Not a line-item buyer
A one-kilo part and a twenty-tonne casting are not the same purchase, and treating them as if they were is where sourcing goes wrong. Before I buy something I find out how it works, what it is made of, where it is fitted and what it has to survive in service. That tells me what to ask a supplier — and whether he genuinely knows the product he is quoting, or is only quoting.
Having sold these products before buying them, I also know what the end customer will accept and what he will send back. The trade has taught me to look at every stage — design, manufacture, transport, sale, service life — because control over any part of it depends on understanding all of it.
What I am after now is more of the sector, not less of it: more markets, more products, more suppliers, more customers.
Experience
- Full procurement function across a multi-million euro annual spend: sourcing strategy, supplier qualification, negotiation, contracting and performance management.
- Built a supply base of over twenty qualified foundries and machining partners across seven countries, having personally audited more than twenty facilities on site.
- Established the quality framework at origin — audit protocol, material certification, pre-shipment inspection and written acceptance criteria — applied across the full supplier base.
- Introduced six new product families and created an own-brand crusher backing compound, from need identification through manufacturer selection and EU regulatory compliance to launch.
- Manage international accounts across more than a dozen countries — multinational cement producers, copper mining operators and equipment manufacturers.
- Industrial accounts across Europe, South America and the Middle East, covering the full cycle from technical enquiry through quotation and negotiation to after-sales.
- Built and managed the international distributor network; represented the company at bauma Munich and other sector trade fairs.
- Supported the establishment of the company's first international procurement relationships.
- Led logistics customer service for Nike across Iberia, coordinating carriers, warehousing and service performance metrics.
- Website design and development, digital campaigns, CRM implementation and database management.
Reach
Where the supply base sits, and where the product goes. Plotted by longitude.
Capabilities
Writing
I write weekly on LinkedIn about how international purchasing and trade operations actually work. Practice rather than theory.