I just enjoy working in the purchasing

Technical knowledge and current communication skills. This is the combination necessary for the position of head of purchasing in a manufacturing company. Romana Vejvančická has been here with us since 2015. We were interested in the following questions. We believe that you're also interested in the answers.

Have the trends in the use of materials changed significantly in the last 6 years?

Society as a whole has gravitated more towards nature in recent years, we're lucky that our stoves correspond to current trends. Classic stoves give way slightly to stoves with new technologies, which means that the stoves use electronics more, therefore stoves can be controlled remotely from a mobile phone - we can warm our place up without us being physically present.

But stoves are not just austere metal monsters, they have ceramics in new designs with 3D printing, I personally really like the scratched surface of ceramics with a slightly metallic effect… our stoves are also more colourful - we use new colours to paint visible parts. I would like to add some change in the tile colours, we'll see….

For example, does the territory from which the materials or components are supplied differ?

In the past, there was a total boom in buying materials from China, after the first deliveries, many sobered up and preferred to pay extra and began ordering material from Europe again. Of course, there are commodities that still pay off to buy in Asia, South America, etc., we buy facing stones, engines, suppliers have many years' experience, are reliable and the quality is fine. As we are a family business, I'm pleased that we also have a lot of small local suppliers who are able to compete with large manufacturers in terms of price and quality. The last year is also special in the fact that the delivery time of some commodities such as cast iron, fireclay, etc., which we buy in Europe, is approaching, the delivery time of commodities from countries overseas was not the case in the past. This fact significantly affects the turnover of the warehouse and therefore tying up money in stocks, this is not a good trend.

How is supply capability and reliability evolving? And how much has the coronavirus period affected supplier-customer relationships?

I can boast that most of our suppliers have had excellent delivery ability in the past - which is the ability to deliver the goods we need in production on time. We're not an automotive customer, so it's "enough" for suppliers to deliver 88% of deliveries to us on time (max. a week earlier and max. 1 day after the confirmed delivery date).

However, the last year is different in terms of our supplier’s delivery capacity, in fact I can say the worst in my entire 21 year' career as a purchaser. Even the best suppliers are often unable to deliver the material on time, because they are affected by the delivery capacity of their subcontractors or their employees are quarantined, etc. Also, the quality of the delivered parts isn’t as it used to be, there are more incorrect orders etc.

As if everyone has only been running at half throttle and at the same time completely exhausted…

What do you enjoy about your job?

I didn't choose my job myself, but at the beginning of my career as a purchaser, the company director where I worked at the time was conducting an internal selection procedure for a completely different position, and said: "Romi, I have a completely different proposal for you"...... I think you should do purchasing, think about it" …and that's how it started. After all the possible training, working into the night and my famous motto "Einkauf macht Spaß!". I just enjoy purchases!

For its work diversity, communicating with people, playing with suppliers when negotiating prices, constantly learning new materials, production methods, stress when someone doesn't supply us with what we need at….etc. I just love it, yes, my job is really love for life, even if we sometimes hate each other J.

And that's why I always remember, "Vláďa, (Mr. Director who found my job) thanks for discovering me so nicely," because not everyone is lucky and likes to do their job.

Thank you for the interview.