hp

By Staff -- Purchasing, 10/19/2000

Name: Jun B. Kim

Title: Worldwide materials manager

Company: Hewlett-Packard Mobile Computing Division.

Reports to: Jim Burns (worldwide manufacturing and supply chain manager)

Education: B.S.-international business & marketing; MBA-organizational behavior & environment; C.P.M.-manufacturing & international purchasing

Professional background: Kim began his career at HP as a sales support specialist for HP Servers and then became a commodity manager for HP Server Manufacturing. He has also worked as new-product introduction specialist for HP servers and as a program manager for the Enterprise Storage Research & Development. He was also a dram commodity manager for corporate procurement and a procurement manager for the mobile computing division before being promoted to his current position.

His duties: He is responsible for managing the Strategic Alliances and Materials organization in HP's Mobile Computing Division. The section is responsible for the commodity management and supplier relationship management of all materials that are used in mobile products.

Purchasing's role: "At HP, procurement is regarded as a core competency where its value proposition is clearly identified in the company's product-generation process. Procurement's role is expanding from not only providing assurance of supply and low cost, but also to be a source of competitive intelligence as well as to be a control tower for all material activities throughout the organization."

Purchasing's involvement in new-product development: "Procurement has clear deliverables at every milestone of a company's product life cycle or its product-generation process. Early involvement by procurement to enable R & D and marketing to make the right choices is crucial. In addition, aligning suppliers with requirements of the new product and its development process can determine the efficiency of the development process."

What it takes to succeed in purchasing: "Now more than ever, despite heated discussions about innovative supply chain models, it is important to focus on the "basics" of procurement fundamentals and do them right. These are (1) understanding your organization's requirements, (2) having a clear commodity and sourcing strategy, (3) excellent supplier relationships that are focused on the long term, (4) continuous improvements at the supplier through clear metrics, (5) being the materials focal point to lead the organization, and (6) up-to-date market intelligence. Only then can you use these basics as a strong foundation to effectively develop new and innovative supply chain models."

Challenges of purchasing: "Keeping the balance. It is important to balance strategic and tactical, long-term relationships and developing new suppliers. As procurement becomes more and more important in high-tech, it will be important to instill the service mentality at procurement to R & D and marketing to provide a total solution."

The Internet and purchasing: "The Internet allows real-time disbursement of information to all parties involved. As the supply chain model becomes increasingly complex, making sure that all parties involved have the same information at the same time will be crucial. The Internet will be an enabler of that."