KAUST
KAUST customs and compliance team
quality . The Permitting and Customs Clearance team require a high service level from our logistics providers to ensure that they can adapt to the needs of the Saudi Arabian Ministries and Saudi Customs , enabling KAUST to clear the materials in a fast and efficient manner .
At the outset , the university inherited its supply chain and procurement model from that used by Saudi Aramco , which Harvey says is “ great for an energy company , but not really suited to a fast-evolving university ”.
In 2016 , KAUST teamed up with a consultancy firm , Efficio Consulting , to review its processes to align them to the needs of its customers . As a result , it came up with a simple vision – to create a procurement function that added
value , featured less bureaucracy , and was more customer-focused , while still remaining transparent .
“ We combined the contracting and purchasing teams to form Procurement Services and created a service that was more aligned to our customer ’ s needs , through the use of category planning , SRM and other techniques . It was something that hadn ’ t been done before , which enabled us to introduce a strategic planned approach to procurement ,” comments Harvey . “ We then looked at our governance by considering risk and value , which enabled us to approach our more transactional
210 May 2018