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One would read all that and wonder if anyone really knows wth they're talking about. As one that has worked in Process, Mechanical, Technical, and now the aforementioned, my reply is value is in perspective. If someone knows how ALL of the orgs work and how to provide value, i.e. (trackable, solid value), not just obvious low hanging fruit, it can help save $$$. As a whole, as all other divisions there's room for improvement/leaner ops.
The real question is how much BV would be generated if they cut procurement.
You could ask this about about any department. Is “_____________” really needed? Let’s face it, we “could” outsource just about any department. One thing I’ve noticed, Procurement value can vary greatly from location to location. When I worked in the ME, Prague was a total joke to deal with. Then, when I was in the Permian (left the PB a year ago), they were outstanding and lifted a big burden from us. They were a true value add. Maybe its comes down to good ‘ol fashioned Texas work ethic.
@1fcz+179mX1vl Because XOM is stuck in a 1980's view of Supply Chain Management. They view it all as separate parts that are a service vs. important integrated parts that run facets of the business.
What happens when you have near 0 outside hires and most of senior management hasnt taken any outside MBA or other education in decades.
DW is giving all MBAs a great reputation :) Look at the rest of the team and tell me what they know about modern business theory. . . APS is a great example, a Mines undergraduate engineer, who is now the CFO! He makes great decisions like borrow to pay dividends!!!
It’s really confusing to me what the procurement org does. Can somebody explain? Why do we still have supply chain organizations in Chemicals and Downstream?
Totally ridiculous and convoluted work processes “approved” by “business” managers that are clueless. Same thing in HR.
Can be useful if you actually embrace supply chain principles (of which Procurement is a subset, not the other way around) but XOM being XOM, has managed to F it up.
Now just giant checklists and controls, business partners who view the org as the joke it is, and them constantly trying to justify their cost.
Then again I feel bad for them, their decision making ability is 0 because, they aren't engineers. Remember, an engineer from a state schools can do anything (Finance, Trade, Management) but their skillset is "worthless" due to arrangement
I think any organization is subject to being outsourced , work force reduction. (engineering, law, controllers, EMIT, major capital projects, R&D, etc).
Perhaps the most obvious target for cuts.
@ yuq+179mX1vl this is a common theme with all of the service functions, I’ve observed. Procurement and IT are especially guilty of this. If the end customer has to do all of the legwork for their scope anyway, why can’t XOM outsource them completely to a provider that deals transactionally?
Best part....go asked them for help...you are likely to be referee to some complicated flowchart.
The original concept, where you had trained negotiators to get the company the best possible agreements, absolutely necessary. Today’s low cost invoice processors that provide no value add despite often being in low cost locations, I think we could do without.
Are you talking about the hundreds of procurement people at the Quarry campus who occupy multiple floors? Absolutely ridiculous, who came up with this group.