Bassam Melhem

Agthia Group is a leading Abu Dhabi based food and beverage company. It has two divisions, Agri Business Division and Consumer Business Division, which is responsible for management, distribution and marketing of several food and beverage brands.

HIGHLIGHTS:
• Achieved 75% reduction in shipment cost and delivery time on imports by creating and implementing a new strategy for purchase orders of imported materials.
• Reduced purchase expenditure of AED 20 million by 10% by rationalization of supplier base through better relationship management and negotiation, reengineering of business processes, performance specifications.
• Cut down clearance cost of imported raw materials by establishment of in house clearing department in place of external agency.
• Developed an appropriate organization structure for purchasing department and recruited right people to man the positions to effectively meet the requirements of purchasing function.
• Introduced a suitable periodic supplier evaluation system to rate the existing suppliers for feedback and performance improvement and to assess new suppliers for enlistment and commencement of business.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Centralised Procurement:
• Negotiate and finalize annual fixed price contracts for procurement of laptops, desktops, hardware, software and annual licenses to realize bulk price discounts.
• Finalize job contracts for modification and refurbishment of existing warehouses and cold storages and procurement of material handling equipment, transportation trucks and refrigerated vehicles to standardize equipment, spare parts and services and achieve savings on expenses.
• Secure fixed prices for stationery items, furniture, travel agency discount rates, and office maintenance contracts by consolidation of requirements to negotiate best prices.

Coordination:
• Coordinate procurement activities of all business units as well as of centralized purchase to ensure uniformity in procedures, practices and elimination of conflicts.
• Provide leadership and align the activities of all functional and cross functional teams to maximize cost benefit at group as well at business unit level.
• Establish policies and procedures to improve coordination amongst various business units to implement transparent transfer pricing and terms and conditions.
• Support towards cooperation between group procurement and business unit procurement teams to maximize synergies for overall benefits.
• Extend full support to business units by group procurement team by actual delivery as per the requirements to improve credibility.

Cost reduction:
• Identify high purchase value items, analyze savings potential and explore and induct new sources of supply to achieve savings in cost.
• Achieve significant cost savings across the organization in all direct category purchase by implementation of world class best practices.
• Lead establishment of procurement centre of excellence to focus on best practices, source to pay process, e enablement, capability building, performance measurement and management initiatives and strategic projects.
• Supervise and coordinate projects and cost saving initiatives, BU Squeeze and X Trim exercises to ensure overall cost savings for the group.

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DESIGNATION CHRONOLOGY:
• Dec 2005 - Mar 2010: Procurement Manager
• Jan 2001 -Dec 2005: Head of Sales Administration
• Oct 1999 -Dec 2000: Project Material Coordinator

HIGHLIGHTS:
• Successfully implemented and maintained BAAN ERP purchase module in purchase department and 17 remote operating units by study and analysis of the existing system and development of suitable ERP system.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AS PROCUREMENT MANAGER:
Policy & Procedure:
• Assigned work amongst the employees in such a manner that the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities were well defined to accomplish all the activities of the department within defined time targets.
• Trained all employees in the purchase department on systems and procedures to be followed to ensure that correct procedures were followed and records were maintained.
• Ensured that all purchase orders were raised and approved in the BAAN system before actual procurement of materials.
• Supervised processing of procurement, shipping and clearing documents to adhere to documented procedure and comply with legal requirements.

Vendor Management:
• Searched and identified potential suppliers capable of supplying materials as per company’s specifications at competitive prices as per delivery requirements.
• Negotiated best prices and commercial terms and conditions with the suppliers every six months to maximize savings as per changing market scenario.
• Evaluated actual performance of the suppliers on price, quality, delivery and service factors periodically to provide feedback on areas of improvement.

Shipping Management:
• Familiarized all employees with the legal requirements, shipping procedures and documentation required so that they were fully knowledgeable and conversant at the time of execution.
• Initiated action in advance to prepare documents for incoming shipments so that no additional expenses and demurrage charges were incurred on clearance due to erroneous documentation or documentation delays.
• Searched and enlisted reputed and cost efficient shipping lines, airlines, freight forwarders, service providers for fast and cost effective movement of goods.

Materials and Stores Management:
• Supervised the work of raw materials stores officer to ensure that materials are ordered in time as per actual requirements so that there were no stock outs.
• Ensured that materials are received, inspected for quality as per specifications in purchase orders, stacked and stored scientifically, with proper segregation of non conforming materials.
• Maintained stock accounts accurately in the on line system and organized periodic physical stock count to identify discrepancies to sort out and correct the same.

BAAN ERP System:
• Provided hands on training and explained the user manual on BAAN system to all the employees so that they were fully familiar with the system.
• Ensured that all purchase orders were created in the system as per BAAN DEM Flow and user manual so that they were accurate and complete for further processing.
• Reviewed outstanding open orders in BAAN system to short close unexecuted orders and small left over quantities of executed orders appearing as outstanding to keep the system up to date.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AS HEAD OF SALES ADMINISTRATION:
• Prepared annual plan of product wise and area wise sales targets - volumes and sales turnovers based on market survey, current trends, growth opportunities and past data to set objectives and targets.
• Assigned area wise targets for each product, monitored actual sales, reported variances for review of performance by the management for corrective actions and adoption of right strategies.
• Prepared daily and actual sales report generated by the BAAN ERP system and circulated to concerned managers for necessary action.
• Created sales orders in the BAAN system, on receipt of physical orders from the customers to track the same in the system till full execution as per delivery schedules.
• Reviewed execution status of the orders in production plan periodically and followed up actual execution of the order with the production department to ensure on time and in full delivery.
• Updated status of delivery in the system, kept customer informed of actual status and expedited delivery in case of critical stock status reported by customers.
• Raised invoices in the system and forwarded to the customers, including those raised against letter of credits established by the customers.
• Created new master codes for new products introduced, with customization, if required, along with bill of materials at multi level, developed by technical department.
• Updated quality assurance and quality control manual, with latest changes in job descriptions, work distribution and organization charts for the sales administration department.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AS PROJECT MATERIAL COORDINATOR:
• Participated in project planning meeting to understand the schedule of requirements and prepare material delivery schedule.
• Prepared control sheet of materials required in a project, along with required delivery dates, on receipt of bill of materials from the project department.
• Coordinated with project engineer at site to provide status of materials due for delivery and to identify criticality of any material, which can delay the project.
• Followed up delivery of project materials as per the project schedule with the suppliers to escalate critical cases to the senior management for intervention.
• Issued materials as per requirements of project department and maintained records of the same to update stock status.

PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS:
• 7 months: Computer Programmer, Al Madina Agencies & Services, Abu Dhabi
• 11 months: Computer Programmer & Data Analyst, Abu Dhabi Company for On shore Oil Operation, Abu Dhabi
• 11 months: Computer Programmer & Sales Manager, Expert Computer Software & Systems, Abu Dhabi