP: Politically exposed persons. It takes less than one minute to onboard a supplier. I have done this all my life, so I know how efficient the system needs to be! SYBX Group also advises companies and develops made-to-measure modules on Supplier Sentinel. These are early days, in the coming weeks and months, the “Supply Chain Act” will be on every company’s agenda, just like GDPR impacted them a few years ago.  

 

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