Balfour Beatty is merging its preferred list of suppliers as part of its major restructure of its UK construction business
the industry behemoth is culling six operating companies and eight brands in a wide-ranging shake-up that will see the firm reshaped around three business streams and four regions.
This week Balfour Beatty said the move would see massive simplification of its supply chain, with the procurement and supply chain teams brought into each regional hub in Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and London.
Alongside these hubs, a transactional desk is being set up at the company鈥檚 shared service centre in Newcastle, where a team of around 40 will now manage all low-value procurement transactions.
Balfour Beatty supply chain director Andrew Haworth told Supply Management the firm currently carried out around 150,000 transactions a year, 130,000 of which are for low-value items including building materials and plant equipment.
Haworth told SM that under the new structure, low-value items can be bought by individuals using a purchasing card and an automated catalogue system or via the transactional desk.
Haworth said: 鈥淧rocurement teams no longer have to get involved in ordering low-cost supplies. The transactional desk means anyone can do it. Now we only have 20,000 procurement transactions that need attention.鈥�
A central procurement team - to be called Supply Chain Solutions - has also been set up and is in the process of being staffed.
It will consist of 13 supply chain managers who will work alongside manufacturers that supply sub contractors to Balfour Beatty. The team will get involved in bids and seek out innovative and effective design solutions.
In addition, a team of around 60 senior procurement managers will be put in place to oversee larger, more complex deals. Furthermore, specialist teams looking after IT, fleet and plant spend will streamline all indirect procurement processes.
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