Description

Speakers: Mike Utting, MD Springtide Procurement

Procurement as a business function has been evolving over the last decade or so. A variety of factors have placed Procurement Transformation ever higher on the corporate agenda. These involve familiar triggers:

supply chain problems
budget restrictions
market pressure
along with more daunting pressures to change, like mergers & acquisitions and cultural alignment.

The general tendency is for procurement to be given an increasingly higher profile, not least because of the positive impact smarter procurement can have on the bottom line.

Procurement of Logistics and Transport has been similarly neglected as a “subset” of a function that was already last in the queue, something “outside” the business. Yet it is the last – and by no means least – vital link in the service chain that connects suppliers to businesses and, ultimately, their customers.

As procurement has evolved into Strategic Sourcing, so the sourcing of Transport and Logistics is a function whose time is coming round. The paradigms are being challenged: especially the idea that cost-reduction is an objective rather than an outcome – and the corresponding realisation that value-generation is the true focus.

The customer is the ultimate destination; and the quality of the physical connection, the relationship with them, stands or falls on the last mile. Getting what they buy to them on time, every time and right first time remains fundamental to the perception of service quality.

The key lesson in all procurement transformations is never to underestimate people and the change curve. No amount of policy and procedure can legislate for human behaviour: the Category Management and SRM processes can be finely tuned; but success is unlikely if

the customer experience is not the explicit objective
the stakeholder community is resistant to change
the model is not based on that core deliverable of service

Our session will consider the must-haves for smarter Procurement

understanding your market-place
harnessing suitable technologies
aligning all stakeholders

And the positive outcomes

improvements in the landed cost
mitigated risk
improved efficiency
Health and Safety
improved brand recognition
mapping of client geography
fuel and vehicle efficiency
enhanced communication
driver competence
structured SRM
sustainable, customer-focused partnerships

SpringTide's event will focus on the application of World Class Procurement Transformation principles and expertise to the Transport & Logistics Category, focusing on a pan-European project in response to the challenge of cultural alignment of merged/acquired companies. This approach has generated a model for best-in-class Procurement of Transport & Logistics that is truly transferable - and we will explore the "how" of that through delegate participation.

Veran­staltungs­format