Vesa Kuismanen | UPM

Director, Sourcing and Business Transformation

The transformation Vesa is responsible for aims at new level of value add through Sourcing and Procurement digitalization and implementation of new operating models. Measured by targeted Value Add. Prior Vesa

Vesa was responsible for MRO Sourcing spend management, strategies and way of operating.
Heading Sourcing and Procurement professionals team of ~40 people in solid line organization and ~100 people in matrix organization at mills around the world. Responsible for MRO Sourcing spend management, strategies and way of operating. Heading Sourcing and Procurement professionals team of ~40 people in solid line organization and ~100 people in matrix organization at mills around the world.

EXPERIENCE:
* 3 years heading Customer and Market Operations in Asia
* 16+ years responsibilities in supplier base management
* 16+ years experience in global business (Europe, Apac and Americas)
* 16+ years experience in business development and leading different type of changes
* Several years experience in heading global remote teams
* Living 3 years in Asia (China and South Korea)

Learn form the inspirational lessons learned Vesa have during his keynote

Keynote | Transformation and Change Management supporting the journey towards Future Proof Sourcing and Procurement

Expectations towards Sourcing and Procurement are continuously increasing. Closer business integrations, a very volatile market environment, economic crises, requirements from different types of mega-trends, changes in regulations and different types of sanctions are setting bar up to a new level and sense of urgency for Sourcing and Procurement to develop operations.

How is Sourcing and Procurement transformation helping the focus on “Future Proof Sourcing”? What is the role of change management during the journey? 

In the presentation we’ll be scratching the surface of future expectations for Sourcing and Procurement and learning from the UPM Transformation- and Change Management journey. As efficiency has been the main target and strategies accordingly being fulfilled – business value is the key focus from 2023 and on. Here you will learn what that means and how it is enabled!

  • What can companies do to free up time for sourcing and procurement to focus on value adding tasks in line with corporate strategies?
  • Operating model is execution model of Source to Pay process – what should trigger change of the model?
  • How to keep people skills relevant in a quickly changing business environment?
  • How to move from nice speeches to concrete actions and appropriate resourcing of the change management!

As you listen to a keynote more questions arise – during an EBG summit you can explore them all during round table discussions! Join the sessions led by Vesa;

Theme Discussions | How can procurement build in an adaptive approach to strategy alignment and execution?

What will the future be like? If we know one thing, it is that we do not know. Sourcing has found itself in situations where fresh strategies are obsolete in a few months after they are ready, and operations turn out to be just tactical and operational. The business environment is changing rapidly, questioning old structures, operating models, and ways of working as they have not been adaptive enough. Sourcing professionals are still using too much time for operational ad hoc tasks and too little on value adding activities. It is also evident that sourcing and procurement will contribute even more to corporate visions, strategies, and concrete results. There is not only one solution for all the companies, but best approaches vary depending on the company.

This discussion will focus on experiences and thoughts on how you can build agility and robustness into strategies. As procurement already has too much to do – how can you ensure time is spent on the right tasks?

  • How to stay a relevant partner for company businesses in a very volatile business environment?
  • How to incorporate systematic change management model and culture into your procurement operating model design?
  • What role does technology play enabling efficiency and value creation?