Sourcing our Olympic Games Business Gifts in a Fair and Safe Way

Poulis Hontelé, Atos Origin’s preferred supplier of business gifts has over 10 years experience in the Asia Pacific market. As concerns and scares regarding products from China hit the headlines, the company explains its policy regarding the sourcing and quality of our business gifts.

As the Worldwide IT partner for the Olympic Games, Atos Origin has recently ordered many new attractive and exciting business gifts to increase the visibility and awareness of its partnership with the IOC both internally and externally. To learn more about the way in which our business gifts are sourced and produced we spoke to Hans Poulis of Poulis Hontelé, our preferred supplier. http://www.poulis.com/

An Eye for Quality
Hans has an eye for quality and has always been interested in ensuring that both quality and creativity are reflected in his designs and products. In 1993 he launched a specialized Business to Business (B2B) approach for selling jewellery and watches and this quickly diversified into other quality products.

With almost half of his current products being sourced from the Asia Pacific region, and with the need to manage the strong growth produced by his innovative marketing approach, Hans has concentrated on the strength of quality as a differentiator.

In 1997 Poulis Hontelé became the first promotional gifts company in the Netherlands to gain the ISO 9001 quality mark and in 2006 they became the only company in Europe to achieve ISO 14001 certification which extends the range of auditing and control to cover sustainability, both for Poulis Hontelé and also its suppliers.

External and Independent Verification
All Atos Origin’s Olympic Games business gifts are made in three locations in China (Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai) except for textiles which are sourced from Indonesia. To select a supplier, Poulis Hontelé ensures that the factory is audited by an external company and complies with ISO standards. Product specifications are also tested to ensure that they comply with EU regulations at the SGS laboratory in Hong Kong, the largest independent testing laboratory in the world.

Poulis Hontelé has an office in Hong Kong which carries out follow up checks during production and there is also extensive post-production testing to ensure a safe and quality product. Here Hans takes a personal interest in the business and visits the facilities himself at least twice a year to check on quality and production and to build the relationship needed to develop a preferred and trusted supplier.

Hans’ quest for high standards does not stop at his own company. He is currently Vice President of the Platform for Promotional Products in the Netherlands, an organization concerned with safety and quality, and is also a member of the Fair Wear Foundation which aims to promote humane labor conditions in the garment industry. http://en.fairwear.nl/