Throughout his career, Francesco Lucchetta achieved significant results in creating cross functional value, driving innovation and in managing the change. He has a solid background on M&A and business divestitures, digital transformation projects, sustainability and compliance.
In his current role of Group Sourcing Leader with Pentair, Francesco has overall business responsibility for procurement and supply strategy development and deployment.
He also collaborates as Associate Professor of “supply chain” and “negotiation and influencing” with a number of business schools.
With a proven track record in building high performing supply and procurement functions extended across 20 years of adding value, we were pleased to sit down with Francesco and get his procurement thoughts.
Francesco how did you get into Procurement? Was your perception of procurement different to the reality?
I came to Procurement in my university days, following my curiosity for materials management and the creation of value through it. After gaining experience in raw material management and production line planning, I discovered a keen interest in relationship management and negotiation.
My perception was very different from reality. In particular, I did not realise the complexity of the role, in terms of spectrum and impact perhaps one of the most comprehensive in organisations. The further you progress in your career, the more you need strong project management skills, cross-functional team influence and financial knowledge.
How has procurement and the expectations placed upon it changed over time?
During my career, I have experienced the change from fully integrated companies to highly specialised outsourced businesses. This evolution has been captured from procurement by transitioning from purchasing being a tactical department that negotiates prices and sends orders, to strategic sourcing as a function that creates value.
Today, our teams are involved in all the most important and most strategic discussions of a corporation: from product development to value chain management, from major asset purchase decisions to the realisation of decisive partnerships, from external relations management to risk management plans.
Not least, procurement is the organisations’ true window to the market. We are the first to be exposed to new things, to receive proposals for new technologies, to see the application of new methods and new materials. We are asked to remain curious but selective, so as not to overload the company with new proposals and to make the best use of available resources. And there is no way to measure the added value of this activity of ours.
Procurement wants the proverbial seat at the table. What does it need to do to earn that seat? What can procurement achieve with this seat?
Organisations are obviously interested in reducing their costs and optimising their processes. The point is that sometimes targets are assigned by function and this makes them conflicting. Indeed a saving that makes Sourcing KPIs green but increasing complexity does not necessarily translate into a gain for the entire organisation.
A collaborative approach is to set large-scale, cross-functional goals. This brings clear visibility of the overall result and removes competition from the relationships between functions. Then the value of strategic sourcing activities definitely emerges and it becomes easier to obtain the necessary resources. This must be accompanied by clear and measurable KPIs, which are visible on the bottom line.
Do you need to be a qualified procurement practitioner to be a successful member of a procurement team?
Successful Procurement professionals deliver bottom line results, ensure material continuity and risk management, optimize the working capital and provide a solid support to the business. Excellent Procurement professionals anticipate the future trends, accelerate the business growth, create the conditions for the best possible results.
To be successful, procurement talents need the right balance of knowledge and skills, which they then need to supplement with dedicated experience. To be excellent, procurement talents should complement this with the right personality and attitude.
About knowledge and skills, we see highly specialised schools today producing excellent candidates with a very high level of preparation even at the beginning of their careers. Sometimes we onboard technically qualified individuals who have not completed specific Procurement/Supply studies: universities and schools captured this need well by creating Masters and Emba specialized in the topic. Skills can also be developed, such as the ability to negotiate for example, which is why I teach it in business schools. If we see such formational offer, it clearly means that preparation key to properly fill Procurement and Supply roles.
As for personality and attitude, however, the story is a bit different. They can’t be taught nor learned, as they have really to do with what we like or not. Best procurement professionals are naturally curious, stress-resistant and agile; they also like personal relationship and to pay attention to details.