Philips reviews

Philips is a Dutch company, run by the Dutch for the Dutch and if you are Dutch, many of your transgressions are overlooked and/or forgiven. American employees have virtually no authority, especially not in Sourcing. Some senior Dutch executive decided that Category and Commodity Leads and Sourcing Specialists should have a SECOND MANDATED savings target in their non-primary area of focus/specialization. These are the so-called "low hanging fruit" sourcing projects that are supposed to deliver additional "massive savings opportunities," but rarely do. This is called ODS for On Demand Sourcing. It is a complete time waster and totally counter-productive because it wastes the energies of Sourcing personnel, most of whom have highly specialized knowledge in their primary commodity or category areas. In the North American market, there are two ODS teams. One team with its manager in Andover, MA is run professionally and competently and by a man who supports his team members and assists them in any way he can. The second team is run by an Invisible Manager who disappears for long periods of time to partake of his several outside interests on company time. He only shows up when it's time to flog someone who is having difficulty meeting savings goals or who doesn't fill out his pet EXCEL spread sheets to his liking. This same absentee manager is also quick to place team members on Performance Improvement Programs and recently had THREE of his team, out of a total of EIGHT on PIP at the same time. Yet, he provides no guidance, training, mentorship or encouragement. One wonders how he keeps his job, but somewhere in the Dutch ODS chain of command, he has a guardian angel. This is NOT an isolated case at Philips, especially in the USA. Philips as a company permits this abusive behavior and when combined with all of the changes, many of which seem to occur on a daily and weekly basis, then wonders why savings goals and targets are not being met. Philips also believes that they are big players in the IT and Telecom space and that the vendors will all fall down, roll over and provide them with cost and price reductions year over year. In fact, Philips Sourcing, with its HQ in Eindhoven only counts the first year of a price reduction in a multi-year contract toward a savings target. If the percentage of reduction is not equal to or greater in Years 2 and 3, then the bean counters don't count the overall reductions as a true savings. Additionally, Sourcing management in Eindhoven rarely, if ever, really listens to and heeds the advice and professional opinions of their non-Dutch sourcing colleagues located outside of The Netherlands. This applied to my colleagues in Latin America, Asia Pacific and the rest of North America. This willful ignorance by the Dutch created for many frustrating meetings, denial of savings reports and downright insults. For Sourcing professionals who may apply to Philips, consider also the lengthy application process, which in many cases, violates U.S. labor law. The Dutch will ask your age and marital status an show a decided preference for young males under age 40. Experience apparently does not count, but age does, AGAINST YOU! Philips is NOT a company to join or stay at if you want to have a meaningful SOURCING career or where you hope to gain the respect and acknowledgment you deserve for a job well done. Philips as a company does not offer the meaningful training that will allow you to grow in your profession and forget all the ethics training they do make you endure. Behind the scenes, the only mentorship I ever received was the kind that would have me doing and saying unethical things to suppliers, to the point that I would not be able to face myself in the mirror in the morning. Sourcing professionals should avoid Philips like the plague. Don't say you haven't been warned.