Supplier related investment management process

Abstract

The target of this thesis study is to analyze and describe case company’s supplier related investment processes from the process management’s point of view. More precisely, the examined processes are Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) investment process, and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) purchase process. Thesis study aims to map current states of the CAPEX and OPEX processes. After fundamental current state understanding it is possible to start process development work, and the second main target of the study is to discover possible development areas related to processes.

Thesis study is divided into theoretical literature review part and to empirical, case company specific, part. First literature review part presents the Supply Management operating environment, lean process management philosophy, and basis of process mapping. The selected process mapping method is Value Stream Mapping from lean process mapping toolbox. The research is qualitative case study, where process current state research data was collected via value stream mapping. Data for process development basis were collected via personal interviews and by analysing process value stream maps. In the empirical part explored theories are used to map CAPEX and OPEX process current states, discovering the potential development areas, and presenting concrete development ideas how the processes could be more effective.

Case study results visually present the current state process maps for both supplier related investment processes. As a part of value stream mapping results, investment process total lead time and major process bottlenecks are presented. Development ideas based on stakeholder interviews propose several valuable improvement possibilities, which were added to four-field prioritization matrix and sorted by execution – impact factors. Most potential ideas were related to investment process planning phase and especially to investment need communication between initiators and supply management.