Business overview

Rio Tinto Procurement is accountable to the Rio Tinto business units to ensure that the inbound supply chain operates effectively and efficiently with the right good or service being delivered to the right place, at the right time and at fair market prices. To do this, Rio Tinto Procurement has translated its work into four core service lines: Source, Buy, Deliver and Service delivery.

Source

Rio Tinto Procurement develops and executes sourcing strategies for goods and services and manages supplier relationships on behalf of, and in consultation with, business unit customers. Rio Tinto Procurement develops sourcing strategies appropriate to the goods or services being procured. Our strategies span the spectrum from short term transactions for goods or services, to multi year or open ended partnerships with specialist equipment manufacturers embedding significant value based development co-commitments.

Buy

Rio Tinto Procurement maintains vendor and materials data, creates purchase orders for goods, services and repairable items, expedites deliveries where required and seeks to achieve high levels of automation through its process. For example: normally if an item is inventory, suppliers will be pre-contracted and replenishment orders will be automatically generated. When the item or service is not in inventory, the business unit will initiate a requisition and Rio Tinto Procurement will source the item and generate a purchase order. We then track the purchase order to ensure the supplier adheres to the timelines and quantities specified in the purchase order.

Deliver

Rio Tinto Procurement manages the inbound freight, warehousing and inventory management processes on behalf of Rio Tinto business units and optimises the associated logistics processes. For example: when a supplier has filled the purchase order, the goods are delivered to the business unit location or central warehouse. We then issue a receipt of goods to the supplier and then manage inventory levels and distribution of specific materials to the business unit's required point of use.

Service delivery

Our commitment to service delivery is supported by dedicated Service Delivery Managers (SDM) for each business unit that we operate in. Primarily, our SDMs are accountable for: day-to-day management of the procurement function of Rio Tinto business units; optimising all aspects of Rio Tinto Procurement's operational relationship with an assigned business unit; matching procurement opportunities against resources; monitoring service standards; and generally sustaining a strong relationship in accordance to Service Level Agreement (SLA) and spend management planning objectives.