This episode, we’re joined by Alex Evans, a procurement practitioner with a wide range of experience in the aerospace and defense sector – having previous sourced for Boeing, Leonardo, Vertical Aerospace, and Heart Aerospace before joining Elbit Systems UK as their Supply Chain Manager.
Alex discusses his experiences of working at both multinationals and startups, the differences and similarities between Procurement in aerospace vs. other industries, whether Procurement has won the trust of stakeholders, how to build a supplier base from scratch, which SRM tactics are dead or here to stay, and more!

(00:39) - Introducing Alex

(01:03) - How did Alex start working in Procurement & Sourcing?

(01:50) - What makes Alex stay in Procurement and what does it means to him?

(02:48) - How is Procurement in the aerospace and defense industry different from Procurement in other industries?

(03:43) - What’s the biggest difference between working in Procurement for multinationals vs. startups?

(05:44) - Is it hard for Procurement teams in startups to get things right?

(07:24) - Do multinationals have something to learn from startups?

(09:00) -  Where do you start with building a Procurement team in a startup?

(12:00) - Does Procurement have playbooks and who should be responsible for creating them?

(13:47) - Has Procurement won the trust of stakeholders?

(15:37) - What is some advice that Alex can give for building trust with stakeholders?

(17:11) - Where does one start to build up a new supplier base?

(19:15) - How many suppliers should a Procurement professional have in their back pocket?

(21:09) - How do you develop a supplier who isn’t delivering up to expectations?

(25:18) - What are some of the traditional Supplier Relationship Management tactics that are dead now?

(26:24) - What are some SRM tactics that are here to stay?

(28:05) - Alex answers our Kodiak Moment round of quick-fire questions