The head buyer at Centrica says the company has experienced a “hokey cokey” procurement strategy in the face of an “energy trilemma”.
David Wylie, head of group procurement, told the ProcureCon conference in Amsterdam the energy company had tried centralising and diversifying the purchasing function before settling on a “functional network” model.
“We’ve had a hokey cokey procurement strategy,” he said. “It goes out, it comes in.”
He said group-led procurement had not worked and a business unit-led approach “fell apart quite quickly”.
Under the functional network business units were “equitable partners” with “common goals, minimum standards and local execution”.
Wylie said the trilemma was formed by the challenges of energy security, affordability and climate change.