ISM 2009: Leadership is focus of opening session
Purchasing executives from Tyco, Pfizer, BP and Fenix Group offer tips in opening panel
By Paul Teague -- Purchasing, 5/4/2009 3:23:00 PM
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ISM 2009, the 94th International Supply Management Conference, convened Sunday at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, NC. More than 1,000 purchasing professionals from virtually every major industry, as well as the public sector, gathered to gain new insights for solving old and new supply chain problems and to network.
Among those insights: Leadership in supplier relationships and supplier management is critical to survival in a weak economy.
“Leadership is realizing that the world is different and that you have to help your suppliers understand the need to change the way we work,” said Christine De Luca, CPO, refining and marketing, at BP, at a CPO panel discussion here on day one of the conference.
Added Shelley Stewart, senior vice president for operational excellence and CPO of Tyco International and ISM chairman: “Without leadership and without support of the top people in the company, you can’t do much.”
Lisa Martin, senior vice president for worldwide procurement at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, said one of the keys to great leadership is communication. “You have to connect the business mission to what people do every day,” she said. At Pfizer, she said, the company does quarterly town-hall-style meetings to keep everyone informed and aligned with the corporate mission.
R. David Nelson, senior partner of the Fenix Group International and formerly a top supply chain executive at Delphi Corp., Honda and TRW, said the best advice is to pay attention to internal customers. “Make sure they feel like they’re supported,” he said. “You have to be good at internal customer satisfaction.”
Responding to a question from one attendee on how to handle fragile suppliers, Martin of Pfizer said purchasing needs to have a partnership with treasury and finance officers, and have several pre-qualified replacement suppliers they can turn to. Echoing that sentiment, De Luca of BP advised segmenting suppliers and knowing which ones are critical.
In response to another audience question on whether there is a trend toward reverse globalization, Stewart of Tyco, said the trend is more along the lines of rationalization of the supply base and where your supplies are coming from. “It doesn’t mean you bring everything back,” he said. “You just pick your sources carefully.”
The keynote panel discussion was moderated by Jami Coop, procurement manager for labels and miscellaneous packaging at ConAgra Foods and a former R. Gene Richter Scholarship winner.
For more information on purchasing during a weak economy, and to hear a short audiocast with buyers explaining their buying strategies, see www.purchasing.com/recession.
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