After completing her Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Claudia Arriga joined the company in 2018 and is now Category Manager and Offload Purchasing Manager for LGS, a Leonardo Service Provider that acts as Procurement Competence Centre and Global Real Estate Provider and manages the Group’s business and people care services and environmental risk aspects. It is “one of Italy’s biggest procurement centres”, with the Purchasing area handling more than 60,000 orders a year – for a total value of about two billion euro - from 160 buyers all over the country in a fully digitised process.
“I’m fascinated by the complexity of the technology,” says Claudia, who works in close contact with a number of Leonardo functions and acts as Leonardo’s spokesperson among suppliers who have an impact on growth and innovation in the company’s business.
Specifically, in the Procurement, Supply Chain & Digital Services Management, Claudia Arriga coordinates a team which handles over 1,700 orders annually and oversees the entire procurement process: from the analysis of requirements to the publication of tender announcements, negotiations with and selection of suppliers, through to the drawing up of contracts.
As Claudia explains, her main dealings are with engineering and production departments for Helicopters, Aircraft, Aerostructures, and Defence Systems, as well as with the Kopter company. This wide range of industrial areas gives her the opportunity to address “some extraordinary issues”. Claudia Arriga and her team have contributed to the implementation of a number of specific projects in the company, such as the PC2Lab in Turin, and to European research programmes such as HORIZON2020. “In buying within the Engineering sector, I often have to handle negotiations for the selection of technological partners to assist Leonardo in technological and product innovation, and our task is to satisfy requirements […] while, among other things, ensuring that the company’s intellectual property is protected”.
Claudia’s career has enabled her to develop vertical technical know-how in procurement management software and in the coordination of the various buyers. Other talents she has developed include effective communication skills, as well as the essential analytical and soft skills needed to interact with a variety of stakeholders.
Two projects have a special place in her heart: the governance model in the LEAP (Leonardo Empowering Advanced Partnerships) programme, aimed at developing a Group-wide Supply Chain that can provide effective monitoring of expenses and full control of the supply chain; and the implementation of RPA (Robotic Process Automation), which enables robot software to be used for performing repetitive purchasing tasks formerly done by humans. The five Bot Buyers (virtual assistants) currently in operation have made purchases totalling more than 100 million euro in 2022 alone.
“Complex negotiations and the need to handle a great variety of situations are a daily challenge, something I have always sought in my career,” notes Claudia Arriga, who, proud of her professional journey with Leonardo, admires the Group’s international breadth and ability to promote technological innovation, constantly projecting itself into the future.