Manufacturing Leaders
Currently the Number 1 Manufacturing Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
Mark Bracknall, Founder of Theo James Recruitment is the host of Manufacturing Leaders.The UK is still a powerhouse in Manufacturing & Engineering. We speak to those who are helping to make those firms a success. By motivating, inspiring and managing teams.Are you new to management? Are you keen to hear from those who are dealing with the same day-to-day challenges you are facing?In this podcast we get inside the minds of the Managers in Manufacturing & Engineering, and understand how they get the best our of their teams and make Manufacturing & Engineering great.
Manufacturing Leaders
The Importance Of Procurement In Manufacturing
Unlock the secrets of strategic procurement with our special guest, Paul Donaghy, Global Category Manager at Ingersoll Rand. Explore Paul's fascinating journey into the world of procurement and his innovative approach to leadership. Get inspired by his insights on building strong supplier relationships and the importance of effective evaluation methods amidst global challenges like Brexit, COVID-19, and geopolitical conflicts.
Discover the hidden complexities of procurement processes beyond just pricing and negotiations. From identifying the perfect supplier to managing risks and ensuring legal protection, Paul's expertise sheds light on crucial aspects that often go unnoticed. Learn about the intricate balance required in transitioning into new procurement roles, identifying gaps, and aligning with business objectives. Gain a deeper understanding of the criteria for selecting good suppliers, focusing on capacity, sustainability, and cross-functional evaluations.
Stay ahead of the curve with our discussion on the future of AI in procurement and the industry's shift towards sustainable practices. Paul shares his thoughts on how AI can revolutionize tasks like data correction and pricing analysis while emphasizing that the human element remains irreplaceable. We also delve into the significant impact of the supply chain on a company's carbon footprint and the necessity of flexible, adaptive procurement strategies. Whether you're a procurement professional or simply curious about the field, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable strategies.
Please subscribe to the channel for more content! Theo James are a Manufacturing & Engineering Recruiter based in the North East, helping Manufacturing and Engineering firms grow across the UK. Please call us on 0191 5111 298
Why is procurement such an important function within manufacturing and engineering? How have businesses navigated through this volatile industry over the last five years, which has included Brexit, covid, wars and various other issues? I'm Mark Bracknell, the Marketing Director of Theo James Recruitment, and today I welcomed on Paul Donachie, the Global Category Manager of Ingersoll Rand, onto the show. We discussed these topics and many more, including the importance of good supplier relationships and actually how to categorise and score what makes a good supplier. Paul is a young and up-and-coming leader learning his trade. He's ambitious and it was a real pleasure to be able to get a young, hungry leader onto the show who I'm sure, is destined for great things in the industry. It was my absolute pleasure and I learned a lot about supply chain, procurement and everything in that industry, as I'm sure you're going to today as well.
Speaker 1:So please, please, please, sit back, listen or watch the show. I'll be very grateful if you wouldn't mind just clicking that like, like and subscribe button. It means the world to me. It helps us get more and more guests on the show. So thank you very much. Hope you enjoy the episode. So right, a warm welcome today to paul the manufacturers leaders podcast. We've had a three, four week break, summer break, and we're back today, so I'm really looking forward to this one. So, um, paul harvey, all good yeah, good thanks.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me on yeah, no, absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1:So, first question, same question. I ask everyone who comes on what has it been to you to be a leader?
Speaker 2:um, I suppose for me it's a little bit different because I'm I'm not currently in a position of perceived leadership, so I'm not in a managerial role. But, you know, leadership to me is the accomplishment of a goal through getting everyone working in the same direction, and I can still have an influence on the direction that other people go to get the goals. So I have to try and influence various stakeholders, my teammates, even my manager, to maybe go down different routes. And you know, there's a couple of key skills, I think, that set apart excellent leaders from average or good leaders. And one of those is listening.
Speaker 2:I think that's, you know, that's so important and for when I become, you know, my aspirations are to become a leader and that is one of the key skills that I'm going to, you know, make sure I I apply on a regular basis, I think, if you listen to, to your team, and you um, active listen as well, so you, you know you're taking on board what they're saying, um, and you take actions on on what you're hearing, I think that's, you know, that empowers team teammates, that that makes you think, yeah, my manager's listening here and my leader's listening to what I'm saying. So, um, I'm obviously, you know a valued member, so I think that that is key yeah, perfect, and I think understanding that people are complex and very different as well, that's that's also key. So I think I think it's important for a leader to understand what makes people tick and, again, use that to empower them to reach those goals.
Speaker 1:What I really like about that is actually that, in my opinion, particularly in engineering, manufacturing, those sectors not exclusively, but I think a lot of people thrust into management, probably without thinking about it and without being trained for it, like the fact that you want to be a manager, a leader, but you're thinking about it now because I think that's quite unique. Actually, I think people have to just get thrust into it and just sink or swim. The advantage you've got now is, and the foresight you've got is you. That's your path. You want go down, but you're already starting to learn. You already understand what a good lead looks like. I imagine for you, you're already thinking about what a bad lead looks like because you're looking at managers you've had in the past or whatever that would be. So it's an important reflection then, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's part of my development at the moment. So I'm doing quite a lot of linkedin learning and various sort of leadership courses and stuff to to try and build up my skills. I don't think there's any well, there is bad, bad leaders, like you say. But I think they just need time to to develop the the right skills. Like you say, they've probably been thrust into a position that they're not ready for and they've got to do with a little bit more development. But if you're thrust into a position, you're thrown in at a deep end. Sometimes it helps push you along a little bit. So yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, the bulk of this episode is going to be about procurements about procurement, which I'm really excited about because it's an area you know we've got. A big area of our business is supply chain procurement, but actually it's not an area of business. I'm connected to all that much. I'm going to learn quite a bit today, so there's probably some questions there that I hope make sense, but I'm looking forward to going through with you. It is something obviously you're very passionate about and I know we've spoken before and something you love doing. Was that always the case? I mean, you know when. When was the the moment where you thought this is going to be the the career path for me, would you say.
Speaker 2:So I sort of fell into it, like like many other people do. Um, I studied sport science at university and the plan for me was to to go into performance analysis within professional sport. That's what I wanted to do. Back then the performance analysis and sport science market was very new and it was only really elite level clubs like your Premier League teams and your national teams who had those departments that were paid positions. So it was a case of I need to find an internship somewhere that would be unpaid and I needed a job to help me support that career. So I looked for positions and managed to get one in my local town as a purchasing and operations assistant.
Speaker 2:The plan was to save a bit of money and then go back to the um performance analysis career. But you know, six, six months in I had to sort of um sit down with myself and say, look. Sit down with myself and say, look, you know I enjoy procurement, I've got a passion for it. You know I love going to work, I love doing what I do. Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life or do I want to go back to performance analysis and it was a case of let's stick with procurement.
Speaker 1:And 12, 13 years later, here I am still yeah excellent and for those that perhaps aren't attached to it, how would you describe what procurement actually?
Speaker 2:is within the industry you work in. Oh, that's tough. So procurement is. So there's many misconceptions of what procurement is. Um, if you're not involved in it it's. It's difficult to say, but it's the full life cycle of procurement, apart so from your identification of the supplier and through your due diligence, through your um, your pricing events, through your contracting, and then all the way through to exiting that supplier and moving to a new supplier. So it's, it's every task that's involved with that full cycle. Really, um, so there are a lot of tasks involved. Many people people think it's just obtaining a price, having a negotiation and placing the PO. Although those are some of the key parts of the job, it's a very small percentage of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's why I ask, because, I agree, I think there is misconceptions of it. I think people just presume that's just something that just gets done, where actually it isn't. There's so many complexes to that and I know how important that is to a business. Have you seen that in business sometimes, where perhaps companies have not understood the importance and how much impact that can have on the P&L and the productivity of a project?
Speaker 2:Yes, for sure. I think some companies think or see procurement as more of a support function. So often if there's job cuts or redundancies, procurement might be the first people to be cut. But I think it should be a core function of any business because we, or procurement departments, have value in so many ways and it's not just through, you know, cost reductions, it's through, you know, risk identification and mitigation of those risks we support in the contract negotiations. So we need to make sure that the business is well protected from a from a legal perspective. We um support with so many different departments. You know we help with design and innovating um value analysis, ideas and reducing costs. That way we support with quality in the supply reviews, the supply onboarding process. So essentially we we help ensure the marketing and branding team um, because if we had a supplier onboarding who was, you know, partaking in unethical behavior, then that would affect the brand image. So there's so many different ways we branch out into different departments and support them. You wouldn't realise until you're actually in the department itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I imagine that's difficult. If you come into a new role and there's already supplies set up, procedures set up and your job is just to perhaps someone who might not understand it enough just to improve it. Do you know what I mean? What would be the low-hanging fruit if you were to start a new role tomorrow, would you say, and you were thrust into that type of opportunity, what would be the first things you would look at? Would you say, to start in Pakistan.
Speaker 2:I think it would take time, really A little bit of time and a lot of data analysis. It would just be a case of speaking to the current staff to understand how they're sourcing. You'd need to understand what the business objectives were. You'd need to understand what processes were in place and if there's any gaps in those processes. So it would take maybe three to six months before you had a good understanding of what's going on and where that needs to go, what direction you want to take it in. So yeah, time is a big thing.
Speaker 1:And I guess, when you're looking at a new supplier, what for you makes a good supplier? Because I guess that's quite multifaceted. So what do you look for?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a variety of different things really. Obviously you need to onboard the supplier. So when you're doing that you need to assess the capacity, whether they have the same goals and ideal alignments. Sustainability, which is an ever-growing part of procurement now the price obviously is very important, but we wouldn't just base a decision purely on prices. There's a whole host of factors in there. We wouldn't just base a decision purely on prices. There's a whole host of factors in there and a lot of procurement departments have sort of a gateway review where all of these different aspects are scored and then the supplier will get an overall scoring and that's how we would decide who the successful supplier is, based on that scoring. And it wouldn't just be done by procurement. It would be a cross-functional approach as well. So you'd bring in engineering departments to give their thoughts on the quality of work and the manufacturing methods. You would bring in quality department to understand whether there's any process improvements the supplier needs. So it is a very cross-functional approach to the decision.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, actually. So is that what every company would do? That scoring system, is that something that your current business things all do? Because it feels like a perfect way to do something like that, because, like you say, it isn't just on cost, on quality, there's there's other factors. So is that scoring system, is that recognized that every company will do that or not?
Speaker 2:yeah it, every company will do it in their own way, but it's it's best practice to to do that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so, every, every company would I imagine sometimes you come under pressure from um, perhaps operations or whatever it'll be, to just get the best price for some. To some extent is that it will depend on the direct direction you're given, because I imagine that you've got engineers wanting the best quality and you've got operations wanting the best price and sometimes I imagine you've got you're that mediator to try and make sure. Is that can that can be tricky to navigate through that process.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, um, it's about finding, finding a balance, and we we wouldn't just base a source and decision on on one aspect. It would be based on in the whole picture, um, so it's would be based on in the whole picture, um, so it's yeah it. There's other factors as well, like, um, which region in the world is the supply based? Um? Are there any macroeconomic factors to take into account, like political issues, um force, mature events? Like you know, covid is the big one. There's wars going on, so will that impact any supply chain? So, yeah, there's so many factors to the decision, but it's all about a cross-functional approach and you mentioned that.
Speaker 1:You know, COVID obviously was just a crazy time. I remember our supply chain. It was funny because it was obviously the initial impact where everything was hit and everything was on the standstill and actually our supply chain went through the roof because obviously every company was suddenly looking at how they could stockpile or they didn't know what to do with the stock, and it was just really complex. Was that very, very challenging? You'd be quite early on in your career at the time, so was that quite challenging to navigate through that process? And what lessons did you learn with that, do you say?
Speaker 2:It was very, very difficult. It's something I've never experienced before and luckily I had a lot of really clever people, really good procurement people around me to help support. But I think the key lesson I learned from that was your relationships with suppliers can can really help in those situations. So if, um, if you have a strategic relationship with a with a supplier, um in in a situation like that, it can add value because they will prioritise your parts over another of their customers who they might not have a strategic relationship with. So relationships were absolutely key during that period, for sure.
Speaker 1:What makes a good relationship? Do you know what I mean? If you're tasked with improving that, what are the things you would do to try and do so?
Speaker 2:so I think your relationship with the supplier should depend on and how you and the business sees that supplier in the future. So if we think a supplier, we want to grow with the supplier because they provide key parts to us and there's not many of those particular suppliers in the market, then we would want to have a very strong relationship with that supplier to avoid the risk of it breaking down and us not being able to to find our our key parts and because there's there's not many other suppliers. So it's your relationship with supply a lot of the time depends on the parts they they produce for you, how key they are to to the products that you produce and how many other suppliers are on the market.
Speaker 1:Do you see? I mean, do companies typically try their best to try and work with local supply? I mean, how much of a factor is that locality piece? Because obviously we don't in a perfect world. We'd all love to have suppliers, definitely in the UK, ideally in North East, but I appreciate that isn't always possible because obviously price will dictate certain things and and maybe just the whole process and availability. For example, how much effective is that, would you say, for companies trying to keep that local as possible?
Speaker 2:got the local suppliers with slightly high costs but really quick service. If there's an issue, they'll sort it really quickly. They might come on site and help out if they're just down the road, whereas you might have a supplier overseas in a low-cost or best-cost country who can produce the part at a really competitive price. But lead time is three months on a on a ship. Um, if there's a quality issue, then there's another three months to to replace that part. So, um, again, there's a balance and often people will mitigate those risks with a dual source and strategy. So they would source half of the parts, or 75% of the parts from the low-cost country to take advantage of the price, whilst sourcing 25% in region and in the local area to satisfy the need of urgent deliveries or just keeping that supply base ticking over yeah, because because you hear that people don't understand it say should always be local.
Speaker 1:Everyone's always going to china. So about price? But obviously there's there's there's a lot more moving parts of that, that process, isn't it?
Speaker 2:there is yeah and um. You know there's often pressure from the business to reduce costs. So the first place you look is the low-cost countries. But it's not always the case that we would go to the low-cost country. If we get a price from a supplier in China, for example, we could benchmark that against our current costs from the inner region, from the local suppliers, and we might say, look, you're 20% out on cost here, can you improve? But there's also we wouldn't just base those decisions again on the piece price of the item in question. We would base it on the total landed cost. So we need to factor in the logistics costs, any handling costs, etc. Um and make a decision based based on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting and and I think one of the the biggest impacts I imagine is is the political piece which is always changing. Obviously, you know, covid was one thing, but obviously we have. We have brexit, which obviously I still know is causing some headaches and time changes. How hard is that to navigate around? I mean, if we look at today as we stand, what are the trends and the biggest challenges that supply chain professionals are going through? Would you say which link into that political piece?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tough to keep on track of everything and luckily we have a number of departments, like a logistics team, that I keep on track of import and export tariffs and stuff. But, um, it's, it's important to to keep an eye on the news. Um, we have a subscription with IHS Market, who provide us with lots of economic data on pricing and also on political issues, some of the ones that are ongoing at the moment obviously, the war in Russia and Ukraine. There's a lot of issues around material of Russian origin, because a lot of people don't want to be seen to be funding the Russian war by, you know, purchasing goods from Russia. There's obviously going to be the change in presidency soon in the US. We don't know what that means. With import-export tariffs on China, they could increase. If they do increase, then the total landed cost of our goods would increase, so we need to reassess where we're buying from.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's Apologies for interrupting this podcast with a very quick 30 second description of my business. Theo james are an engineering and manufacturing recruitment search for. Based in durham, we specialize in contracts and permanent opportunities, from blue collar semi-skilled roles right the way up to C-suite level exec positions. If you're looking for any new, additional staff or new opportunity for yourself in the industry, please contact me or the team. There'll be a specialist in your area waiting to help. I'm incredibly proud of this business and what we've built since our inception in 2015. And I would love to extend that service out to you. So thank you very much. Hope you enjoy the episode. Thank you for changing. Yeah, I mean, how do you deal with that? Do you know what I mean? How actually do you deal with that? Is that? Do you have you have to look at the trackers all day long? Do you have plan A? What strategies, I guess, would a company like yours put in place for something which a decision or a budget change or something might drastically change things? Is that complex? I?
Speaker 2:imagine. It is complex and I guess that's that's why we have, you know, global category managers, and we all look after a particular um category or commodity, and the idea is for us to to be the experts in that category.
Speaker 1:So we need to monitor the marketplace and put in place strategies based on what's happening basically, do you think and this gets back to the first question is why you want to do, why you do what you want to do, and do you think you have to be passionate about this to have an impact? Because there is so much at play here? Do you have to be passionate about this to be to have an impact? Because there is so much at play here, do you have to love it and enjoy it, because I imagine, I imagine you have to put a lot of fires out as well a lot of the time.
Speaker 2:I think. I think you have to love it and enjoy it to be good at it. I think you could. You could probably not enjoy it and do an okay job, but I think if you really want to do it, be good at what you do you need to be passionate, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as an industry, things are ever-changing. What do you see as the trends or the things that are going to change the face of this type of industry, would you say?
Speaker 2:So obviously there's always developments with sustainability, with businesses becoming more sustainable, supply chains being sustainable, but there's also artificial intelligence as well, which is in its infancy at the moment but could be very big for a lot of different industries.
Speaker 1:How do you see that, I guess to talk about a company right now Inxel. How do you see that, I guess to talk about a company right now? How do you see that AI changing? Because it is its infancy. I'm fascinated by it, but everyone is still sort of dipping the toe in, but not really sure. Where are you with that journey?
Speaker 2:Again, we're in the infancy with it. Again we're in the infancy with it. We are currently using it to help with some data correction issues. So we have some data that's categorized incorrectly and we've been able to put a small sample of the correct data into the AI system, of the correct data into the AI system, and then that's going to hopefully correct all the other thousands of lines of data. So that's just a very small snippet of what it can do Going forward. You know, I don't see why it couldn't be monitoring the marketplace to identify risks on our behalf. So we don't have to do that manually. Pricing analysis pretty simple for AI to look at some prices and come up with a conclusion. Monitoring KPIs on our behalf as well. So I think that there's a lot of uses for it, for sure, and inventory management would be ideal for something like that.
Speaker 1:Again I'm going to say misconception, but there's definitely a fear around the sort of stuff you're talking about there Currently. Someone does, a human does. So obviously, technically I will replace that. My opinion is actually I that, um, my opinion is actually, I'll reserve my opinion. But what? What? Until you say spoken, what are your thoughts and how that will change the landscape of of people like yourself, or people coming into the industry, I guess, and learn their way? What, how will that change things? Do you think?
Speaker 2:um, well, back to your point. I think there is a fear that AI will take over people's jobs, but when you look at the value that we as humans add I'll go back to the COVID piece the supply relationships you know AI can't develop a relationship with another human being the same way that I can develop a relationship with another human being the same way that I can, and the value we got from those relationships was incredible. So I don't think AI will take over completely. I think it will go hand in hand with what we do and might mean that procurement departments can become more streamlined because we have the ai support that can do a lot of the administrative tasks. Um, but I don't. I don't see it taking over.
Speaker 1:no, yeah I agree, I I completely. I think it will go hand in hand, because I I just can't see a world where people build relationships with robots. I just can't see it. Even if that technically, if that robot talks as well as you do, and so I just I will know that you are automation, I just won't give the same. So I completely agree.
Speaker 1:I think it will enable us to be more efficient because we can trust the data more than perhaps someone who is, than someone who has won two years. I think it is a shame because ultimately, people step on the ladder and move their way up, and I think that's still going to be difficult to navigate around how you go from there to there. But ultimately, I think people will be thrust into a more senior role with more information and data on their fingertips, and I imagine someone like yourself. It will enable you to do your job easier because you've got data. I mean, you mentioned that KPI and piece what are the things? And we'll jump around, which I quite like episodes like this. We just jump around things, but what are the main things I guess the main KPIs would you say that you look for within the function you do to make sure things are going smoothly, would you say that perhaps AI could do?
Speaker 2:In terms of KPIs for a supplier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's use a supplier as an example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we would look at, you know. Is the supplier delivering on time in full? Are they having any quality issues? So what percent of parts are having quality issues? Then there's more sort of subjective KPIs like how is the supplier communicating? Do they often ignore requests? Is there any discrepancies in their packaging?
Speaker 2:when they're delivered into warehouse, are they packaged correctly? But you can expand further. These are some of the key ones, but you can expand it out to have so many different KPIs depending on, again, the business needs, depending on the particular commodity in question yeah, it's interesting because some of those things can be done by ai, some of them can't be so like.
Speaker 1:It just proves our point that you know that. Shouldn't they go hand in hand? Now? I just think technology is changing the way we do things. You know, you're sat at home right now because obviously you can work remotely, and there was a time where you know, pre covid, that wouldn't have even been considered. I guess, um which, if you don't mind, we'll touch about briefly, because I'm always interested in people's opinions, because I I hate working home, but some people love it, do you mean? So it's massively horse for courses, has that? What would you say the pros and cons are for for that type? Because I think, um, you know someone who does that day to day.
Speaker 2:I'm interested in your thoughts yeah, um, I mean, when I was at Atachi when um COVID hit and we we moved to to fully remote as a result and and I was relatively new in the in the position and it was it was tough because in the office you've got people next year who you can ask questions to. But if you're working from home it's difficult to get people to answer if they're busy. And it was very tough for me, and I know it was for other people as well. But once I got up and running in the role, then it became easier because you don't have people coming up to you. You can focus on a particular task when you're at home and you can just rattle it off straight away without disruption.
Speaker 2:But again, go back to the personal relationships. I think that's what's lost a little bit. When you're at home, you don't have the camaraderie with colleagues, you don't have the sort of favours that you can rely on people for, because you haven't built those relationships. So yeah, pros and cons, for sure, but I think there's probably some. There's definitely a balance to be had. I don't know what it is, whether it's two days in office, three at home or vice versa, but I think the balance is the better option.
Speaker 1:I imagine for a supplier's point of view, where typically you won't have been that often face-to-face previously anyway, maybe moving to Teams, for example, or Zoom or whatever you're using, has that enabled the relationship to build a bit easier, because there's a little bit more face-to-face interaction than perhaps there once was, or not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you're probably right. I do tend to make a point of putting my camera on when we have supply relationships, to build the face-to-face connection. I think it's important in negotiations in particular to see body language, to see how they're reacting to some of the negotiation offers that you make, some of the questions that you ask. So, yeah, being able to put your camera on instead of just having a phone call is definitely a benefit.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, nice, and you mentioned the word negotiation there. I'm going to put you on the spot here, Paul, because I'm always interested in negotiation. What's your top tip for a solid negotiation? Because it's something you know. It is people that we're not. I think we're born natural negotiators. My kids are fantastic negotiators to get sweetsrees, but then the consequences are they'll cry if you don't get one. But I think we then start to unlearn that skill unless you do it day to day. Is there any good tips, you would say, for the art of negotiation?
Speaker 2:I think negotiation has changed since I first started in procurement. It used to be a case of we want um, you know the, the buying organization wants everything for nothing, so to speak. But I think it's a case now of finding a win-win situation that that keeps both um, both buyer and supplier happy, and I think that's that's important, because if you're squeezing every drop out of the supplier, then they they don't become sustainable if you're essentially removing the profit margin, and you know sustainability, although it means, you know, reducing carbon footprint, it also means ensuring you have a supply base that's built to last the length of time. So finding win-win solutions, I think, is key to successful negotiation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice, how would you mention obviously we've briefly discussed sustainability not properly how important is sustainability, would you say, in procurement, and how do you sort of incorporate that into a category strategy, would you say?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's ever-growing. Obviously, there's legislation developments all the time on sustainability, so it's something that we need to stay on the ball about. We incorporate sustainability within our supply selection process. In previous companies we've used a system called EcoVardis, which the suppliers would sign up to this and complete quite a lengthy questionnaire and it would give them a sustainability score and that score would go towards or would contribute to their overall score within the selection process or would contribute to their overall score within the selection process. So if they had a high sustainability score, that would be reflected in their overall score.
Speaker 2:So we use that to score suppliers and ensure our supply chain is sustainable. But there's also with our current supply base. We would have quarterly business reviews with them where we discuss a number of KPIs and what improvements are needed, but we'd also have topics that cover what sustainability actions are ongoing. It could be something as simple as oh, we're putting some solar panels in or we're changing the lights in the factory to low energy light bulbs. So if it's a small supplier, even they can contribute by doing something so simple.
Speaker 1:Have you seen the I want to say pressure on word, but would you say now the importance of when you're selecting as a player, having them being sustainable? Have you have you seen that shift now to the importance get higher than it was perhaps three, four years ago? Would you say?
Speaker 2:oh, without without um. When I first started, sustainability in the organization I was in wasn't really considered at all and then, maybe about five, six years ago, that changed and we started including, like I say, sustainability in our selection process and done that ever since. So it's definitely grew and it's continued to grow.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because I've spoken to a lot of people about sustainability and one thing I learned which I had no idea of is, obviously, companies will get scored on how sustainable they are as a business and their own journey to net zero, but I had no idea how important the supply chain piece was, because essentially, supply chain is the bulk of your carbon footprint and if they are sustainable, your supply chain, then you'll never be sustainable. So it is so important, isn't it? I I have no idea that how just how important that is. I imagine that is a lot of pressure on on you now you know, as a business, to do that it is.
Speaker 2:It is a lot of pressure and a lot of the time. Um we we need to help develop suppliers to become more sustainable, so we also support them with their journeys to become more sustainable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, and I think this is why I think this episode I'm hoping it's always been important, because I think we hopefully have. You have the bumps and myths around how because it is such a complex job, because we've spoken about the cost, we've spoken about the quality, we've spoken about sustainability, all the trends. There's so much at play. There isn't there to when you're looking at a supplier or whatever you're trying to do for the business. It is, but at the same time, it's, uh, obviously very interested in an exciting role which obviously you know. You've said yourself you want to keep progressing. Why is it important for you, would you say to, to progress and to be at the top? Because you're someone who you've obviously very ambitious. Is that something's always been built into you, or or just something you found?
Speaker 2:you say um, yeah, I, I think it's been built in me. Really. My parents always told me to be ambitious and to keep striving to better myself, and what I'd really like to do is to become a procurement leader or head of procurement procurement manager a procurement leader or a head of procurement procurement manager and run my own department and put my own strategies in place, my own processes, my own ideas, and also help to to develop the next generation of procurement professionals, because I've had a lot of you know fantastic advice from a number of people over the years and I'd love to pass that on and share the knowledge.
Speaker 1:What do you think are the main skills or qualities would you say for perhaps someone who's just starting out or someone who's looking to get into procurement? What do you say are the main sort of skills that they need?
Speaker 2:I would say, you know, procurement is or procurement in manufacturing in particular, is an ever-changing environment. Nothing stays the same for very long, so you need to be open-minded and willing to adapt and change. So flexibility and willingness to accept change are key. We touched on the political issues, but there's also, you know, changes in manufacturing schedules that you will then need to share out with the suppliers and get them to support that. There's changes. You know force majeure events suppliers might shut down unexpectedly. There's so many things that can happen and will happen. So you just need to be agile and ready and willing to support the change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent stuff, mate, and I think you know that's great advice and I think hopefully this episode people will definitely learn a lot from that Ingersoll around we are now obviously great business, fantastic reputation. What are the next sort of 18 months, two years looking like? I imagine quite a bit of change ahead as well in terms of the business as a whole.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just continuing to grow. We you know the recent financials were published and they were absolutely excellent. We grow through organic and inorganic growth, so there's always sort of mergers and acquisitions on the horizon which, again, we need to be ready for, because we don't necessarily have foresight of when they're going to complete. We don't necessarily have foresight of when they're going to complete, so we just need to be ready to take on board a new site and help them to streamline their procurement department.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you very much and, as I said, this has been a very interesting episode for me personally as well, because I've learned loads and I think we've discussed so much on how you know what not only how complex the role is, but how interesting it is because you're dealing with things on a different daily basis different relationships, different suppliers, different challenges but actually you can impact so much on a business, which I think is the most important thing, and I think anyone looking to get into procurement or looking to progress into it I think anyone looking to get into procurement or looking to progress into it I think this will be a really, really interesting piece for them to understand that.
Speaker 1:And actually, what I absolutely love, as I said right at the start, is you are someone who is so passionate about what you do, but actually you want to be a leader, you want to help grow the next future, because that sounds to me that's your. Why it's not a personal ego thing. It's to try and progress other people into the industry as well, which I think is brilliant, and this is why I love getting young leads like yourself on. So thanks, paul, I really appreciate it. It's been great.
Speaker 2:No problem, Mark. Thanks a lot for your time. I hope some of what I said has been useful to some people at least Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Manufacturing Leads podcast. It absolutely means the world to me. Please let me know if you need any assistance. As a business, we look at providing partnerships with manufacturing engineering companies to really help their recruitment and retention. On the recruitment piece anywhere from blue collar semi-skilled staff right the way up to c-suite level executive appointments, but also much more than that we run events. So please let me know if you're interested, any of those. If you are interested indeed, becoming a um, a podcast guest, be very, very keen to speak to you as well. More than happy to do so.
Speaker 1:But as a business, as I say, we look at key partnerships to really help your recruitment, your retention, your marketing, your training. We really believe in the partnership piece and being extension of your business. We're very proud to work in this sector. I love manufacturing engineering and my staff are just as passionate about it as I am. So thank you once again for listening. Please get in touch to talk about anything we can do to help. Look forward to speaking to you very soon, thank you.