Our people

Pavel Ryšánek - Grain Purchaser

16 November 2020
-
2 minutes

Pavel Ryšánek is a new dad and a raw materials purchaser, who tries to divide his time evenly between taking care of his little newborn son and working for De Heus (Czech Republic). He graduated from the University of Defense, where he studied Purchasing and Logistics. During the last two years at university he worked for a Logistics Provider in a part-time job in order to gain experience. He stumbled upon De Heus by chance while searching for job offers, so it is his first full-time job after graduation. Luckily for us he has stayed (for six years already).

“Day by day, it’s not the same”

Within De Heus, Pavel is in charge of purchasing grain –  supplying both the local factories and the one abroad  in Slovakia. He buys raw materials from suppliers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine. He partly  participates  in the pricing strategy, but he sometimes also has to deal with complaints about the quality of raw materials. According to him, the best working day is the one that starts with a visit to the farm, - taking a sample of the raw material if  necessary, having a quality control meeting or concluding contracts - and ends up in the office - checking prices in the system, awarding contracts, processing paper contracts, and checking the coverage of production plants with enough raw materials. He spends 2/3 of his time in the office and 1/3 on trips. He likes the variability of work, when every day at work is not the same. „You just never know what opportunity will come  your way“, he says. Pavel plans his working days by himself, so he especially appreciates the flexibility that De Heus offers him.

Relationships are all the same

Pavel always feels good when he manages to negotiate a good price for quality raw materials. „You are more likely to get a better price if you have a friendly relationship on a professional level with the supplier. But as with any other relationship, it is necessary to take good care of it“, says Pavel.

Pavel's personality perfectly fits  into the team of the purchasing department, as his main features are friendliness and communicativeness. The  purchasing department is divided into two imaginary halves – one deals mainly with grain and the other with other types of raw materials. The only difference is the different rate of time spent on trips and in the office. By this system, everybody knows what to do, so there is never any confusion.