Brothers' careers show purchasing's evolution

Paul Teague, Editor in chief -- Purchasing, 5/4/2006

Meet the Doelling brothers, Kurt and Peter. Both studied economics, both have sales, marketing and purchasing experience and both are enjoying successful careers. Interestingly, their professional lives have taken divergent paths that show how the purchasing profession has changed over the years.

Kurt began his professional life in sales and marketing, then moved to finance before entering the world of purchasing. Parlaying his broad business experience, he advanced rapidly and today is vice president of supply management and operations strategy at Sun Microsystems.

Older brother Peter began his professional life as a U. S. Navy supply officer. He later went to Hitachi Semiconductor and worked in materials planning, part of the purchasing organization. But he recognized some 15 years ago that the opportunities for building customer relationships and influencing the direction of business within Hitachi were elsewhere. So, he moved into marketing and sales. Today, he is in sales management at Qimonda North America Corp.

It was the right move at the right time for Peter. But he recognizes that the purchasing profession he left was very different from the purchasing profession of today. "In my sales responsibilities, I run up against some very sophisticated purchasing pros," he says.

Of course, purchasing has always had more than its share of sophisticated and capable professionals, but the increased reliance corporate executives place on their purchasing and supply chain staffs today has made purchasing the center of action in corporations.

Sun executives, for example, view Kurt Doelling and his staff as a vital strategic asset, and the company regularly references the contributions of the supply chain staff in protecting margins. Similarly, at Palm CEO Ed Colligan says that Jon Adee, senior director of strategic sourcing, has been an integral part of building systems and relationships that deliver the range of products Palm customers rave about.

While Peter would not shift to purchasing, he agrees that companies that can get value and expertise from their suppliers better than competitors have a huge advantage.