First, let me wish you a very happy and most prosperous 2017. Let’s hope for an interesting year.
It is a great honour to be asked to join this prestigious group and blog about procurement in the international capital project market. It’s an honour and a responsibility, as the calibre of people I have met in this industry is very high and my aim is to both inform and challenge readers to learn something new, while also encouraging you to think for yourself.
I hope you will find my article entertaining and interesting, but most of all they should stimulate ideas and debates. I will challenge you and I encourage you to challenge me too in the comments. It is in debate and discussion that new ideas are born and old problems are resolved.
It is a great honour to be asked to join this prestigious group and blog about procurement in the international capital project market. It’s an honour and a responsibility, as the calibre of people I have met in this industry is very high and my aim is to both inform and challenge readers to learn something new, while also encouraging you to think for yourself.
I hope you will find my article entertaining and interesting, but most of all they should stimulate ideas and debates. I will challenge you and I encourage you to challenge me too in the comments. It is in debate and discussion that new ideas are born and old problems are resolved.
To start off, I thought I would tell you something about myself – my history and some of my opinions, which you will find permeating my blogs, my social media and my business practices.
I have spent over 25 years working on or into/out of the African continent for shipping companies and logistics companies. I have set up offices, agencies and supply chains in the Indian Ocean, and East and West Africa, and shipping routes and supply chains in most of the continent. It has been a real privilege and I have met some wonderful people from all over Africa and the world, who are all passionate about this continent.
Six years ago, I decided to shift focus. I saw a gap between the cargo owners and logistics service providers and I decided to ‘change sides’. I joined TWP (now owned by Worley Parsons) to help them understand logistics. Too often, I see shippers and cargo owners who don’t understand the nature of logistics and the implications of this on their projects. Transport providers see them as easy targets and exploit them. They overcharge them, or they don’t look for the best routes and instead use routes that maximise their own profits.
It was at Worley Parsons that I saw first-hand how inefficient much of the logistics had become and I decided to do something about it. Since 2014, this is what I have been trying to do – consulting on all kinds of projects and tasks relating to logistics on the continent. From Parastatal companies, to the largest multinationals and engineering, procurement and construction management contracts (EPCMs), to small companies starting out, the process is much the same. Identify the requirements; find the right service partners, in the right space; set up the chain; and monitor it. So far, we have almost always achieved up to 30 per cent cost savings and delivered projects on time.
As for my opinions, I can summarise them as follows:
I look forward to your feedback, interaction and input. Let me know what you want me to write about next. Anything – as long as it comes under logistics and materials management.
I have spent over 25 years working on or into/out of the African continent for shipping companies and logistics companies. I have set up offices, agencies and supply chains in the Indian Ocean, and East and West Africa, and shipping routes and supply chains in most of the continent. It has been a real privilege and I have met some wonderful people from all over Africa and the world, who are all passionate about this continent.
Six years ago, I decided to shift focus. I saw a gap between the cargo owners and logistics service providers and I decided to ‘change sides’. I joined TWP (now owned by Worley Parsons) to help them understand logistics. Too often, I see shippers and cargo owners who don’t understand the nature of logistics and the implications of this on their projects. Transport providers see them as easy targets and exploit them. They overcharge them, or they don’t look for the best routes and instead use routes that maximise their own profits.
It was at Worley Parsons that I saw first-hand how inefficient much of the logistics had become and I decided to do something about it. Since 2014, this is what I have been trying to do – consulting on all kinds of projects and tasks relating to logistics on the continent. From Parastatal companies, to the largest multinationals and engineering, procurement and construction management contracts (EPCMs), to small companies starting out, the process is much the same. Identify the requirements; find the right service partners, in the right space; set up the chain; and monitor it. So far, we have almost always achieved up to 30 per cent cost savings and delivered projects on time.
As for my opinions, I can summarise them as follows:
- Procurement and logistics are not theoretical exercises and much value must be given to ‘feet on the ground’ experience.
- The disciplines are living things, growing and changing with time, but always developing in line with international trends and growing upwards and outwards.
- There is too much focus on systems over processes. (By systems, I mean IT systems and programs that are built generically and then brought into companies.) The process must come first and a system mapped onto it for the best success. Many projects try it the other way around and this is a major cause of failure.
- There is not enough knowledge about the actual rules and laws of international trade, be it General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Vienna trade convention, WTO or any international agreement. You must always consider these before starting to look at international procurement.
I look forward to your feedback, interaction and input. Let me know what you want me to write about next. Anything – as long as it comes under logistics and materials management.