WA Region
Welcome to the WA Region page
| WA Regional Chair: | Tony Davey |
| WA Regional Vice Chair: | Tina Groves |
| Contact Email: | wa@cipsa.com.au |
| Click here for WA events | events@cipsa.com.au |
Latest WA News & Events
WA Calendar of Events
Mark your diary now for these CIPSA events in WA. More dates will arise, so remember to keep an eye out on the WA Events page.
Upcoming WA events for 2008:
10 September - Tender Evaluation
Other courses/events you may be interested in:
1 September - Reducing Total Cost (Sydney)
1-2 September - Negotiation Masterclass (Sydney)
17 September - Tender Evaluation (Melbourne)
18 September - CPO Agenda Masterclass - The Winning Agenda (Melbourne)
22-23 September - Introduction to Procurement & Improve your Procurement skills (Sydney)
24-25 September - Contract Law Masterclass (Adelaide)
25 September - CPO Agenda Masterclass - The Challenge of Sustainable Procurement (Sydney)
8-9 October - Introduction to Procurement & Improve your Procurement Skills (Melbourne)
14-15 October - The 4th Annual CIPS Australia Conference (Melbourne)
20 October - Effective Expediting (Adelaide)
29 October - CPO Agenda Masterclass - Fixing the links in the Supply Chain (Sydney)
30 October - Supplier Relationship Management (Melbourne)
12 November - CPO Agenda Masterclass - Fixing the links in the Supply Chain (Melbourne)
WA Members - tell your colleagues to start writing now!
CIPSA National Essay Competition
due August 29
Would you like the opportunity to win $2000 plus an all-expenses paid trip to the 4th Annual CIPS Australia National Procurement Conference in Melbourne, October 2008? Submit your entry into the CIPS National Essay Competition to be in with a chance!
By submitting an essay of 1500-2500 words on one of three questions by the 29th August, 2008 you could become a regional winner of the competition and win $1000.
Questions:
- How does the procurement profession avoid “green wash” and ensure truly sustainable sourcing solutions are presented to stakeholders?
- Are a socially responsible procurement policy and a low-cost country sourcing strategy mutually exclusive?
- As the generic cost of production falls, and the generic cost of freight rises, how will carbon trading affect supply chains?
The winner from each region will automatically be entered into the national competition with the chance to win a further $1000, and the aforementioned trip to the 4th Annual CIPS Australia Conference on 14 October.
The competition this year, has been generously sponsored by Curtin University.
Review: Sole Supplier Negotiations lunch, 11 June 2008
The Sole Supplier negotiations lunch was a sell out, with 120 people attending the event. Feedback from members also indicated that it was very well received.
For anyone interested in accessing the presentation please download it here.
New CIPSA committee member for WA
CIPSA is pleased to announce that Andy Aston has accepted an offer to serve on the WA committee. Andy has had previous experience with CIPS as a committee member in the UK. He brings with him a wealth of supply management knowledge, having worked in corporate and consultative projects with a number of blue chip organisations. Andy has recently joined Mainsheet Corporate as a consultant, and previously worked for Woodside helping to develop their supplier management practices.
Review: Sam Walsh breakfast event
Topic: "Reflection on procurement from a customer’s perspective"
We were honoured to have Sam Walsh (Chief Executive, Rio Tinto Iron Ore) guest speak at our 14th of May, WA regional event. He chose to speak about procurement from a customer’s perspective and highlighted a number of key expectations as a business leader. Firstly, Sam, provided some context on the RTIO business and painted a picture of strong growth with major investment in expanding existing operations, as well as bringing on new operations in more remote regions like Simandou, Guinea. Sam indicated that the RTIO business faced some key challenges as it moved to implement a bold expansion strategy. These challenges 
include, managing strong growth, achieving sustainable development targets, effectively utilising a global reach and building on an already strong performance. Sam then went on to describe the role of procurement in addressing each one of the challenges.
The first challenge, managing strong growth, would require the procurement organisation to identify the key supply relationships, both globally and regionally, and focus on developing relationships that position RTIO in the ‘preferred customer’ quadrant. The business was going to depend on those relationships remaining strong, competitive and effective in order to secure the required growth. A second element in addressing this challenge revolved around the way the procurement organisation integrated with the business, and is vital, in that tight integration allows for a clear understanding of both the business requirements and the priorities. The procurement organisation must be able to distinguish between the strategic projects, those requiring business involvement, and the projects where procurement should just get on with it and avoid tying up limited business resource. Sam went further to describe a third element to addressing this challenge, that of talent management. He had an expectation that in a market of talent scarcity a procurement organisation would promote itself within the market, create an excitement around the profession, and implement tools which would allow for the fast track development of new talent.
The second challenge, sustainable development, describe by Sam in terms of a community dividend, a dividend to be experienced both in the areas in which the business operates and in the areas from which the business procures. The procurement organisation has a role to play in working with the supply partners to ensure that the community dividend is experienced and that the businesses reputation is upheld.
The third challenge, which Sam described has having a global reach, is a challenge brought about due to the business seeking to unlock value and develop operations in remote areas. Sam indicated that the business was going to lean on the global procurement organisation to find global solutions to anticipated supply constraints for it’s remote locations and work with supply partners to help build these remote operations and in some cases actually establish a presence themselves.
The forth challenge, describe by Sam as improving on a already strong performance, involved a procurement organisation measuring and reporting on meaningful key performance indicators. Sam continued to elaborate on his expectation for the procurement organisation to be in a position to provide a forward view on supply markets and brief business leaders on forecasts. There was also a mention of a procurement organisation be required to explore the supply market for innovations which could be adopted by the business, those innovations, that would drive safer, more competitive, more sustainable operations delivering higher output. In closing Sam indicated that the procurement organisation had a critical role to play in shaping and delivering the businesses overall strategy.
Thank you to the 180 procurement enthusiasts who attended the Sam Walsh breakfast at the Hyatt. This kind of support proves how strong the procurement community is in WA.
For those who would like a copy of Sam's presentation, download it here.
Regards
Tony Davey – WA Chair
Contribute to your local news
Always considered yourself a bit of a Clark Kent? Procurement Super Hero by day, sleuth journalist by night? Well we would love to see your talent, and even if you don’t have the talent, we would still love to hear the gossip from your region. Got any news on movers and shakers, big contracts awarded, something local to your region, or country? Send in your article, or link to an article on the web and if we think its newsworthy we will publish it in the monthly newsletter. Deadlines for each newsletter is the last week of each month, so get in your submissions now. Submissions will be by-lined by agreement. Email news@cipsa.com.au with the subject line <Your Region> Newsletter Submission.
Meet Your WA Chair and Vice Chair:
WA Chair: Tony Davey
Manager – Source, Rio Tinto Procurement
Tony Davey, B-Tech (Ind.Eng.), MBA, is currently employed at Rio Tinto Procurement in his capacity as West Coast Regional Manager – Source. He leads a team of category specialists who manage a diverse portfolio of spend with an objective to deliver value on behalf of the Rio Tinto operating assets. He has seven years experience as a supply chain consultant, having worked for both IBM Business Consulting Services and Deloitte Consulting. As a consultant he participated in the design and delivery of various supply chain improvement projects across many different industries. He has a particular passion for strategic sourcing and delivered the Procurement Centre of Excellence at Lonmin Platinum.
WA Vice Chair: Tina Groves
Director maintenance and minor works, WA Department of Housing and Works
Tina’s challenge will be to reform maintenance service delivery in an environment where the building industry is struggling to meet demand for services.
Tina has held several senior procurement roles within the WA Government with experience in strategic procurement and planning, service evaluation,business improvement, change management and customer management.
