Swedish Transport Administration should be first choice for suppliers
Trafikverket should be attractive to attractive partners. We should be the first choice for our suppliers. Patrick Guné, Director of Division Major Projects, and Daniel Ljunglund, Director of Purchasing and Logistics, explain why this is a priority goal.
Being the first choice for suppliers has been a strategic goal for the Swedish Transport Administration since 2023. An action plan has been compiled containing a number of measures that permeate various elements of the Swedish Transport Administration’s operations. These actions are divided into four key areas illustrated by a four-leaf clover.
– They say the four-leaf clover brings good luck, but our success at all levels of the Swedish Transport Administration is due to hard work, not luck, says Patrick Guné, Director of Division Major Projects, who is leading the initiative.
During the spring, the Swedish Transport Administration’s management team met with senior managers from major national and international suppliers to discuss what doing business with the Swedish Transport Administration is like.
– We listen and try to understand their points of view, and this is very much appreciated. It’s unusual for a major authority like the Swedish Transport Administration to do this kind of thing, and it creates trust and confidence. This provides us with a foundation that will allow us to work together and do business, says Patrick Guné.
Patrick and his fellow managers are determined to make the Swedish Transport Administration the first choice for suppliers. That is why the action plan has been launched using the four areas of the four-leaf clover, and that is also why the entire Management team are actively involved in the initiative. The Management team are paving the way so that the rest of the organisation can drive and implement the change. This is something that we will all do together, as one Transport Administration.
Culture must change
Daniel Ljunglund, Director of Purchasing and Logistics, reckons that the Swedish Transport Administration needs to change the way we work with our suppliers.
– A cultural change is needed, and we all have a responsibility in this regard, managers and staff alike, he emphasises.
– Building good relationships is key to this, but it also involves tangible aspects such as the business models we use, and taking quick and decisive action when a conflict is looming within a project so as to ensure it doesn’t drag on. Because that’s when things get expensive, for both us and our suppliers. We know this from experience, says Daniel Ljunglund.
– We should be attractive to attractive partners. We want the Swedish Transport Administration to be the preferred business partner for the best, most reliable suppliers. We should be their first choice.
How attractive we are today varies depending on the size of the project, where we are in Sweden and other factors. The Swedish Transport Administration has found it increasingly difficult in recent years to get enough tenders for our procurement procedures.
– A lot of suppliers say that our projects just aren’t profitable enough for them, and they decide not to work with us because of that. This is a serious situation, and we really need to make a huge effort to turn things around,” says Daniel Ljunglund.
According to Daniel Ljunglund, it is crucial for the Swedish Transport Administration to be an attractive business partner.
–If suppliers don’t want to work with us, we won’t be able to fulfil our social mission to provide a transport system that’s sustainable in the long term. We can’t rely on the fact that we’re a major developer, because that’s just not enough.
He highlights the fact that everyone needs to work as a team, with everyone playing their part in bringing about change. And that this is something we have to do together, as one Transport Administration; but our suppliers also have to understand and believe in our willingness to engage.
– I’d describe it as a necessary cultural journey in terms of how we work in partnership with our suppliers, from the start of the procurement procedure to the conclusion of the project. Building good relationships on a personal level is the most basic aspect. This creates trust, which in turn leads to better business. We know collaboration is profitable and cost-effective, and good relations form the foundation for successful collaboration. That’s why we have to listen to our suppliers early on so that we can get the best deal.
What happens next?
The Swedish Transport Administration’s various organisations are involved in many different activities. We have recently developed a new approach to collaboration in our projects that aims to underpin good collaboration throughout all project phases.
We will be meeting up with the management teams of several of our major suppliers in the spring, and in the autumn we will be inviting you to a broadcast where we will talk about what we are intending to do, and our direction for the future. What is needed to do business with us – and how we will be taking our development work forward together with our suppliers. And in the late autumn, we will be holding a number of face-to-face supplier days all over the country. We will be inviting delegates to attend and presenting our upcoming projects.
These will be important days when the Swedish Transport Administration can meet up with and chat to our suppliers and showcase our many business opportunities.