FOREWORD
CINDERS SHALL GO TO THE BALL
“ We ' re known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb but most people don ' t realise we still exist ”
CHRISTINE HIPP , ACQUISITION SERVICES MANAGEMENT CENTER ,
LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
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POST-PANDEMIC , PROCUREMENT IS NO LONGER A CINDERELLA FUNCTION
Procurement is often seen as a cinderella function , if it is seen at all , that is . Or at least that ’ s the way things were , pre-pandemic , when procurement was viewed as being the driver of cost-control , and very little else .
Now , though , the C-suite understands that it is procurement professionals who drive strategic advantage in areas such as sustainability and operational resilience .
But even in pre-pandemic days procurement – alone among all facets of business – had the ability to amaze , for those who could be bothered to look .
Take the Los Alamos National Laboratory ( LANL ), featured in this issue . LANL is run under contract by the US Department of Energy and sits in one of the most secluded spots on Earth , in the high desert near Santa Fe in New Mexico .
It houses 10,000 people , and is also the lab that was at the heart of the Manhattan Project in World War II .
“ We ' re known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb ,” says Christine Hipp , Acquisition Services Management Center of Excellence Leader at LANL . “ But a lot of people don ' t realise we still exist .”
But exist it does , and today its work includes R & D on everything from the COVID-19 vaccine to genome sequencing , but it retains stewardship of the US nuclear weapons programme .
And it is Hipp and her team who procure everything that is needed to make these and other programmes happen . Programmes such as an Arctic exploration . For that , Hipp had to source enough equipment , food and provisions to last the crew 18 months . She had to get it right . The crew were going nowhere ; they would be frozen in place in an ice floe .
So don ’ t let anyone tell you procurement is dull . It is the oil that keeps businesses running .
SEAN ASHCROFT sean . ashcroft @ bizclikmedia . com © 2023 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED supplychaindigital . com 7