Success story from KSE

The Center for Excellence in Procurement of the Kyiv School of Economics regularly conducts training programs for existing or future purchasers. You can read about the results achieved after graduation from their graduate – Mykhailo Kasatkin, head of the support and administrative support service of Delta Wilmar Ukraine LLC – in an interview prepared as part of a joint special project of SmartTender and KSE.

How long have you been working in procurement and why did you decide to choose this particular specialty?

I have been working in procurement for over a year. Before that, I held the position of head of the transport department for eight years. Until May 2020, the procurement of services and some goods (for example, cars for the transport department) was carried out by each division separately, therefore, in the position of the head of the transport department, I understood all the processes well. The issues with the elaboration of the market for goods and the game (it is difficult to call it otherwise) in lowering the cost while maintaining quality are very interesting to me.

How do you apply the knowledge gained from studying at KSE in practice?

During the training, one of the most interesting questions was the issue of building communication in the format “A buyer is a reliable advisor”. Subsequently, we talked with each employee of the procurement department and were able to build constructive communications within the company. After all, it is communications with employees that are the basis for understanding the procurement process as a whole.

Previously, purchases were carried out exclusively according to requests, without a broad outlook. But soon our unit began to offer alternatives that were accepted through internal negotiations and had an economic effect. As a result, the initiators of the purchases began to feel like participants in the process and to treat the company's funds more carefully.

How many purchases do your company organize and how many employees are involved in this direction?

The monthly volume of purchases of our company amounts to millions of hryvnias. At the moment, the division has seven employees:

- head of procurement and administrative support – responsible for import purchases;
- chief specialist – responsible for the procurement of all services for the enterprise and maintaining the documentation of the PMIS (Project Management Information System);
- five procurement specialists – engaged in the purchase of all goods and materials and the sale of illiquid assets.

Each specialist works in their direction, but at the same time studies the direction of their colleagues. So all employees can be interchangeable in case of vacation or unforeseen situations.

Your main project is the implementation of the categorical strategy. Please tell us what the algorithm for developing a categorical strategy looks like in your company?

To develop a strategy by category, we choose drivers – goods and materials, which are purchased on an ongoing basis and in large quantities. Next, we compile the annual consumption volume and submit it to a large-scale tender. This allows us to get the lowest price possible (while maintaining the quality and delivery time) and fix it for a long period to plan the cost of the product in the future. Alternative products and suppliers are being developed in parallel.

This strategy involves employees of the procurement department, the initiator of the purchase, the quality control service, and the security service.

After implementing the category strategy, we were able to find alternatives for several key ingredients and supporting materials. And this, in turn, helped to reduce costs and eliminate supply problems in a pandemic.

What are the TOP-5 personal tips for the effective work of the purchaser?

I would like to advise each purchaser of the following:

1. Do not be afraid to initiate testing of alternative goods and materials.
2. Regularly visit the warehouse when supplying goods and materials.
3. Maintain a supplier assessment table.
4. Conduct an ongoing dialogue with an internal customer.
5. Check warehouse stocks before organizing purchasing.

The listed actions will help the purchasers to do their job more efficiently and effectively save the company's funds.

How to become a professional buyer?

If you also want to improve the organization of tenders in your company, learn how to apply category management, and analyze data on made purchases, we suggest you the course “Purchasing Management” from the CEP KSE. Click the button below for more details.

Read about the course

Learn the most interesting things about procurement and win with SmartTender!