Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

CIPS NSW event flies high

09 Jun 2010

The NSW Committee event on June 3rd was a sell-out success with over 90 guests attending the Qantas Centre of Service Excellence in Mascot to hear key speakers present on the topic of ‘Supplier Performance Measurement and Management’.

The night started off with a nostalgic twist as attendees were treated to a highlights reel of Qantas television commercials dating back to the 50’s. From there guests were seated and in true Qantas style, a safety message (exits here, here and here) preceded Chris Heptinstall presentation. Chris is the Australian procurement manager for American pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly. Chris provided the audience with a framework for measurement and management of the key supplier base along with some useful tips and hints on maintaining the program in the long term. The key message from Chris was to keep it simple as “an over complicated program will break down and fail”.

Our second speakers were Llew Jones, Commodity Manager, and Allan Nelmes, Manager Seats, both from Qantas Engineering Supply Chain. Llew and Alan have significant experience in driving cross functional process improvement and managing supplier and stakeholder relationships. The Qantas engineering supplier relationship management program and tools were discussed, from preparation for the review through to actions and outcomes from the review process.  Practical examples of their SRM process in relation to the contract and supply of seats for their new aircrafts were provided. Allan finished by providing his top 10 tips to a successful supplier performance management process with the key being “communication”.

The topic and subject matter from all of the presenters led to a range of topical questions especially around the supplier’s involvement and buy in from stake holders.

This very successful evening concluded with guests having access to the Qantas interactive learning centre. Normally only available to Qantas staff, the space houses a number of interactive displays covering the entire Qantas customer experience including check-in, airport lounges and aircraft product. An informative and novel way to enjoy canapés, drinks and networking!

Special thanks to Qantas and NSW committee member, Cassie Lawrence for hosting such great event.