With Chad Helberg, IQI Petfood brings another industry icon to its’ expanding organization. Effective September 16th, 2019, Helberg will be responsible for the end-to-end supply chain and building a long term relationship with suppliers.
“In my experience, relationships are key to further strengthen and innovate the pet food supply chain,” Helberg said.
Mr. Helberg has spent 26 years in purchasing, working in the ingredient markets at Mars Petcare and ADM. He has gained a lot of technical knowledge over the years. From helping to perfect manufacturing processes in production facilities to improving co-development with suppliers for mutual benefit.
“All of these experiences have allowed me to grow and understand how to bring products to market more efficiently for everyone involved,” he added.
It’s all about building long term relationships
At IQI, Helberg will be working directly with suppliers deepening the relationships IQI already has with them, while also developing new relationships to bring more value to both suppliers and customers.
“The pet food world changes very fast in their needs for new ingredients and ever-improving quality. I hope to use my past experience to bridge the gaps to help both sides succeed in what they need. Building long term relationships with suppliers and every other participant in the supply chain are key to achieve this. That will be our goal in the short term,” said Helberg.
Improving end-to-end quality in the pet food supply chain
As a former purchaser for the global market leader in pet foods, Helberg brings a worldwide network and a lot of experience.
He said, “Through relationship and trust, we can discover new ways to improve quality and supply chains. All the while we discover new innovative ingredients to help provide new ingredients towards healthy benefits to the pets we are helping to feed. I think IQI is a perfect match for me as our core values of bringing mutual benefits to our suppliers and customers are at the forefront of what we do. IQI knows what the pet food customer needs and it’s up to us to ensure we can supply them the highest possible quality.”
The perfect match
Patrick van der Kleij, CEO at IQI, said, “We are very happy with Chad as our new addition to the IQI-family. He will even emigrate all the way from the U.S. to the Netherlands with his family to join IQI. I find this very special and shows their commitment to IQI. His previously acquired knowledge not only enables us to further improve the relationships with our suppliers, it also helps that Chad knows exactly what qualities are allowed in the US and EU in terms of legislation and what the specific customer’s needs are. From working together extensively in the past, we know that Chad’s vision and way of working corresponds to the inclusive way IQI wants to care for its customers and suppliers.”