THE BUSINESS REVIEW FOR PROCUREMENT LEADERS
In 2003 Royal Numico, a leading global baby food and clinical nutrition company, began a major transformation, designed to improve growth and margins. The procurement team has also had to change to support new business goals.
The first challenge has been recruitment. Moving the team from Lausanne to Amsterdam created a number of vacancies, and finding high-calibre staff has not been easy. As well as an intensive recruitment campaign, six-month internships, employee referrals and the internal talent pool have been used. Of the three attributes of knowledge, brainpower and attitude, Numico considers the latter two to be most important.
The second challenge has been measuring talent. Use of a company-wide competency tool is complemented by a procurement-specific version. Every six months, a “talent scan” ranks staff as high potentials, pillars and mismatches, so that appropriate management action can be taken.
The third challenge is growing and retaining talent. This has been addressed through pay policies; on-the-job learning (eg, supplier presentations, analysis of company results); a clear indication of the career paths open to people; mentoring; and team diversity initiatives.
