Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer
Annick De Poorter joined Ontex in 2003 as the R&D Manager of Feminine Hygiene and was promoted to R&D and Quality Director in January 2009. As a true sustainability expert, in 2010, sustainability was added to her global leadership portfolio.
Before joining Ontex, Annick De Poorter worked at Libeltex NV in Belgium, and prior to that, she was a Scientific Researcher at University of Ghent, Belgium.
Ontex has a long tradition of product innovation, and with that comes considerable inhouse expertise. As a reliable and effective partner for our business customers, we develop our innovations with the clear ambition to be fast and to make our products more accessible and more sustainable.
We invite customers to join our innovation journey through live demonstrations. Instead of slide presentations, we offer hands-on showcases of how our diapers are made. Numbered tables display materials, and we walk partners through the process. This transparency reflects our commitment to being reliable collaborators. This openness around our production process is founded on our belief that care can drive change and success, and it reconfirms our commitment to be the most reliable partner for our customers.
Our factory in Dourges, France, which produces adult incontinence products, reduced its waste volume by 21% in 2023. The Dourges Team of more than 200 people set measurable and ambitious targets, including a comprehensive roadmap towards sustainability, more stringent scrap reduction goals, and metrics for waste reduction and reuse.
The skills enhancement program for operators and the organization includes distribution of a quality book and instructional videos, tutor support, live scrap results displayed on TV screens along production lines, and the implementation of new waste labels on bins to promote better waste sorting practices. The campaign on scrap and raw materials entails initiatives at both individual production lines and across the entire factory, targeting specific materials. Celebrating European Waste Reduction Week in December 2023 also contributed to raising awareness onsite.
Under the waste reduction program, an ongoing partnership with a waste treatment company is aimed at zero-landfill for production waste, in line with Ontex’s Sustainability Strategy. Waste data (APIs) have been implemented, using the supplier’s software, to help better manage our waste production and efficiently sort cardboard and plastic waste.
Our commercial teams, in partnership with R&D, are working to simplify our product portfolio while safeguarding our customer relationships. This endeavor also involves our supply chain, quality, and operations teams to ensure adaptation of our production processes and assets to the decomplexified portfolio. Our aim is to uphold the service levels and quality standards agreed upon with our customers while mitigating any increase in production costs. This collaborative effort is already bringing tangible results today and promises continued success in the future.
Moreover, the optimization of our product portfolio has spurred our procurement team to review our supplier contracts for non- woven materials, a critical raw material in our products. Simplifying our portfolio has led to more standardization in non-woven materials, enabling us to procure at a larger scale from fewer suppliers. This consolidation has led to improvements in product quality, customer service and operational efficiency. Additionally, this optimization positively impacts our production teams by reducing the need to switch raw materials frequently during the production process.
This is just one of many examples highlighting how our cross-departmental collaboration is leading to high-impact outcomes across the Ontex Group.
In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, data analysis is integral to success, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. At Ontex, we strategically invest in data utilization to fortify our competitive edge. By discerning similarities and nuances in the data between European and U.S. retailers, we gain critical insights into product performance, demand forecasts, and market dynamics in North America—similar to industry norms among Consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies.
Our commitment to customer centricity drives our in-house data capacity expansion, enabling tailored product offerings and enhancing customer satisfaction. This approach, embraced by forward-thinking U.S. retailers, fosters partnerships, consumer-driven strategies, and sustainable growth.Strategic report Corporate Governance, Risk & Remuneration Financial statements Sustainability/Non-Financial Statements
Our PRIDE values (Passion, Reliability, Integrity, Drive and Everyone) define what we stand for at Ontex. We care deeply about our work, because we believe that this is directly linked with job satisfaction and successful outcomes. In 2023, we re-emphasized the importance of our PRIDE values with a set of dedicated activities. Leading by example matters; that’s why our leadership teams kickstarted the program with a commitment to role-model these behaviours. To maintain focus and truly bring this culture to life, our executive management committee (EMC) and executive leadership team (ELT) engage in an ongoing process. We expect to roll out this program to more leaders throughout Ontex.
We followed through by organizing the first edition of an annual awards ceremony to recognize outstanding Ontex employees and teams who demonstrate these values in their everyday work: our PRIDE Value Champions!
Launched in July 2023, the process began with an invitation for each Ontex employee to nominate a colleague (or team) from any part of the business, in any job role for demonstrating PRIDE Value behaviors. This resulted in more than 600 nominations from all layers and regions of the group.
In October 2023, we hosted a special awards ceremony in Spain, where our six PRIDE Champions were put in the spotlight. Their direct colleagues and the leadership team shared their appreciation for the remarkable contribution to Ontex’ culture.
Congratulations once again to the six 2023 PRIDE Value Champions: Naomi Gill, Jeff Nance, Aurélie Salsarulo, GEC Lab Team Mayen, AMU2 Buggenhout, and Sao Paolo International Merchandising team.
