Interview Marc Beyse
Probably not everyone in the IPCOM group knows you. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your job?
I am 44 years old and married with my wife Anna since 2017. I am father of two children (Finja, 5 years and Elrik 2 years). I joined IPCOM in January 2016 as Group Procurement Manager. In this role I’m supporting the local managing directors and purchase-/product managers as much as I can in supplier strategy, creation of supplier contracts and negotiations about strategic terms, rebates and prices. Furthermore, we maintain professional relationships with our strategic suppliers to keep or develop towards a preferred partner status. We are always eager to find new and interesting products for our business. To be close to the market and connected to the local teams and suppliers this job contains a lot of travels across Europe.
As a Procurement Manager you need to develop strong working relationships with key suppliers. On the other hand you need to negotiate in the benefit of the company and monitor costs. How do you find this balance? What do you find most motivating in your role?
We always maintain strong and fair partnerships with the relevant suppliers of our group. On the other hand, having hard and tough discussions about strategies and conditions and fighting for our targets with suppliers do not show any discrepancy. My biggest motivator is that there is always space for improvements and optimizations. The story never ends.
The Procurement team plays an important role in the development of our ISOFIT private label. What does this product range look like today and what’s upcoming in the near future? How can it benefit our business?
The ISOFIT private label range contains a lot of accessories and tools for our business and shows that we have much more competence than insulation only. Furthermore, with ISOFIT quality products we have a USP against competitors and a joint brand for our customers. With concentration of defined partner suppliers we are able to achieve a high level of trading margin. We are going to further develop together with the input of the local teams and product managers and will release further products soon. All colleagues in IPCOM are invited to raise and support ideas for new products or solutions that can bring added value, volumes and margins into the group.
Markets change quickly. What do you feel is the biggest challenge in the current market?
After a storm of price increases due to the energy and raw material crises, we are facing a slowdown with possible impact of declining market prices. Therefore, we are asked to keep our eyes and ears close to the market to quickly react on market changes and control our purchase conditions and margins on a decent level.
Initially Strategic Procurement was a stand-alone department. With the growth of the group, is your department also evolving?
The central procurement team includes 2 people right now. In 2016 I started as a one-man-show. In the period up to 2020 we have developed margins and conditions together with the local Managing Directors and Purchase Managers with a lot of good moves and results. From 2020 Waldemar Lehmann joined the IPCOM group as junior buyer. That brought new power to further evolve conditions, products, categories like ISOFIT or accessories and many suppliers. Due to the continuous growth of the group and to guarantee knowledge pf the market and full support to the local entities, we will be adding another person to the procurement team. This recruiting process will go along with the change to the new procurement office, which is planned soon. The new office will be based in the biggest warehouse of ISOPARTNER Germany in Hannover-Laatzen and will offer appropriate meeting room opportunities for local and international supplier meetings. These changes will contribute to the further development of our competences.
Europe wants to be the first continent that is climate neutral and fully circular. This ambition sets certain expectations towards companies and the whole supply chain. Do you feel any impact of these sustainability goals in your role?
From procurement perspective we see that almost all crucial manufacturers of insulation materials are paying a high level of attention to how and under what conditions they manufacture products and how is the recycling process. Changes and adjustments in production and decisions about electrification will have an impact. Relevant issues as reduction of CO2 emissions, sustainability and social aspects playing a more and more an important role in the supply chain of a product and is already part of the procurement discussions with the key suppliers.
Would you rather be king or rich?
Being a king is nice but being a little rich would makes more sense for me.
What is the best song ever made, and why?
I do not have a good answer to that. If somebody likes to know my taste in music. I like electronic music and can give you this example:
