The CIPS Aberdeen Branch Committee would like to invite members to a visit and tour of Aberdeen Harbour Board’s Marine Operation Centre.

The visit to the facility will produce a brief history of Aberdeen Harbour and an appreciation of the day to day workings of the harbour, its operations and future plans. The visit will include a tour of the Marine Operations Centre, including the control room and the simulator room.

The visit will provide members with an insight into the workings of a modern state-of-the-art facility which monitors and directs vessels at a port handling 5 million tonnes of cargo and 20 millions tonnes of shipping annually. The visit will be of particular interest to those practitioners involved with marine logistics.

The CIPS Beds & Herts Branch, with Chilterns Branch invites you to their annual Cranfield University event at which Dr Carlos Mena, who is Director of the Centre for Strategic Procurement and Supply Management and Head of the Executive Procurement Network at the University, will share current thinking on procurement leadership and the future of procurement.

Procurement professionals tend to focus on managing complexity to improve the performance of their organisation, but leadership is less about managing complexity and more about facilitating transformation and delivering products and services that exceed the needs of the final customer. Dr Mena will discuss the role, experience and skills that procurement leaders need to transform their supply chains and how this role needs to adapt as the future of the procurement function changes driven by evolving market expectations and supply situations.

The CIPS Aberdeen Branch Committee would like to invite members and non members to attend the annual CIPS quiz night.

The format in this popular and fun evening is for teams of up to six to compete for the David West Memorial Trophy by answering questions on current affairs, history, geography, CIPS, film and TV, music and general knowledge.

Hot food will be provided during the evening.

The event provides members and non-members with the opportunity to mix and network with fellow practitioners in a fun and informal setting.

This event is very popular each year. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

The CIPS Surrey Branch and Surrey County Council Procurement & Commissioning are proud to present an evening with Paula Gildert, CIPS President. The event shall focus on the Presidents theme for 2013 and the value of Procurement beyond savings. This is a great opportunity to meet the CIPS President in an intimate setting and to understand the direction of the institute and progress in 2013. Paula will also talk about the benefits we as procurers deliver to our stakeholders, aside from the countless savings we are continually measured on.

The aim of this event is to challenge how we think about the value of Procurement and the benefits we deliver.  This event will also provide branch members with networking opportunities.

The evening is being hosted by Surrey County Council and will take place at Surrey County Council Headquaters, County Hall, Kingston from 18.30.

Light refreshments will be served.

The Merseyside Branch invites you to update on TUPE. This important area of employment law exists to protect employee rights when the ownership of their business, or their area of a business, changes hands. TUPE has particular significance in outsourcing arrangements, both at their inception and termination.

Our second topic will cover Due diligence in the context of the government approach to lean procurement. Discussion will focus on PA consulting group’s experience of Government initiatives to speed up the procurement process, including the application of lean procurement processes.

Attendees will be appraised of important developments in TUPE over the last decade and their relevance to purchasers. Attendees will also learn about initiatives to speed up procurement processes particularly within the public sector.