Johnson Matthey has claimed overall victory in the CIPS Excellence in Procurement Awards 2020.
The chemicals company, which also won Procurement Team of the Year – Large Organisation, stood out for its ambitious programme to create a global, category-based group procurement team from a standing start.
Prior to the transformation procurement was largely left to multiple sites across 34 countries, and its maturity diagnostic indicated it was around 15 years behind industry benchmarks.
But in 2017 Rachael Legg was appointed group chief procurement officer and a centre-led global function was created, with procurement established as a business partner with representation on all senior sector and group leadership teams and major projects.
The work delivered savings of more than £60m and the function is on target to deliver £100m savings by April 2023.
A 50/50 gender balance has been achieved at leadership level, with a 30% female presence across group categories, and within two years procurement has been established as a credible global function, delivering significant savings and business value.
The judges said: “Johnson Matthey has upskilled the function and wider business, creating a professional procurement function from scratch and developing an operating model to deliver centre-led procurement in a decentralised business. A significant wholesale transformation and excellent approach.”
Malcolm Harrison, group CEO, CIPS, said: “This year’s awards come at a difficult time for us all as we continue to battle our way through the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the devastating effects of climate change bringing raging fires to Australia and more recently California, and the Black Lives Matter movement shining a light on how much we still have to do to fully embrace diversity and inclusion.”
But he added: “From heroic stories of procurement teams working with their suppliers to continue to deliver fantastic value, right through to those helping in the fight against this deadly virus, procurement teams have been at the very heart of the solutions, many of which we have seen in our award submissions this year.”
The winners were announced during a virtual ceremony.
Overall winner
Johnson Matthey
Best Approach to Risk Mitigation
Sunrise Senior Living
Best Practice in Supply Chain Integration
Lloyds Banking Group
Best Use of Digital Technology
CBRE
Best Supplier Relationship Management Initiative
Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office
Best Procurement Transformation Programme
Jewson
Best Collaborative Teamwork Project
NHS Arden & GEM CSU and NHS England
Best Sustainability Project of the Year
The University of Birmingham
Global Sourcing Project of the Year
Dentsu Aegis Network
Best Initiative to Build a Diverse Supply Base
Eiffage Kier Ferrovial BAM Joint Venture
Procurement Consultancy Project of the Year
Southern Water and Arcadis
Best Initiative to Deliver Social Value through Procurement
Foodbuy UK
Public Procurement Project of the Year
NHS England & NHS Improvement
Procurement Team of the Year – Small Organisation
The Salvation Army
Procurement Team of the Year – Large Organisation
Johnson Matthey
Outstanding Diversity and Inclusion
Clifford Chance
Outstanding People Development Programme
Sainsbury’s
Young Talent
Cael Sendell-Price
Leader of the Year
Laura Faulkner
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