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They already were a group of people that had a strong work ethic , which is really representative of our company ’ s culture ,” he says .
Schnitzer ’ s people have remained a key pillar in the company ’ s procurement transformation , and throughout the past three years , the firm has introduced essential change management , incorporating lean concepts and process improvement , as well as standardised existing processes and invested in multiskilling its exceptional workforce .
“ We invested in further training for the purchasing group , and I brought in additional talent with specific strategic sourcing , project management and contract management expertise . From a timing perspective , we decided to recruit the sourcing expertise from the market alongside investing to develop it internally ,” adds Folino .
“ One of the existing benefits to our organisational structure is that we maintained our purchasing staff co-located with the business . Consequently , there are many day-to-day working relationships which we continue to maintain and further develop .”
Supplier management Working closely with its supply base , Schnitzer Steel has leveraged its spend to effectively manage potential risks , as well as invest in new digital tools across its complex procurement processes .
“ We went through a very aggressive selection process with the focus on finding a platform supplier of procurement tools . From here , we implemented a contract management system and another module of this application to manage supplier data . While we were evaluating the supply base , we were running request for proposals ( RFPs ) and signing contracts ,” Folino explains . “ We went from an environment where the spend under contract was managed with limited procurement tools or systems , to one where we had a formalised policy , a procurement platform and a focus on contract management . Today , we have around half of our total spend under contract .”
By implementing a supplier
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