Page 25 - SMI Issue 62

From the Buyer’s DeskKim Jensen, Global Procurement Director, Marine Products,Wilhelmsen Ships Service talks about the company’s procurement processHow important is it to build relationships with your suppliers and what are you looking for in your suppliers?Good relationships with our suppliers are very important as it benefits both parties to have close communication. Good communication can help ensure information on changing customer needs are shared. This of course enables our suppliers to incorporate this into their product and service development, allowing us to better meet the needs of our customers. Furthermore, good communication can help improve the production efficiency of our suppliers allowing us to deliver an even more competitive offer to the market.We constantly monitor market cost drivers to ensure we always deliver a quality competitive offer to our customers. So, we want to work with suppliers that have the same mindset. We have suppliers we have worked with for many years for this exact reason, but in areas where this is not the case we do go to market to identify new potential suppliers we can collaborate with.We do not experience a lot of issues, as we have a stringent supplier selection and auditing process. However, we do sometimes experience delayed deliveries and have to address this immediately with suppliers, ensuring they plan efficiently. Nothing should affect our ability to deliver a timely service to our customers.We always focus on delivering products and services that first and foremost meet the requirements of our customers and we do not compromise on this. That said, there is more than ever a focus on cost with many customer segments struggling with low rates and in some areas decreasing volumes. As mentioned, we look to work with suppliers who share our mindset, developing long-lasting relationships with them that deliver quality and great service to our customers at a competitive cost.Procurement is to a larger extent working closely with sales, product management and customer service to guarantee we always get feedback from the customer-facing functions. That way we can ensure we focus on the right areas. We have and are still working toward digitalising the entire process to deliver an efficient and transparent end-to-end process.This is a major question, that would almost qualify foran article in itself. With constant digital development the opportunities are endless. One could be that we as a supplier interface more with our customers and have more insight into their inventory down to vessel level. We could then forecast what to deliver when and where before the customer actually places the order. We could even advise the customer when a set minimum inventory level is reached and replenishment is required. Such rich data would allow us to advise customers their consumption per vessel across their entire fleet. Now that’s an exciting prospect!Is cost still a major factor in who you use or do you place higher importance on others such as quality, business relationships and what do you look for when buying supplies?Do you stick with the same suppliers or are you always looking for potential new sources of products and services?How has procurement changed at Wilhelmsen in recent times?What are some of the issues you have with suppliers and how can they help you with these?How sophisticated should 21st century ship supply become and how has technology moved things along?Issue 70 2016 | The Ship Supplier | 23