¶ Intro / Opening
And then there's Pekumit in five minutes. Promise to tackle some of the biggest challenges and also answer the questions that are. tension and our industry face on a day to day basis. Welcome to Procurement in Five Minutes.
¶ Welcome and Core Procurement Practices
This is another episode of the Procurement in Five Minutes podcast. You have probably noticed that your usual host, Ian Campbell-Mackemer, isn't here, which is why I'm stepping in. My name is Nina Bomberg, and I'm the director of Global Indirect Procurement at Domacaba. So we have a very special guest, and he truly needs no introduction.
Santa Claus, it's an honor to have you on the show. And since I know that your schedule is very busy this time of year, I will just jump right into the questions. Thank you very much, Nina. Merry Christmas, everybody! Great to have you here. Santa, do you track supplier performance year-round with a proper SRM framework? Oh, definitely. All year round. And we have performance scorecards. And yes, friendliness is a weighted metric. But when December hits. It's all hands on deck.
I can only imagine. And I wonder how do you handle sustainability? Do you have metrics in place for that? How do you ensure your candy canes and wooden toys meet ethical standards? Absolutely. Every candy cane is sustainably sourced, and every toy is made with a serial number, which we can drag back to the descent of the vector. We even have reindeer powered renewable energy initiatives.
¶ Agility, Supplier Relations, and Tech
Very good. But then when I think of kids these days, their opinions and likes change so quickly. How do you react to unexpected shifts? Uh, that's a very good question. So we have a process in place and our suppliers review meetings always include trend forecasting. And when something happens unexpectedly, the elves are absolutely fantastic at dealing and pivoting very, very quickly.
Okay. I think everybody of us who have kids are busy now with naughty and nice lists and trying to explain that to our kids. Do you segregate your suppliers that way? Ah, very good question, Dina. Yes, we do. We tier them into a three, four, five, six-tier system. Tier one and tier two and tier three are all on the nicely. But even the suppliers at Tier 4 and 5 always have a chance for redemption because everybody deserves a second check.
That's very kind of you. When I think of resilience when it comes to supply chain disruptions like a Lego brick shortage or a pepperinent famine, how do you handle that? We plan all these things in advance. I've got backup suppliers, and to be honest, it's all about relationships. A big extra holiday cheer goes a long way in a crisis negotiation. But as I said before, everything boils down to relationships. You have to track them, you have to work with them, and you have to respect everybody.
Okay, and those relationships, I mean you also have them with your suppliers. How do you do that? Do you co innovate with the elves or is it all top down magic? Eh, good question. It's a mix. The elves are great innovators. We call it Workshop Uh Co-Innovation. Suppliers also uh bring uh great ideas to the table, especially when it comes to sustainable packaging.
And as I'm sure you can appreciate, one of the biggest costs that we have in Christmas is packaging. And you can't have a present for a child without packaging, right? And I'm wondering do you use tech as well on your end, like AI or predictive analytics, to track supplier risks or manage elk productivity? Yes, yes, yes, we do. We don't use ChatGPT. We have recently implemented EIS, which is ELF Intelligent Systems. It's like AI, but a little bit more sparkle.
It helps us predict trends and ensure our elves and a supply chain are on track. And when the busy season is over after Christmas, how do your supplier relationships work then? Are you in regular contact with them? Or is there just nothing going on until next December and the next season hits? Oh oh no, we follow up supply relationship to key and post Christmas reviews advisal after low collaboration builds Christmas spirit in the year ahead.
So we are constantly in touch with our suppliers looking at ways we can improve and what we did great and how we can improve things for the following year. So we always look at performance throughout the year.
¶ Reindeer Logistics and Festive Farewell
That sounds like a hundred year old tradition still on continuous improvement. That's amazing. And I'm wondering with all these reindeers that you have to keep Um, have you optimized uh the reindeer feed procurement? Or is Rudolph's glowing nose still eating into your budget? Let's just say Rudol's performing tax make it worth the investment, but we've partnered with local suppliers to keep costs down while ensuring top quality oats and carrots are there for the reindeers.
We always looking at ways of improving her supply relationships in her supply chain. But let's be honest, without the reindeers there would be no Christmas. And a very grumpy Mrs. Clause, too. Well, I wish you a very amazing festive season. I know you will be very busy, but with my hopes with many, many kids being on the nice list and being able to benefit from the things that you have secured in your supply chain.
Thank you very much, Nina. This has been wonderful. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day. And I would like to wish you, your family, a Merry Merry Christmas, and to all our listeners out there too. Thank you very much and Merry, Merry Christmas. Goodbye. I would like to wish everybody a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year and thank you so much for everybody's support and our Procurement in Five Minutes podcast. Take care and I look forward to catching.