“Thermax develops and delivers solutions in the energy and environment sectors through its offerings in boilers, heaters, cooling systems, air pollution control, chemicals, water and wastewater solutions and EPC power plants. Our supply management strategy is based on long-term agreements with leading vendors to deliver a sustainable advantage for our customers and focuses on operational efficiency and total costs,” said Abhaya Bhargava, Vice President – Corporate Sourcing, Thermax Ltd speaking on the current procurement strategies of the company.
Procurement is a significant area as far as Thermax is concerned. Thermax makes use of all the levers of strategic procurement in a well planned manner. These include consolidation of buying, standardisation of packages and practices like reverse auctions conducted in a time bound way. Bhargava shares his opinion on the procurement strategies of his company.
Thermax Group is a ` 5,577 crore company, providing a range of engineering solutions to the energy and environment sectors. Thermax is headquartered in Pune, India and operate globally through 19 international offices, 12 sales and service offices and 12 manufacturing facilities – 7 of which are in India and 5 overseas. Their presence spans 75 countries across Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, CIS countries, Europe, USA and South America. The group consists of 4 domestic wholly owned subsidiaries, 17 overseas wholly owned subsidiaries and 2 joint ventures. Tuning to the needs of the day, all their solutions are innovative, energy-efficient, environment-friendly and easy to operate.
Rent or buy capital equipmentAccording to Bhargava, NPV (net present value), CAPEX outflow, mobile or fixed polace usage, and core competence in managing owned assets are the decisive factors to determine whether to rent or buy capital equipment.
Project developer’s fault“One major mistake a project developer may commit while procuring building materials or construction chemicals is inappropriate selection and focussing on purchase order value rather than total cost,” he points out.
Utilising e-Procurement technology optimallyFocusing on utilising e-Procurement technology optimally, Bhargava says, “Fairly successful, e-procurement is default mode for logistics (land, sea, air) and scrap sale; now being increasingly used for materials and other services.”
————-Our supply management strategy is based on long-term agreements with leading vendors to deliver a sustainable advantage for our customers and focuses on operational efficiency and total costs.
Abhaya Bhargava, Vice President – Corporate Sourcing, Thermax Ltd