Gavin HODGSON

Lead Buyer

Premier Foods is the UK's leading food manufacturer. You will find a Premier Foods product in over 98% of British households.
The brand portfolio is iconic, with names such as Hovis, Oxo, Sharwoods, Quorn, Mr Kipling, Bisto, Cadbury Cakes, Ambrosia, Paxo, Robertson's Batchelors, Lyon's, Branston, Crosse and Blackwell, Angel Delight and Bird's.
The group has an annual turnover in excess of £1.5 bn, employing over 16,000 people at over 50 sites.

In my role as Lead Buyer for energy and utilities, I am responsible fo the procurement and consumption management of electricity, gas a diesel for the requirements of the group. Prior to this, I was the Lead Buyer for two key areas of ingredients spend, Fats and Oils and Chocolate, managing a multi-million pound spend from a portfolio of around a dozen vendors, as well as participating in a monthly commodity risk meeting, a policies and procedures steering group and acting as procurement lead on sourcing projects.

Sector: Fresh and perishable products

Supply Chain Analyst

B&Q is part of Kingfisher, Europe's leading DIY and Home Improvement retailer.

Whilst at B&Q I was employed in a Supply Managment position.
Retail sales volume and purchasing forecasting; planning of imports and domestic purchases. Categories managed: Cooling and Air Treatment and latterly Roofing and Building materials – portfolio value of approximately £157M.
Placing of purchase orders and liaison with vendors to match forecasts with consumption. Management of flow of products from vendor, through own and third party distribution networks, to stores.
Key goal to ensure permanent, appropriate on-shelf availability throughout the UK and Ireland. Stakeholder in processes of flow planning, range implementation and financial reporting.

Sector: Retail

Consultant

Masai is a pan-European consultancy focused on the optimisation of purchasing expenditure for clients.
Masai operates on a no-win no-fee basis. Client projects whilst employed by Masai included Alstom, Schneider, Vivendi.

Sector: Organization and Strategy