More than 250 professionals from the hospitality procurement department converged at the Mayfair Lagoon in Bhubaneshwar to mark the sixth anniversary of the Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum. The three-day event from November 17 to 19, was a perfect mix of celebration, knowledge sharing sessions and interesting B2B meetings with vendors. Excerpts.
• Record breaking congregation of hospitality purchasing heads
• Networking of more than 250 professionals
• Interactive knowledge based sessions
• HPMF Excellence Awards
• B2B Meetings
• Purchasing Managers talents revealed
• Tree Plantation
” It is no surprise to get a call from the F&B at midnight placing orders for products to be delivered at six in the morning,” This is true of almost all purchase heads in the hospitality industry. Always on their toes, day-in and day-out meeting various requirements of different departments, more than 250 purchase heads took a welcome break to celebrate the sixth anniversary of India’s leading Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum (HPMF). The three-day event was a perfect blend of Learning and Leisure, Awards and undying Memories.
The entire delegation of about 250 hospitality purchasing managers from across India, along with dignitaries, vendors and consultants, gathered at the flush green luxurious property of Hotel Mayfair Lagoon and Convention Center at Bhubaneshwar. The brainchild of Nitin Nagrale, the founder and general secretary of HPMF, the proceedings were filled with anecdotes, humour, surprises, lessons, sessions and lots of fun.
Delegates from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Indore, Nagpur, Vadodra, Bhubaneshwar and Puri, were overwhelmed with the programme put together by team, including the core committee including Chairman Mohan Deshpande, General Manager Materials Hotel Aureole; Teckbahadur Sarke, Manager Hotel Sahara Star – Mumbai & Aamby Valley City – Lonavala (Pune); Harvey Rodrigues, Director of Purchase, Hotel Meluha The Fern and Hotel Rodas An Ecotel Hotel; Ganpat Dalvi, Director of Purchase, Hotel Four Seasons; Jaideep Gupta, Operations, Procurement and Pre-opening professional; and Gary Coutinho, Supply Chain Manager Devyani Airport Services.
Inaugurated by Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha, the occasion was also graced by His Highness Giriraj Singh Lotwara, President of Shree Rajput Sabha, Jaipur; Dilip Ray, CMD of Mayfair Hotels; Debasis Patnaik, Director, Crown Hotels; Pankaj Mehta, Lion Pankaj Mehta; and Souvagya Mohapatra, Executive Director, Mayfair Hotels among others. Clean India Journal participated as media partners to this event.
Highlighting the importance of purchasing managers, who are more a background artist, Mohapatra said, “From every tile in the floor to the entire structure, purchase is involved. They play an important role in material, marketing and money management.” Even though almost every demanding job entails stress, as Jaipeep Gupta, also the anchor of the event, put it, “Stress is not the situation, it is the inability to manage the situation”.
The need for HPMF is in bringing together the purchase heads of hotels on one platform to network, explore new aspects of purchasing and gather knowledge of the advantages of technology in purchase. This would enhance the performance of the purchase heads and make work less stressful.
Discussions focussed on Value Engineering which increases the lifecycle of products and savings too. Speaking to one of the panelists, Kaushik Jhingan explained that it is only through value engineering purchase can reduce both initial and operational costs. “It is important to take the total operating cost to determine the lifecycle cost. For example, take a cleaning equipment, the life of the product is described by the OEM at the time of buying.
Whether it will last five or six years or more or even less depends on the maintenance.” Having said that, a major question at still needs to be addressed is whether the purchase heads while doing the analysis are calculating the savings made on the extended lifecycle which adds to the bottom line?
“If a product lifecycle has been determined for five years and runs for seven years and still can run more provided it does not increase the operations costs, is an addition to the bottom line. However, like many other industries face the same situation, it is essential to have a three-way equation by working in tandem with all the user departments, the purchase and the OEM,” he added.
The session on Vendor Relationship and Strategic Sourcing emphasized on the need to engage with manufacturers to encourage them to develop customized quality products. However, panelists cautioned on the selection of vendors only after doing a thorough research on the background, financial credentials and timely delivery. Such practices will ensue vendor development and enable to raise the bar of the vendor. For example, a milk supplier can be encouraged into supplying cheese and other milk products over the years. This way, purchase can take care of at least 70% locally.
Another interesting panel discussion on strategies and future of procurement in hospitality agreed upon digitalization of processes. Amid serious talks, the intermittent booster doze of motivational talk enthused the professionals. These also included the Work life balance presented by Jaideep Gupta, Your Attitude Your Success by Pankaj Mehta, Digital Transformation by Ayman Sheet and Mynd Storm by Pradip Almadi.
2nd Excellence Awards
The highest award of Living Legend was conferred on Sundaram RM, Vasantabhavan Hotels India Pvt Ltd and Basil Christopher Massey, Duet India Hotels. The Life Time Achievement Award was given to Narinder Kapoor, The EIH Ltd.
• Most Innovative Procurement Person of the Year: Parag Pawar, Purchase Manager, Royal Orchid Central, Pune
• Most Innovative Procurement Person of the Year: Hara PrasadBalliar singh, Senior Manager, Mayfair Lagoon and Convention, Bhubaneshwar
• Best Cross Functional Procurement Leader of the Year: Mahendra Shinde, Materials Manager, Hotel The Resort, Mumbai
• Best Procurement Person of the Year – Male: Boominathan Panchanathan, Commercial Manager, Fortune Select Grand, Chennai
• Best Procurement Person of the Year – Female: Shikha Sharma, Retreat Hotel and Convention Centre, Mumbai
• Best Use of Innovative Technology for Procurement: Ram Vriksh Dwivedi, Assistant Materials Manager, The Lalit, Mumbai
• Special Jury Award: Vijayanand Thantri, Head Procurement – Intellistay Hotels, Mumbai
• Superman of the Year Award: Abdul Kareem, Purchase Manager, The Leela, Chennai
• Best Use of Green Initiative as a Team: C. Rajendiran and team, Novotel Ibis Sipkot, Chennai
• Change Maker Award: Teckbahadur Sarke, Sahara Star Hotel, Mumbai
• Change Maker Award: Gary Coutinho, Devyani International, Mumbai
It all came to an end with a Tree Plantation drive, completing the entire event with a contribution to nature and society. “We thank all the delegates for taking time out to be present in such large numbers, our vendors who have supported us whole heartedly and experts who have made the sessions a big success,” concluded Nitin Nagrale.
Bonding is our objective; networking is our goal
“Today, HPMF is entirely a ‘business family organization’. The growth of moving from one city to multiple cities and now internationally, has offered confidence and strength to the managers, suppliers and attributed a lot of value in the business transactions. The confidence that has come about through networking, learning and education has taken the Forum to greater heights. Looking back on the journey, reaching here was not easy. Accessing people and making them identify with HPMF was challenging, especially when it is not a trade body.
“HPMF decided to break the ice and started reaching people by organizing panel discussions, participating in trade exhibitions, fairs and seminars. Slowly the crowd started trickling in. The first level, second level and third level managers started to open up and participate in panel discussions
“HPMF took a defining step by developing level two executives and assistant managers, in four star hotels in tier II and tier III cities especially in places like Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bhubaneswar and Indore. These managers, though they have a substantial role to play in the organisations do not have HODs and so are in need for guidance and direction. HPMF inputs a lot of knowledge in terms of vendor database, new products, innovations, new technology and changes in government notifications. This helps them grow.
“The sixth-year convention theme was ‘Be together; We can and We will’. The invitees were from 12 cities and each of the purchase managers took part in the activities, including panel discussions, presentations and B2B meetings. The meet has enabled them to connect outside their familiar circles and encouraging a sense of togetherness and progressiveness. There is a huge take back for each of the participants from the event.
“Also, HPMF has tied up with CHPM-Certified Hospitality Purchasing Manager for a certificate program through American Hotel and Lodging Education Institute. The online exam is scheduled shortly and certificates will be given to those who get merit ranking post results in January.
“The technically sound syllabus will include detailing, technicality, methodology of hospitality procurement, which only some of us have heard about. Procurement practices today are more based on either the learnings passed on to us from the previous batches or through our own understanding. This program will enable technical procurement which is teaches processes and procedures to be followed instead of understanding and gut feeling and that is going to help us all. In the larger sense, this will help the industry in making new leaders and responsible buyers in organizations. Above all, CHPM has introduced this certificate program for the first time in the world and Indians are the first people to get certified. This will add value in the managers’ resumes, gain respect in the industry and put them procurement officials on a high pedestal among the international purchasing managers.
“Bonding is my objective, networking is my goal for HPMF. Make friendships, make certain resolution for yourselves and next year we come back better than what we were,” concludes Nitin Nagrale.