18
| 10TH - 16TH MAY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK
Operations & Assets
P
rocurement teams must seize the
opportunities wrought by change, be
eet of foot and embrace new skills, as
well as sweep away excessive bureaucracy
from contracts to make it easier to employ
small, innovative rms. Those were key mes-
sages from speakers at the Procurement &
Supply Chain Leaders Forum, which took
place earlier this month in Birmingham.
The audience heard how a more austere
regulatory landscape, the need to be attrac-
tive to investors, and fast-paced advances
in technology, spelt huge changes for those
leading procurement and supply-teams.
Nirmal Kotecha, director of capital pro-
gramme & procurement, UK Power Net-
works (UKPN), said during the open panel
discussion: "Huge change equals huge
opportunity. And if procurement wants to
demonstrate leadership, it needs to under-
stand all of that, translate it to the corporate
environment and weave together solutions
and promote those solutions at the top table.
"All of this requires procurement to adapt
to the environment, and to acquire new skill
sets. Analytics, for example, I have a bunch
of analytics skills in my team now. We used
to have roles like procurement specialists,
we've got data analysts now."
The day-long event, which was sponsored
by Oracle Construction and Engineering and
TVS Supply Chain Solutions, threw up myr-
iad new ideas and a plethora of challenges
that procurement teams are facing.
All change for
procurement: fi ve
big talking points
Brexit, technological advances, skills
shortages and a tougher regulatory
environment, are impacting the thinking of
procurement leaders. Denise Chevin reports.
Conference
Procurement & Supply Chain Leaders Forum, Birmingham 2019
"We have to move away
from the idea that the
client is the master,
and the contractors
and consultants are
there to serve us. We
have to look for mutual
benefi t."
Andy Clark, head of procurement
and contract management,
Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water
"You need to go
overboard describing
the problem you are
looking to solve."
Kieran Brocklebank, head of
innovation, United Utilities
