Procurement & Supply Chain
Procurement – Making Sure Teknos Has A Protective Coating
T
eknos is a family owned coating company working in architectural, metal and wood coatings. The Finnish head quartered business was founded in 1948 in a henhouse and has grown its operations to more than 20 countries across Europe, Asia, and the USA employing almost 1’800 staff. Chief Procurement Officer Fredrik Calenius discusses the many successes and ongoing challenges his team face to keep the business at the forefront of the industry. As CPO, what are your main responsibilities and how is procurement structured? My main responsibilities are leading the category team, both direct and indirect. The direct categories consist mainly of chemicals and packaging and the indirect of various categories. I have the total responsibility of everything we buy at
Teknos. Procurement is a group function and has the global overview of the categories. Of course, we have purchasing teams at a local level who follow the strategy set at group level. You operate from 16 sites globally. Do all sites produce the same portfolio of product? What challenges does the large geographic spread provide? What opportunities does it offer the business? The majority of our sites produce a number of different product mixes, which has been created by a mix of historical acquisitions and local market requirements. Teknos has made quite many acquisitions during the last 20 years. The primary challenges lay in the wide variety of products we offer and the distinct variations in needs from one geographical market to another. Having a local presence is most definitely a huge opportunity