Balancing the needs of society, the environment and economy

Vincent Hurel

Group Distribution Channel Leader for ABB

“Deeper relationships, higher growth, powered by our partnership” – this is ABB’s message to the market. But this is more than just a tagline, this is a commitment made by ABB to its partners, customers, and overall business.

One of the best-known market players in the industry, ABB is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. Mr. Vincent Hurel, Group Distribution Channel Leader, took his time to better explain ABB’s sustainability strategy and more.

Dear Mr. Hurel, you are a constant friend and supporter of EUEW and its activities. Please tell us a bit more about your career path at ABB and what inspires you to be an active participant at the events organized by the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers?

ABB is an active participant at EUEW events because distributors deliver continuity across our sales force and are at the heart of our success. In Europe, more than 60 percent of our business is made together with distributor’s partners so it makes sense that our effort and focus is on supporting them.

Our role is to ensure we provide everything our partners need, that we are easy to do business with and that we empower distributors to meet common end customer’s needs through shared expertise, education and expectations.

I have been with ABB for 30 years and it is my belief that people, innovation, collaboration and mutual trust are at the heart of any successful business. Distribution is a people business and distributors are an extension of our team. What makes this business so exciting is working in partnership with them to increase market reach and footprint.

At its heart, the distribution business is very much a local business. So, while our offerings and reach are global, our approach is about unique relationships and meeting country specific needs. Together we bring the best value to our end customers.

ABB is well known as a top leader in different industries, constantly transforming the society and providing cutting edge technologies. What are the ingredients for this recipe of innovation?

We believe that innovation in safe, smart and sustainable electrification means progress towards a healthier and more prosperous world for future generations. This means balancing the needs of society, the environment and economy.

The secret to success is to embed this approach in everything we do, in order to create long-term value. It is a mindset. This starts with helping our customers reduce their emissions and preserve resources, which is where we make the biggest impact. We also consider our own operations, our suppliers and the communities we serve. We strive always to be an exemplary corporate citizen wherever we operate.

To stand out, we need to keep pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation, as we have done for the last 130 years. Only by trial and error can we develop cutting edge technologies. We believe in curiosity, courage and collaboration – three of our four values which shape the culture of ABB for the future, serving the market together with distributors the way customers want to buy.

Nowadays big players in the industry are making efforts to provide top solutions and services for their partners and clients. How is ABB Electrification working towards this strategy, which are the company’s main directions?

It all comes back to prioritizing people and partners capabilities. We work in trust and partnership with our distributors for shared success.

We want our distributors to stay ahead of shifting market dynamics and to meet increasing customer demands. Working together, we adapt and thrive, grow our market share, evolve our business, and write the future of safe, smart and sustainable electrification.

Most importantly we combine ABB’s industry-leading products and technology innovations with delivery by trusted local experts who know our customers best.

A general affirmation about the circular economy is that it tackles Global challenges. Which are, in your opinion, the most urgent challenges that a modern company should tackle nowadays? How does your company address these challenges?

At ABB, we have an ambitious 2030 sustainability strategy based on four pillars – enabling a low carbon society, preserving resources, promoting social progress, and acting with integrity and transparency. Within these topic areas, we have a clear ambition level and a set of quantitative, measurable and objective targets that we are committed to achieving by 2030, in order to make our contribution towards developing a more sustainable world.

Sustainable leadership is a relative new notion in the business language. How are you relating to it and what does it mean for you, as the Distribution Channel Leader?

Sustainability has always been at the heart of our business. ABB has an ongoing active environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program. It is not just about circularity of product – it is about much more than that. Together with our distributors we serve the end customers. Our offering helps customers reach their ESG targets by complying with the expectations and rules around sustainability to deliver competitive advantage.

ABB’s objective is that at least 80 percent of its products and solutions will be covered by our circularity approach by 2030. We can only achieve this by working with distributors, by accessing the market through their portfolios. We constantly monitor regulatory changes and, in partnership with our distributors, work out how to meet these targets.

From the supply chain perspective, distributors are the experts in managing supply. We really need to work with distributors to put appropriate processes in place – it is not just a sustainable offering but an all-encompassing approach to business.

Regarding your day-to-day activity, which are the main three pillars in your relations with your strategic partners, in this area of distribution? How was this relation affected in the last year?

We exist to serve, in partnership with our distributors, the end customers to the best of our ability.

During the pandemic we had to develop new ways to interact with one-another, so the day-today way of doing business changed completely. It is not an exaggeration to say that overnight the way we worked together transformed.

We saw a real benefit in working more closely with our distributors. We implemented secure processes to keep all our factories running. However, our daily business changed fundamentally with a switch from multiple touch points to digital routes to market. We embraced a digital way of working across the business – in our day-to-day interactions, how we manage our processes and how we interact with distributors – and this has proved very successful.

We supported distributors in bringing value to the market. This means not just a good integrated supply chain but how we provide the right training, support, and innovations so they achieve a level of expertise across many areas.ABB’s objective is that at least 80 percent of its products and solutions will be covered by our circularity approach by 2030.

We empowered distributors to be recognized in the market as the right partners with the specific domain expertise customers expect. During recent months you’d be amazed to see how many leaning path and training programs we worked on together.

Critically, we put a huge effort into sharing information and data through digital routes to improve both the supply chain and service, making supply better, faster and more sustainable.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has caused incredible disruption. We recognize that pricing management is a real challenge that we address in a collaborative and structured way. We have innovated across the supply chain to increase efficiency and collaborate seamlessly. By sharing information about the entire supply chain and ensuring we have the right capabilities and competencies to serve the market, we can deliver on time.

Our key priority is delivering distributors what they expect and keeping them fully informed.

Every industry has been affected, in a way or another, by the COVID-19 crisis. How did you manage to lead your team and adapt to the new working conditions, which were the biggest challenges?

Our top priority has always been to keep our partners, customers and people safe. Throughout the pandemic, we have been in constant contact with our distributors to ensure we could keep people at work, and do so safely in order to serve the market demands.

If you had to name five of your company’s projects, where you were highly involved, which ones would they be and what are the expected results?

Distribution business remains rather fragmented, and we have thousands of different projects across many countries. Central to the five company projects I think of, has been digital transformation, data and content management, tools, innovation, and services.

We develop digital commerce by working with our distributors to drive more traffic and increase their e-commerce sales volumes.

What has been really interesting is that the digital transformations we made to combat COVID-19 have delivered new benefits. With digital choices, end customers demand is evolving. Solutions and service are requested in addition to products.

Our other big capability is to innovate. It is so much easier for end customers and distributors to sell new technologies. A switch on its own is not a very interesting product but if it supports an innovative new function or drives customer benefit, it becomes exciting. So, innovation is key. We are really pushing our offer of innovative products, solutions and services to the market.

Our priority is to support our distribution partners so they can sell specific capabilities with expertise appropriate to the market they’re serving.

What do you like the most in your activity within ABB Electrification?

There is a real pride in looking back at the challenging times we have, as a team, been through and recognizing how, through our focus on our partners, we have pulled together to deliver success.

Through trust, through those relationships which are almost like a family, we have been able to continue to provide an excellent service to our end customers. It has been about empowering our distributor network, enabling them to offer more solutions and services. Working together, we are riding the wave of change and will emerge stronger, better, and united.