5 questions to... Fabio Francalancia

5 questions to...
Fabio Francalancia

Interview with the Group Chief Procurement & Strategic Sourcing Officer of Engineering.

Fabio Francalancia has held roles of increasing responsibility in Finance, Procurement, and Operations at major multinational companies.

He leads the evolution of the Engineering Group’s procurement towards international models and best practices, enhanced by modern Digital and AI technologies.

As Group Chief Procurement and Strategic Sourcing Officer, he is also responsible for creating an ecosystem of partners aligned with Eng’s vision and focused on ethical, responsible, and sustainable business practices.

Additionally, he contributes to the integration of companies acquired by the Group in Italy and abroad.

1. MODERN PROCUREMENT IS LIKE A CO-PILOT FOR EVERY DIVISION WITHIN A COMPANY. HOW ARE OBJECTIVES CHANGING AND WHAT CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD?

Today, we face an unprecedented level of technical, operational, and social complexity. Consider the regulatory framework, the focus on supply chain sustainability, the emergence of new companies or partners bringing completely new solutions and business models to the market, or the difficulties companies face in attracting and retaining talent.

To address these challenges, a modern procurement team must deeply understand the ecosystem in which it operates, guiding corporate behaviors and decisions, and protecting the organization from business risks that are not always easy to diagnose.

Beyond understanding the ecosystem, modern procurement can also analyze costs and trends with clarity and protect the financial balance in a timely manner, working in synergy with internal stakeholders. Speed of action, therefore, is the third key characteristic.

In conclusion, from my perspective, the essence of modern procurement lies in the ability to listen to the company's needs and align them with its vision through open and direct dialogue with all involved parties.

2. IN A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING SOCIAL CONTEXT, HOW IMPORTANT ARE SPEED OF ACTION AND ADAPTABILITY IN SEIZING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES?

What makes a company solid and resilient today is its ability to be “adaptive,” to “change its skin” quickly, perceiving external changes rapidly to seize the best business opportunities in a sustainable, scalable, and compliant manner.

The procurement team must enable this synchronization with the ecosystem in which the company operates.

It’s similar to sports: the winner is the one who is quickest to understand the game plan or change it at the right time. In business, beyond the metaphor, the winner is the one who knows how to leverage emerging dynamics and capitalize on them, collaborating with the ecosystem in the best possible way.

3. PROCUREMENT AND TECHNOLOGY: WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP?

Let’s start with a premise: currently, every product or service purchased has an enabling technology that can make a difference in terms of resilience, agility, modularity, and cost level.

Moreover, thanks to emerging technologies, procurement professionals can tackle the business challenges mentioned earlier: better understanding the business ecosystem, identifying the distinctive features of key players, controlling costs, and acting quickly. Technology allows professionals to free up time from routine (yet crucial) activities, dedicating themselves to higher-value tasks, such as analyzing future scenarios and identifying cooperation models.

In this highly dynamic and technologically rich environment, we see the rise of “multipotential” professionals - those who can tackle complex problems and use their diverse experiences across different areas or roles to design and implement solutions.

In other words, people capable of leveraging their varied experience and technology to adopt more effective purchasing methods, information gathering, and work practices.

4. IN TERMS OF "SKILLS & ATTITUDES," WHICH ONES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS NEW PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT?

Two factors: creativity, understood as the ability of companies and professionals to find new solutions (in terms of methods, technology, etc.) to plan, control, and act, and cooperation, meaning the ability to interact with all internal and external stakeholders, offering and gaining the most from every interaction.

I believe that, more than ever before, soft skills will be crucial, as technology takes on the time-consuming workload.

In procurement, as in every other business area, soft skills will allow professionals and their organizations to imagine and co-create the future of the company together with its ecosystem.

Let technology handle what is feasible with past or present information, while professionals focus on the future - a "pleasant obsession" to which they can now dedicate more time.

5. WHAT RESULTS IS THE ENG GROUP ACHIEVING WITH THIS PROCUREMENT APPROACH?

We are collaborating with the entire ecosystem, with leading international companies and Italian startups, to make the best use of technology - from the simplest automation to GenAI - in every aspect of modern procurement activities.

It’s a path we pursue with determination and humility, having a clear vision of the opportunities we aim to seize while also paying close attention to every emerging solution.

Together with our partners, we are designing an advanced technological platform that enables interactions with our ecosystem in a fast and solid way.

We are also incorporating artificial intelligence into daily tasks to free up both labor and, most importantly, thinking for more strategic, forward-looking activities.

What makes a company strong and resilient today is its ability to be adaptive, seizing business opportunities in a sustainable, scalable, and compliant way.

Fabio Francalancia Group Chief Procurement & Strategic Sourcing Officer, Engineering.