The Bis Henderson Breakfast sessions kicked off in full swing on Friday 10th July in our new High Wycombe offices. The event provided the opportunity for Procurement Leaders in the local area to network and hear an inspirational talk from Paul Williams, the leader of the team at Tesco which won the External Collaboration Award in 2015.
The Procurement Leaders Awards have gone from strength to strength in recent years. Walking around the Great Room at the Grosvenor I was instantly impressed with the volume of attendees, the international diversity of the guests and also the level of seniority, in that the majority of attendees were at CPO level or Head of Procurement. This calibre was reflected by the entrants to the awards and with over 400 entries this year there was very tough competition. Procurement Leaders takes great pride in the rigour and independence of its entry process and it was a real eye opener to hear the full story behind one of this year’s winners.
Paul Williams, leader of the team at Tesco which won the External Collaboration Award in 2015, gave us a fantastic insight into the project behind the award. Paul successfully led the incredibly complex and challenging Tesco General Merchandise Transformation – the project behind the winning entry. This was a game changing project that forged ahead at incredible speed. The team were appointed to deliver a roll out of the General Merchandise transformation across 242 stores in 18 months. This incorporated homeware, cookware, bedding and paperware ranges; with a vision of creating a look and feel that could compete with the customer experience at high end department stores. General Merchandise accounts for a quarter of the shop floor within Tesco and revenue of £3bn; and the turnkey project incorporated the end- to- end design, manufacture and install.
The project was initially given the budget of £150m which was continually reduced, ending up at £50m with the expectancy of delivering within the same timescales and without effecting the quality, design or delivery. Paul and the team had a huge challenge ahead of them and with the aid of a quick decision making process at Tesco, complete board backing and a lot of hard work made exceptional progress.
Supplier Collaboration
A unique engaging, transparent and honest approach to supplier collaboration was fundamental to the success of the project. Having the right designers, manufacturers and supply chain provider was vital to the transformation. Via a thorough supplier sourcing and benchmarking process, Tesco identified the suppliers it wanted to partner with for the project and got them all in a room together. Paul led a workshop programme to introduce inter supplier collaboration (for the first time) and pioneer new ways of working. 50% of the suppliers were new to Tesco and the workshop also resulted in incumbent suppliers raising their game. An added result of the workshop was at tendering process, all suppliers were clear on the brief, size and scope of the project, and were motivated to give their most competitive pricing. Paul and the team additionally undertook a Far East sourcing exercise, travelling to China to engage key suppliers for the project.
Dedicated Supply Chain
A bespoke supply chain was developed for the project which enabled product to be supplied to a purpose built distribution centre, rather than direct-to-store. This significantly reduced the number of separate deliveries to store with substantial improvements in store delivery and cost reduction.
Europe’s Largest Recycling Programme
In addition to reducing Tesco’s carbon footprint, the innovative recycling programme was key to delivering vital savings resulting in cost reduction of £2m.
Groundbreaking Results
The end result has been a huge success; the project was delivered on time, in budget and delivered increased sales. As one judge from Procurement Leaders described, it represented ‘terrific use of technology and the full suite of procurement tools to deliver outstanding value.’
The talk from Paul was enjoyed by all and a great way to start the Bis Henderson Breakfast sessions. If you are interested speaking or attending future events, please contact Paula O’Reilly at [email protected] or call 01494 620 165
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