Name: 

Mark Northeast
 

 

Job Title:

Purchasing Director

 

 

Company:

Automotive Distributors Ltd

 

 

How long have you worked for ADL?

 9 years

 

How long have you worked as a PD?

3 years

 

 

During your time in this field, what changes have you seen?

Increased complexity within the supply chain. Or perhaps we have just made the various elements more visible!

 

Is it very different from when you first started out?

Yes- It cannot be compared although the company has grown significantly therefore the numbers and actions have bigger ramifications.

 

 

How has your job changed as a result? 

Increase staff put pressure on your systems, training and processes. We now spend less time doing more time planning.

 

 

What is your opinion on the future of Supply Chain Planning? 

There is a need to improve communication between the Manufacturing, Purchasing and Sales and Marketing function, too often this does not happen. Joined up thinking is the way forward but is often easy to say but difficult to put into practice.   

 

 

What personal challenges do you face on a day to day basis in your job? 

We work with long lead-times and this always challenges our planning and forecasting. The lack of accurate delivery dates from our suppliers causes us daily problems.    

 

 

How do you overcome these? 

The long lead times have forced us to have a wide understanding of what happens within our business and everything which can influence our demand. This means that we are constantly questioning the numbers which is vital.  We try to overcome the lack of information from Suppliers by looking in more detail as to what has happened in the past.  

 

What software packages do you use to assist you with your job?

Optimiza

What is your hot tip to others who do a similar job to you?

Inventory/software packages are just tools to assist you with the job; they cannot do your job.