Procurement Magazine November 2022 | Page 39

ROYAL PHILIPS
“ When I first arrived at Philips , it was basically a conglomerate with a healthcare technology business , the heritage lighting business , personal health and a domestic appliances business . Over those eight years , we ' ve actually transformed pretty impressively in such a short time into a truly health technology company – so , spinning off our lighting business , divesting our domestic appliance business and then creating one of the largest health technology companies in the world .”
“ The industry needs to transform from working on hardware alone to driving cost reductions , simplicity in workflow , and improved outcomes for patients . To achieve those ambitious goals , you have to bundle technologies , bring hardware and software together to create solutions that truly solve problems . This requires the procurement organisation to transform as well . It is not about hardware alone anymore . It is about bringing in suppliers that help with the innovation on those solutions which is easier to say but not so easy to be done . Driving innovation on hardware is a little bit more concrete than driving ideation on a solution

“ The culture that we are trying to create here is that rigour , that depth , that curiosity to find more ”

SCOTT SCHWARTZ CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER & HEAD OF SUSTAINING ENGINEERING , ROYAL PHILIPS
that is not easy to conceptualise and requires a lot of pieces to be put together , and that is the challenge we face : how do you bundle solutions that truly improve outcomes , reduce costs and improve the workflow in clinics and hospitals ?”
A vital part of that transformation has been the relationship Philips has with their partners and suppliers , which Scott and his colleagues are leveraging to deliver more solutions that improve outcomes , reduce costs , and optimise workflows in clinics and hospitals .
“ Having a strong partnership with our suppliers is crucial , allowing us to connect the suppliers to our problems , thus connecting the supplier innovation capabilities to our problems , to actually leverage a much broader ecosystem to identify these step-up improvements .”
procurementmag . com 39