Pros
Sourcing has been a key element of ITW's enterprise strategy the last 4 years. Resources have been added, processes have been created and trained throughout the company, spend data has been aggregated into a corporate database that now gives visibility to our decentralized spend that wasn't available before. E sourcing tools have been added and investment in some systems to support sourcing has been made. The decentralized culture still exists and divisions still own sourcing decision rights and execution while colleagues connect across business unit boundaries to share information and leverage our knowledge and spend. The positive results have been material each year and there is a continued commitment for continuous improvement. The company has also invested in supply chain network planning resources which support comprehensive business reviews. With 84 divisions and hundreds of manufacturing plants and products ITW makes, there is opportunity to learn and contribute every day. I've been to over 100 plants and still have more to visit.
Cons
ITW can be conservative. The decentralized culture preserves local decision making cross business unit collaboration on sourcing take a little longer and require lots of communication.