Procurement Leaders have announced the shortlists for their awards later this year.  It is a very international field, reflecting the strong pan-European network Procurement Leaders have built, with some impressive names.

This is one of the really positive signs of how procurement and supply chain has developed over the last decade or so. I remember Peter Williams as CIPS Chair then President some ten years ago pushing the idea of the CIPS awards – I have to admit I thought he was mad!  No-one would be interested in awards for procurement people, I thought.  How ridiculous*.   But Peter had great faith in the idea and after a slow start (it took about 3 years to build interest) it suddenly took off.  So now we have two excellent events; CIPS Supply Management awards and Procurement Leaders.   The Oscars and the Grammies of the procurement world as I like to think of them….

And remember, your entries for the SM awards must be submitted by April 16th.

* showing again my great ability to spot exciting new ideas; I was the man who told the inventor of  Mars Ice Cream it would never sell…..

(* well, prisoners really but I like alliteration….)

Just imagine…you’re a dynamic, thrusting young purchasing category manager working for a sexy FMCG, IT or media firm. .  One morning you wake up and in a Kafka-esque transformation you find yourself working for…Her Majesty’s Prison Service.  The horror of it!  And your boss tells you that your category is prisoner bedding.  Yes, the stuff – sheets, mattresses, blankets – that the inmates sleep on (and sometimes do other things on as well).

But before you slit your wrists, read this from the Guardian newspaper. The Procurement team at the Prison Service have won another award – not their first – for an outstanding piece of creative and value-adding category work.  They’ve come up with an approach that has a huge positive impact on the environment, improves the quality of the product provided, and saves money.  All in an area that it would have been very tempting to treat as a low priority for purchasing attention.

What a great example and an inspiration to professionals in less glamorous organisations and managing apparently unexciting categories.  The lessons?  Think creatively; think about total supply chain; look at sustainability in terms of value not just ticking the boxes; and above all challenge the ‘way we’ve always done it’.  Well done Geoff Sykes and the team.

Peter Smith