Irena Rimac Gaspari, Director of Corporate Purchasing, was declared procurement manager of the year at the traditional Regional Procurement Conference in Portorož. The title was conferred to her by a four-member expert committee in recognition of her numerous achievements in professional area and years of experience.

The award for the best procurement manager of the year was conferred to Irena in Portorož at the traditional Regional Procurement Conference by the company Planet GV and the Purchasing Managers Association of Slovenia. She earned this important title by gathering experience over several years. In 2005, she took over the management of aluminium castings foundry in Hidria Rotomatika, and three years later she started working in the commercial segment. With the expansion of our production of aluminium castings to the Koper location, she took over the purchasing management. In 2009, she started working in the area of Hidria’s corporate purchasing where she currently works as Director. Irena is also active in the Purchasing Managers Association of Slovenia. Under her management, Hidria’s purchasing became a recognised strategic function. Her work is an important contribution to the added value of our Group and one of the principal reasons why Rimac Gaspari received this year’s procurement manager of the year award.

Irena pointed out that this prestigious award was not conferred to her alone but to the entire Hidria purchasing team which has been working hard in the recent years on the development of the purchasing function and achieving the strategic importance at the level of the Corporation: “We convinced the commission of the Purchasing Managers Association of Slovenia and Planet GV with our achievements which are based on building a system of material categories at the corporation level (Category Management), with the Leonardo project, the innovative business model of cooperation with the suppliers and in-depth cross-functional cooperation, our own innovation portal for suppliers, which has been developed for several years by Hidria’s own IT team and a team from Omikron, digitalisation of the purchasing process and introduction of advanced purchasing tools and methods, introduction of a digital tool that supports the development of the purchasing strategy of material categories and exchange of good practices within the corporation and outside.”

Irena seized the opportunity to thank Hidria’s management which has always supported the purchasing team in the introduction of changes and proposed her for the award for the best procurement manager: “Above all, I wish to thank my closest colleagues. Together we achieved important progress in the development of Hidria’s purchasing function. I hope this award will be an encouragement for further improvements and new achievements, important for Hidria. We are aware that there is still a lot of work to be done and decisions to be made.”

Irena, congratulations!