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Although 17 years have passed since applying for work in Pivara Skopje, even today I remember the excitement and the challenge, the six interviews in sequence, the uncertainty until the final selection of the candidates. I was lucky to be selected and from that moment my life changed completely, my dream as well, to be a part of a successful story, says Aleksandar Jovanovski – Procurement Manager in Pivara Skopje. He spent his childhood in his native city Tetovo, and after graduation at the Faculty of Economics, the work of his dreams moved him to Skopje. Aleksandar is a husband and father of two beautiful children Evgenia and Ognen. He spends every free moment with his family, and lately he dedicates time to his second love, the music and the band he is in.
Quite accidentally. 😊 It may sound like a phrase already heard, but my mother, who accidentally saw the announcement in a daily newspaper, immediately sent my biography for the open position in Pivara Skopje. Although 17 years have passed since then, even today I remember the excitement and the challenge, the six interviews in sequence, the uncertainty until the final selection of the candidates. I was lucky to be selected and from that moment my life completely changed, my dream as well, to be part of a successful story called Pivara Skopje. As everything in life, I have gone through many challenges and amusements. At first, I started in the commercial sector, but after few months, a position was opened and I was reassigned to the procurement department as an officer, passing through all the stages of learning and development. Since then, I am part of the Procurement Department of Pivara Skopje, and today I am a Manager of the same sector.
The very fact that I have been employed in a company like Pivara Skopje as part of the two-global world systems Coca Cola HBC and HEINEKEN is a realization of a dream that every young man has after graduation, but to stay and build a career it is necessary to invest a lot of effort, to spend a lot of time and to constant work on own education. In that context, I should say that Pivara Skopje is continuously committed in the field of training and education of its employees and that, that is one of the basic values of the company and something that makes Pivara Skopje successful and which distinguishes it from many other companies. The development of my career was preceded by constant personal and company education and training, of which I would single out the MBA studies at Sheffield University, Greece and CIPS (England), as extremely important in my work domain.
Every Manager and every employee of the company in their day-to-day work should primarily live and respect the values of the company and work in accordance with the prescribed policies and procedures, which significantly facilitate the work process. The position of the Procurement Manager itself is filled with many challenges, but also a great responsibility. Sometimes it is necessary to move personal boundaries and opportunities, to accept changes, uncertainties and challenges, but the focus for me is the development of the team, building relationships of good cooperation and trust, giving security in achieving goals, and at the same time their pleasure in what they are doing. The cooperation and dedication of the team and its accurate and timely coordination enables Pivara Skopje to always have sustainable channels for the supply of goods and services, high quality, timely delivery and at the most, optimal prices. That contributes to creation of an added value for the entire business.
For the better connection and synergy of all procurement departments within the systems to which Pivara Skopje belongs, last year, the so-called PLATO (Procurement’s Lean and Agile Transformation and Optimization) model which is focused on the development of people, optimizing processes and greater efficiency through a structural organizational setup with clear tasks and obligations. Based on this organizational setup, the team besides me is comprised of three suppliers (Bayer’s) for direct and indirect purchases and one administrator.
The challenges I face can be divided into challenges that come from the company itself and the challenges we face from outside, from the environment we work in. A major challenge is communication and cooperation with colleagues from other sectors with whom we jointly strive for timely planning of strategic procurement, market research in finding potential suppliers (sourcing), requesting offers (RF’x process) and precise evaluation of suppliers in order to deliver sustainable business savings. The challenge is the daily increase in employee satisfaction and dedication as a successful model for creating a more efficient team of professionals. An external challenge is to find a supplier who will provide consistent and reliable high-quality delivery and, of course, cross-country involvement to take advantage of the economies of scale.
Regarding this question, I would proudly share the data that emerged from the recently published study on the Socio-economic Impact of Pivara Skopje on the local economy. Namely, Pivara Skopje cooperates and provides work for 1,000 suppliers, out of which annually procures goods and services in the amount of EUR 33.6 million. The company cooperates with more than 13,000 business entities in the country, which has a positive impact on the development of more than 15 vital sectors of the domestic economy, including agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, catering and tourism and others and by that influencing the revival of the overall economy in the country.
As I mentioned earlier, Pivara Skopje invests a lot in training and education of its employees. The type of training is defined in the individual development plans (IDPs) for each employee. This also includes training and courses recommended by Coca Cola HBC and HEINEKEN. Most of the trainings are carried out internationally within the groups, but a great part of them is being realized in the training center of Pivara Skopje, which has a tradition of existence of 20 years.
Good time management means achieving greater efficiency in the operation, but that involves good and timely planning, defining priorities, speed of decision making, communication skills. Finally, the experience also plays a big role.
The procurement process itself (RFx) essentially means an integrated approach, teamwork, collaboration and communication not only within the department but also with the other sectors in Pivara Skopje. At all stages of the process, from market research, defining the requirements, evaluation criteria, evaluation to the process of selecting a supplier, everything is done in a team, with the members of procurement and colleagues from other sectors. Consequently, team spirit and teamwork are extremely important in achieving results, just like in sports 😊.
I consider that the procurement department in Pivara Skopje is one of the departments where the most advanced systems are used. In addition to the SAP system, we also use special procurement platforms such as the supplier relationship management service, e-sourcing (e-auction), an evaluation platform and system approval of contracts (Contract Management System), an integrated platform for annual evaluation of suppliers within Coca Cola HBC, etc.
The very fact that the Procurement Unit is a service to all other sectors, cooperation and communication with them is very important. Cooperation with all sectors is excellent, but we are constantly striving for better. For this purpose, we constantly introduce practices that contribute to improving the cooperation and facilitate the operation. For example, every procurer of my team attends weekly meetings of the other sectors for which he/she is responsible, with the purpose of direct and timely sharing of information on all current and future projects. At the end of the year, we conduct a questionnaire to all sectors for assessing their satisfaction about the cooperation with the procurement department.
From the foregoing, some things that the employee in the procurement department should have, it can be easily extracted. Because I can often find them in a position to mediate between suppliers, sectors, management, communication skills are very important, also to be a good listener and to understand other’s needs. Of course, it is very important that an employee in the procurement department should have negotiating skills not only to get the best price, quality and delivery, but also to maintain good future realities, positive attitude and satisfaction with the negotiations. Every work at a given moment is not so important in relation to another, so the good skill of each in the procurement department is setting priorities. Integrity is important for many professions, particularly for procurement. By integrity I mean to do what is spoken, and to speak what is meant. It encourages others to believe that if one work is said to be done, it will be done.
Being part of Pivara Skopje opens many opportunities for professional vertical and horizontal development within the company itself, but also outside of it within the two corporations. On medium term, I think I will remain on the position that I am now, but for the future, I believe that I will have opportunities for even greater professional progress.
The awareness of sustainable development and social responsibility is accepted as an integral part of the values and business operation of Pivara Skopje. Thus, in the supplier selection criteria, the criteria that have the prefix “CSR” (use of green energy, recycled material, environmental fuels, etc.) have more weight in evaluation and can influence the decisions. What makes us particularly proud is that we try to transfer sustainable development and social responsibility and understanding of the concept and its advantages to our external partners and make them think in that direction. I am glad that I see understanding and desire on their side.
Although Macedonia is an import-dependent country, as a company we strive to use domestic products and services, but we also invest our efforts to place domestic companies in the list of approved suppliers of the systems we belong to, Coca Cola HBC and HEINEKEN, thus giving domestic suppliers the opportunity to participate in foreign markets. I believe that for the participation of our companies in foreign markets and global tenders, and in order to meet the required criteria, we need an organized approach and a joint approach. This can be of paramount importance, not only for domestic companies, but for the whole economy.
Our procurement department together with the public relations and communication sector of Pivara Skopje is in the process of realization of several ideas that we plan to achieve through the chambers of commerce in which we are members. We believe that our initiative to create a cluster of domestic suppliers and transfer our knowledge and good practices that we have, above all, thanks to the systems we belong to, can significantly contribute to raising the standards for work, fulfilling the criteria and satisfying the required quantities and their competitiveness in the tenders of large domestic and foreign companies operating in the local market.
Every person must know to make a balance between working responsibilities and private life. I try to practice my motto “I work to live”. I feel very relaxed spending time with my family, that makes me happy. Lately, I’m trying to find time for my hobby, my second love that recharges my batteries, the music. After a long pause I’m meet again with my band.