From SCDigest's On-Target e-Magazine
- Nov. 13, 2013 -
Procurement and Sourcing News Round Up for Nov. 13, 2013
Philips CPO Cuts Procurement Fat; Characteristics of Successful Procurement Managers; Milliken Adopts Cloud-Based Direct Materials Tool
SDigest Editorial Staff
Below is a summary of some of the top news stories in procurement and supply management this week.
SCDigest Says: |
 |
Milliken hopes to reduce supply chain costs by creating more strategic and collaborative relationships with the new software tools. |
|
What Do You Say?
|
|
|
|
Philips Electronics CPO Finds Fat in Procurement Organization
When Fredrick Spalcke joined electronics giant Philips in 2012 as chief procurement officer, he found a sprawling global procurement organization of 2300 people.
At the recent ProcureCon Eurpope conference, Spalcke said there were "40 people doing things their way" and "23 people calling themselves CPO". There were 256 different job descriptions.
About a year later, the headcount is down by 400, and the job description count is down to just 23.
"Going forward we can maybe reduce the headcount by another three to four hundred people," he said. "Not because we're merciless, but because we don't need them. We'll find them something else to do."
In addition to the changes in the procurement organization, Spalcke said he led the implementation of both a "design for cost" and a "value review" programs, working to shift the balance so that staff spent more time on strategic sourcing and less on transactional work.
Perhaps contrary to what most might think, Spackle said that to successfully push through such a transformative program, you only need about 5% of people in the procurement organization to be "true believers".
The 9 Traits of Successful Procurement Managers
Tom Lovell, group managing director at publishing company Reed, offered his view of the key traits that successful procurement managers possess at the recent CIPS Annual Conference in London.
He said successful people were:
Extremely hard workers: "Successful people work hard," said Lovell. "They expect a lot from their team, but much more from themselves." He added a lot of successful people own horses, because they are used to getting up early to clean and groom their horses before work.
Curious and eager to learn: "Many successful people have done well at school but what really sets out a successful person is how they use the learning to impact on their daily lives," said Lovell.
Equipped with networking capabilities: People who will take advice from anywhere. "These are people who will talk to their neighbors, their friends, and most importantly they will listen," explained Lovell.
Extraordinarily creative: Always trying to improve things and do things faster, better and quicker.
(Sourcing and Procurement Article Continues Below)
|
Relaxed and able to maintain perspective: "They usually have a calm head in stressful situations, they don't panic, they ask the right questions and then make decisions," said Lovell.
