Mining for Sourcing Success

Rio Tinto taps Procuri as sourcing standard across worldwide mining operations

Atlanta  December 5, 2002  Rio Tinto Limited, which specializes in finding, mining and processing the planet's mineral resources, has selected a solution from Procuri to support its sourcing practices across the globe.

Headquartered in London, Rio Tinto has operations around the world for the extraction and processing of everything from alumina to zinc. Almost half of the world's refined borates, for example, are mined at the company's operation in the California's Mojave Desert, which has been operating since the pick, shovel and mule-team days of the 1870s.

In order to support its 20 business units and four procurement hubs, Rio Tinto required something a little more advanced than picks and shovels. The company sought a complete sourcing solution that includes extensive request for quote and request for information (RFx) and auction functionality and that could be quickly implemented and globally executed. Rio Tinto also wanted to train its 40 auction specialists, located across four continents, in just two weeks.

"We have different sourcing needs across our business units and were looking for a solution with deep functionality that we could implement to assist our procurement professionals and meet the needs of our businesses," said Peter McNamara, procurement leader at Rio Tinto. "The global distribution of our businesses meant we also needed to have 24-hour support for our procurement professionals and our suppliers."

McNamara praised the Procuri solution for its ease of use, flexibility and ability to provide the multi-currency and multi-language capabilities necessary for the company's operations.

Mark F. Morel, Sr., Procuri's president and CEO, added that the solution provider would be able to train Rio Tinto's procurement professionals in the first two weeks of the agreement.

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