The Institute of Purchasing and Supply South Africa (IPSA) and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) hosted their 4th annual conference on the 20th and 21st of May 2008 at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.
More than 370 delegates from all spheres of Procurement and the SCM environments (private and public) attended the two-day conference. These delegates were (as expected from an IPSA / CIPS conference), indeed, a continental mix with individuals from more than 12 international countries, including the United Kingdom; Botswana; Ghana; Tanzania; Lesotho; Malawi; Nigeria; Kenya; Namibia; Zimbabwe and Zambia.
From the outset, delegates seemed to gather with the same goal in mind, namely to learn, share and listen to each other in a high powered, knowledgably environment. During the course of the event, questions were abound and thus the maximum benefit, as allowed by time constraints, was achieved for all concerned.
This year’s theme for the conference was: “Procurement in the Global Marketplace – Opportunities and Challenges“. The main strand of thought that stood out from the event as a whole was the notion that Procurement and Supply Chain Management needs to be a sustainable and responsible force in the global economy, and that this, in turn, must and will aid local economies world-wide to strengthen their gross national outputs. This notion was enthusiastically investigated by delegates as they persistently questioned and challenged the conference speakers for practical solutions and improvements with which to work when returning to their own organisations.
The conference was opened by the recently appointed IPSA CEO, Marius Bosman. After Bosman wished all delegates and speakers a warm welcome he handed the floor over to the respective keynote speakers.
They were:
- Silla Maizey (Head of Corporate & Social Responsibilities British Airways (UK)) on the topic of “It’s our world – it’s our responsibility”.
- Professor Bola Afolabi (CIPS Vice President (UK)) on the topic of “Envisioning Revolutionary Supply Chain as an enabler of the prototypical organisation in a new millennium”.
- Karen van Vuuren (IPSA President) on the topic of “ISAPA – Institutes of South Africa Procurement Academy: Department of Public Enterprises Project”.
- Neil Deverill (CEO Neil Deverill Associates Ltd.) on the topic of “Global Challenges – How good must we be?“
Other speakers that presented papers, whether general or organisation-specific, included:
- David Noble, CPO, Group Supply Chain Director – IMI PLC (UK) on the topic of “Low cost economy sourcing – Competitive advantage or threat”.
- Cobus Rossouw, Chairperson FSCMA on the topic of “Convergence of supply chain professions to the benefit of organisations, industries and economies”.
- Monique Petit, Manager Strategy, Transnet on the topic of “Transnet Competitive Supplier Development Programme”.
- Will Parsons, MD Qualitair Supply Chain Training and Development on the topic of “Successful supplier relationships – and how to avoid them!”
- John Gawler, Senior Procurement Manager BarloWorld Plascon on the topic of “International Purchasing of Capital Equipment – The O E M spares dilemma”.
- Herman Potgieter, UNIDO on the topic of “An integrated Africa Supply Chain monitoring and development model”.
- Ian Taylor, Director for Procurement Excellence – Dept for Children, Schools & Families (UK) on the topic of “Corporate and Social responsibility – the biggest challenge and opportunity facing the profession”.
- David Long, Director -Volition Consulting Services on the topic of “Using Theory of Constraints Principles in Procurement Management”.
- Ken James, Immediate Past President of IFPSM on the topic of “Procurement in a changing world”.
- Francois Naude, Director – Quadrem Africa on the topic of “The use of a Supplier Network to optimise global ERP installations”.
- Russ Armitage, Strategic Procurement Director BAe Systems (UK) on the topic of “Supply Chains in the 21st Century (SC21) for the UK Aerospace & Defence Industry”.
- Thabo Ndlela, Head-Technology Sourcing ABSA Bank on the topic of “The ABSA Group Sourcing Journey”.
The conference as a whole reiterated the strategic importance of the procurement function in organisations whilst at the same time exploring the emerging trend of procurement’s contribution to drivers of national and international interest.
Please note: SmartProcurement is running a special series of articles on some of the main topics as covered at the 2008 IPSA / CIPS Conference. Our first article deals with “What is sustainable procurement and why is it import
ant?” as based on Professor Bola Afolabi’s (CIPS Vice President (UK)) presentation on the topic of “Envisioning Revolutionary Supply Chain as an enabler of the prototypical organisation in a new millennium”.
**SmartProcurement would like to thank the following people for their help and support in the compilation of this article and subsequent articles: the conference speakers; IPSA management, in particular Marius Bosman and Kraai van Kraayenburg; and Provision Marketing (Selenta & Sune).
