SUPPLY CHAIN into all operations is their national food distributor , but there are many smaller suppliers , and this can create problems , especially in a city . For example , when there ’ s a big game at the Etihad Stadium there could be up to 20 deliveries in a day coming through choked streets . “ There ’ s so much room for optimisation here ,” says Lorenzin . “ The second wave of transformation may well see consolidation in our delivery service with just one temperature-controlled delivery and one ambient delivery each day . That is achievable because we have geographical critical mass – at Melbourne for example where we have the airport , the stadium and the tennis park – to run consolidation into those operations .”
The measured approach is very much in accord with the CEO and Lorenzin ’ s colleagues in the senior leadership . We could look to go more quickly and land this all in the first phase of the strategy , but we ’ ve been in this market for more than thirty years and will be around for decades to come . I wanted to take people on the first journey of procurement by which we are rationalising the supplier and SKU bases and forging longer term relations with strategic suppliers : then I want to overlay that with the right technology platform and the right logistics network .”
Always fond of colourful analogies , Lorenzin likens the procurement transformation to climbing Everest . “ I think I know the route to the summit , but before I tackle that I want to get the business to base camp one . Getting that far has its own rewards and it is achievable . I consider myself lucky to have been able to hire an excellent team and to have the support of an executive team that gives me the autonomy I need .”
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