Candace C. Ismael, director of supplier management and procurement (SM&P) for The Boeing Company's Shared Services Group, says long-term supplier relationships were the key to her group's success at helping move Boeing's headquarters to Chicago. "Because we were very specific in defining our requirements, they were very successful at meeting them," she says. In her post, Ismael oversees the purchase of nearly $4 billion annually of nonproduction goods and services including MRO, computing hardware, software and network products, capital equipment, and construction.

Many of the requirements associated with the move were demanding. Once top management made the announcement in May 2001 that the company had selected Chicago as its new world-headquarters location, the Shared Services Group had just 14 weeks to renovate and furnish the building. Management wanted employees working in their new offices by the start of the school year in September.

"SM&P played an invaluable role at world headquarters," says Robert Paul, director, Boeing World Headquarters/ Leadership Center Operations, for the Boeing Shared Services Group. "This will go down in the history books as a fast-paced construction project. I don't think anything like it has ever been accomplished in 117 days." He specifically credits SM&P's capability at identifying exacting customer requirements.

"SM&P simplified the process for us," says Paul. "They understood our expectations and what we had to do in a very short period of time. They selected suppliers that could deliver and made sure there were no 'hiccups.' I didn't have a second chance on September 4 when everyone arrived here for the first day."

A contractor began demolishing the building interior on the Monday following the May 10 announcement, says Ida Brooker, the SM&P manager responsible for construction purchasing. Ismael selected Brooker to represent SM&P on the Shared Services Group project team that was tasked with readying the top 12 floors of the building, located at 100 North Riverside, for the move. "We didn't know at that point what we were going to put in there, but we knew that whatever was there was going to have to come out," says Brooker.

With all the resources of the SM&P operation behind her, Brooker worked with members of the project team (which included representatives of such other Shared Services Group functions as human resources, computing & network, telecommunications, security, logistics and food service) to determine customer requirements. Ashley Van Dyk, purchasing agent, provided support onsite in Chicago.

The project team, led by Paul, actually began its efforts prior to the selection of Chicago as the city for relocation, recalls Brooker. The SM&P group, in fact, was involved in the supplier selection process for the project's architect and general contractor. Early on, the team chose a contractor with capability to complete the project in any of the possible headquarters cities (Denver, Dallas and Chicago) so it could get its own teams and subcontractors together.

As SM&P's representative or "focal" on the project team, Brooker served as account manager for the group's internal customers (the company's corporate officers and the Boeing personnel who would be supporting them in Chicago). That means she routed and tracked purchasing requests from internal customers to the proper individuals in SM&P with commodity procurement skills. This way, customers didn't have to worry about coordinating with multiple agents across the organization.

"Having customers who have little procurement knowledge do this individually is not a very good model," says Ismael. "It probably would not have supported accomplishing this kind of activity within the required timeframe. It certainly would not have been within the same cost parameters."

While specifics of the company's budget for the headquarters move are proprietary, Ismael says that by leveraging expertise of the Shared Services Group on company standards and supplier contracts, "we were able to significantly hold down costs that might have been associated with such a move had it been attempted by individuals not using these strengths."

The team began by working together to identify individuals and functions moving to Chicago, determining how the Shared Services Group could best support them and learning their requirements. There was no question: Delivery of many of the needed items would have to be planned carefully.

"Our challenge was developing requirements for the new offices," says Brooker. "So, we drafted representatives of every organization that was going to be using them along with representatives of all the services that would be needed to support them." This team met weekly to identify issues and concerns and hammer out the requirements.

"Obviously there was a lot of activity within Boeing once the new location was announced," she says. "People were going to have to move and there were a lot of decisions that had to be made. Sometimes it was hard to pin them down. So, what the team did was try to anticipate some of the things that would be needed using knowledge it had about what it takes to support a corporate office as well as contracts the company has in place with its suppliers."

"Sometimes we were able to anticipate needs before people were able to define them," says Van Dyk. Still, there were some requirements that the buyers did not anticipate. Because of that, the team branched out to include not only representatives from within Boeing, but also such other participants as the architectural firm, the general contractor, and some specialty contractors.

To a great extent, SM&P selected suppliers with whom the company already had agreements. "We also wanted to be very supportive of the local community and the local market so we used a lot of local contractors and suppliers in Chicago," says Brooker. "The team reached out to the diversity supplier base there so that we could be proactive in supporting that share of the market."

For many of its purchases, SM&P identified areas that did not have Boeing standard requirements, e.g., artwork for the building's interiors. "We did what I believe to be an outstanding job using these firms to help with the process," says Brooker.

SM&P hired Ralph G. Moore & Associates, a consulting firm in Chicago that specializes in identifying diversity suppliers in the area. "They are familiar not only with the marketplace there, but also with the quality of the work the companies do," says Brooker, who estimates that Boeing purchased goods and services from a local supplier base comprising 25% minority-owned and 5% women-owned companies.

One challenge for SM&P: part of the company's furniture purchase. "With a 12-week leadtime and the company scheduled to move into the building in five weeks, we had to do a workaround—that is, use some temporary furniture," says Brooker. "We wanted to make the move as seamless as possible for employees relocating to a new city across the country and working in a new office. Where we had gaps we tried to fill them with temporary items that made it possible for them to function until the items we had ordered were delivered. We did our best at trying to get everything there on time and, by and large, the supplier base made that possible."

Helping to fill requirements that were not anticipated was a large part of Van Dyk's job in Chicago. She provided guidance and purchased some of the smaller items herself, such as those needed for the building's opening. A requirement that was not identified early on was conference room podiums. "Our customer wanted to bring some in to make sure they looked okay. If they worked out well, then they would put them in other rooms," she says.

"Having Ashley onsite saved the effort of someone having to research podium suppliers," says Ismael. "These are items that you don't inherently know how to find using the phone book. Our internal customers were able to drop these on Ashley's desk and focus on other things that were more important to them. She then was able to draw on the strength of the entire SM&P organization."

"Ashley had to respond very quickly to our requests to purchase whatever it was we needed—a mop bucket, piece of furniture, or trash can," says Paul. "She communicated to suppliers the expectations we had as a customer—quality, timely delivery. We could not have done it without her."

Prior to the move, there was no focal person in SM&P for the organization's internal customers to contact when they had purchasing requests. Recently, SM&P was evaluating whether it would be necessary to assign an individual to the office in Chicago to serve as a focal or whether the organization could provide support virtually.

"Because Ashley did such a great job we left the focal in place," says Ismael. "Ashley is still the account manager for Boeing's world headquarters in Chicago. They have one point of contact to call. She'll get the requirements, and we will support them from the Puget Sound location." Van Dyk's role, in fact, has grown to include the company's new Learning Center in St. Louis, which is in process of expanding."

One of the things that makes it possible for Van Dyk to be a focal and support world headquarters virtually is the new Web-based procurement system SM&P is implementing throughout the company. What this means is that anyone who can access the Boeing internal Web site has access to the Shared Services Group's leveraged contracts. The group had to make some changes on the site to identify Chicago as a new delivery location. Another role for Van Dyk: ensuring that internal customers are properly trained on how to use the new system.