p16 City Oct9 7/10/09 21:22 Page 16
City & finance
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Interview Craig Cherry, Monarch Airlines Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s
Awards that were handed out on September 9.
Cherry picks up
Deserving recognition
He was disappointed travel firms did not feature
among the 200 award entries and said travel
should prize its procurement teams more highly.
“Not one entry came from anything that
even vaguely resembled the travel industry,
procurement pace
and that’s disappointing,” he said.
“If you take the big two, for instance, I’m sure
they have big procurement teams, and airlines
take this area seriously.
“World-class buying is a profession, a skill;
With its prices and margins being pushed downwards, Monarch
it’s a trade. But to have that recognised
is focusing on procurement and reducing its suppliers to help
has always been difficult.
“If you take the judging panel for the awards
survive the recession and avoid cutting jobs. By Lee Hayhurst
I was the only judge who was not a board
director for his organisation.
“What businesses have done is, lazily, made
P
rocurement has never traditionally expected to do their bit to help. A well-run the procurement function report to the finance
been among the more high-profile procurement programme could make the director. It’s not been given the profile it deserves.
areas of business, but the recession difference between having to lay off staff to “When we find ourselves in the situation we
has thrust it up the pecking order at deal with the downturn or not. find ourselves in at the moment, all of a sudden
one airline. Monarch Airlines is undergoing a “The rules of the game have changed; the profile becomes very different.”
thorough review of its supply chain, led by head everything that was previously set in stone has Cherry said colleagues at Monarch who are
of procurement Craig Cherry (pictured). now gone,” Cherry added. having their division’s spending reviewed are
Covering £300 million of costs a year, the job “Our prices and our margins are getting supportive of the work he is doing.
has been deemed so important Cherry is now pushed down and all we are doing is reacting “I have never once had to use Tim [Jeans] or
reporting direct to Monarch managing director to that.” pull rank in any shape or form. Everyone is be-
Tim Jeans. Cherry was one of the judges on the hind it because people’s livelihoods are at stake.”
He has been tasked with working through
all the relationships the airline has with its
1,200 suppliers such as ground-handlers and
catering firms.
The result is likely to be a rationalisation of
the suppliers the airline uses, possibly cutting
the number by up to a third.
Cutting suppliers
“We have already identified 300 suppliers
we won’t be working with in the future,”
Cherry said.
“One of the strengths of our business is
that we have always done a lot of ad hoc
flying. But what we want to do is be more
strategic.
“There are not a lot of places we have not
been to, so we can start having a supplier in
any place we want who is already part of the
nominated supply business rather than having
to shop around at the last minute.”
Cherry said for firms, particularly airlines,
facing enormous market pressures to cut prices
and work off tighter margins, suppliers must be
16 09.10.2009
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