Managing a procurement team sometimes requires thinking "outside the box". As procurement professionals, we often consider how to "buy better" by reducing expenditures. It is just how we are wired. But sometimes a situation arises where the department can be a source of revenue. This happened to me as I saw an opportunity for some "reverse procurement".
 

Allow me to explain: I was working for a large agricultural company, and on one of my many trips to California, I noticed that there were recycling bins everywhere. While working in Texas, I found this philosophy was not as prevalent. After some digging, I found that all the cardboard, wood, plastic, and other items were being thrown away. We were paying a company to haul several containers of this material, which would be sent to a landfill. I thought, "Why could we not provide these items to a recycling company, and they would haul them away at no cost to us?" I later discovered they would even pay us for these various waste streams. I had an idea to do several sourcing events, one for each "waste stream", and see where that might lead. After discussing this idea with senior management, they agreed and told me to proceed. I assembled a team from various disciplines, and we conducted several sourcing events, complete with site visits and on-site assessments.

This project took several months, and I was initially looking to save $5k per month in carting fees. This would have resulted in a tidy annual cost savings of $60,000. The one thing I had not considered is that, for a recycler, they would pay you for what is considered "raw material" for them. To my surprise, not only did we save money with the carting fee, but we also generated $70,000 per month in revenue from the recycling companies during our peak season. Senior management liked this so much that they even purchased a truck to be used primarily for hauling each container to the recycler, as we were paid more for bringing it to them. This demonstrates that unconventional thinking can lead to extraordinary and unexpected results.  The moral of the story is to always be on the lookout for these opportunities, as they may present themselves at any time, and it is up to you, the procurement professional, to act.