Staying On Track

[From iSource Business, December 2000] For Alan W. Daniel at Texas Instruments, the challenge was remaking purchasing processes to take full advantage of a new e-procurement system. For John L. Kallok, with Los Angeles County, it was the integration of an e-procurement system with a legacy financial system. These purchasing professionals have had to address distinctly different issues while implementing their respective systems, but their stories are illustrative of the types of issues that can arise when a purchasing organization moves to a new procurement system.

Planning for Change at Texas Instruments

Alan Daniel is procurement tools manager at Dallas-based Texas Instruments, where he oversees the implementation of e-procurement systems. TI, a $9 billion manufacturer of computer chips and other electronic components, began its e-procurement initiative in 1998 with the goal of increasing the purchasing department's participation in supplier management in the area of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) goods and services. In the capital equipment and direct materials areas, the company had already developed commodity procurement teams charged with managing supplier relationships. But in MRO, TI had about 5,000 suppliers, making effective supplier management