KAR AUCTION SERVICES , INC
90 enterprise optimisation allows us to come to you with a variety of skills and solutions in the space .”
A former procurement specialist from the US defence industry , Wright outlines the operational pillars that have helped his team optimise KAR ’ s growth . “ Our team today operates on four pillars : teamwork , adaptability , innovation and trustworthiness . The questions we always ask are : what are our customer ’ s needs ? What are their requirements and how do we bring those requirements efficiently and effectively to our partners in the marketplace , so that we can achieve the overall goal ?”
This notion of Enterprise Optimisation sees a shift from the traditional sense of procurement as a cost-saving measure to a broader , more holistic approach . “ Our CFO is a unique senior manager , because his first goal is to bring value to the organisation . His first goal isn ’ t , ‘ Hey , how much money can you save ?’ He does want us to save money , but he ’ s more concerned about the intrinsic value that we can bring to the organisation and our customers . That doesn ’ t always mean the lowest cost .”
Some of the biggest challenges facing Wright come from the constantly expanding and retracting need for labour . “ We run physical auctions all 52 weeks of the year . As an example , say I have an auction that regularly runs 1,500 cars in a roughly four-hour period . Now , they need a lot of labour to be able to get those cars across the auction block . We have to check each vehicle in when it arrives at our facility , we have to upload its information into our system , we have to line the vehicles up in the order they ’ re scheduled to be auctioned , and we have to drive them across the auction block . We also handle all the transactions and all of this is happening at a facility within a four-hour period , which requires anywhere from between 100 to 120 temps . Outside of that four-hour window , during the rest of the week we have employees handling mechanical work , detailing , body shop work and more – and we have temp employees helping with other things going on around the lot .”
To help with labour demands KAR has fostered partnerships with some key suppliers . “ One of our vendors
SEPTEMBER 2018