Student name: Trevor Hamilton

Name of company/organization: UTA

Industry field: Supply Chain
Date/time of job shadow: January 8th 2016 from 9:00
A.M to 5:00 P.M.
Contact full name/ title: Troy Williams strategic
sourcing specialist
Phone number 1: (801) 287-2321
Fax: (801)287-2320
Email: twilliams@rideuta.com
Address: 669 w 200 s. Salt Lake City Utah
UTA is a public transportation provider which
operates a fleet of more than six-hundred busses and
paratransit vehicles, four-hundred vanpools, onehundred forty-six light rail vehicles, sixty-three
commuter rail cars and eighteen locomotives in a
one-thousand six-hundred square mile service area
that stretches over six counties from parson to
Brigham City. UTA serves the largest segment of
population in the state of Utah, approximately 2.2
million, and operates in one of the largest
geographical service areas of any transit agency in
the U.S.
Troy showed me around the office at one
of UTA's headquarters , I was able to see around

where the break rooms were and where meetings

were held. I was able to sit in on a meeting with Troy
the meeting was discussing there goals for 2016 and
how they were going to improve and how much they
had to spend and to save. Troy showed me the
systems they use for budgeting. He showed me how
he sends requests for purchases and how he can
save money on things. He showed me the other
companies that they work with. He went over the
importance of how staying touch with companies is
important and how Building long term relationships
and trusting relationships. He showed me lots of the
paper work required when naming contracts with
other companies and some of the contracts he has
pending.
Some information of the work area goes
as follows: Located downtown on 669 w 200 s Salt
Lake City Utah. In the department there they have 12
employees and throughout UTA there is roughly 30
departments. The atmosphere is quite laid back, they
aren't required to be too punctual, just expected to
finish assignments on time and the people of very
friendly. Today was casual Friday but the male to
female ratio was about even there was a wide range
of ages from 20s and up everyone was dressed
casually with jeans and button up shirts. People there
were very friendly and talkative and cared about
people they also cared about there work and were
concerned about there work and getting things done.
There is lots of meetings and the atmosphere felt
very professional and very fun. I enjoyed the
atmosphere it was very comfortable and open to
opinions and worked well as a team. They seem to be
very open trusting and friendly. Everyone seemed to

do there part.
My contact Troy is a close friend of my
father. He is the strategic sourcing specialist at UTA.
He focuses on proactively establishing, stocking, and
warehouse agreements with UTA's key suppliers, with
a goal to reduce long lead-times from months (or
years) to weeks/days. He works with other transit
agencies on establishing collaborative purchasing
opportunities and stocking agreements where UTA
share the same suppliers. Troy did not begin his
career with UTA in this position he has worked there
for a total of 17 years Troy began UTA working as the
Property administrator. "This job worked with
municipalities and local utilities on agreements to
cross UTA property. This position helped me learn
about contracts and federal and state requirements
which helps me in my current position" states, Troy.
He also worked as the Manager of Property
Administration. There he managed a team of
Property Administrators negotiated pricing on
leasing UTA property to third parties. This position
benefited Troy by teaching him management skills as
well as negotiation skills. Troy as well worked as the
Grants and Contracts administrator. Troy explains, "I
purchased large capital equipment such as buses,
rail cars, and tolling stock for the organization. This
position helped me learn how UTA obtains funding
and how it is distributed."
Troy will typically check and answer any
emails. After checking his emails he will follow up
with outstanding contracts that are still in process.
He checks for new incoming requisitions which he
states is a signal that a new procurement will need to
be initiated. If so, he begins the process by working

with the project manager on the scope of work and

timing the request for proposal document. Once that
is completed, he will advertise the document for ac
certain period. "The time period is usually 21-30
days." exclaims, Troy. He leads a committee to
determine the best value for the REP documents. On
top of these activities, he follows up with other
transit agencies to find opportunities to do joint
procurements. He tries to find ways to save the
organization money lead times, parts, and supplies.
Troy's idea on the outlook for this position
is that it is very important. Last year Troy was able to
save UTA over a half million dollars through
negotiations and strategic sourcing. Currently he is
working on reducing long lead times on items that
are difficult to get in. "Some have over a 52 week
lead time. This is difficult if a bus or rail car is out of
service this long." said, Troy. So this position sounds
very important and seems to have a continued
demand in the industry. Companies that are
interested in saving money will greatly benefit from
positions such as this. It is apparent that the demand
for this position will continue to grow as long as
company's desire to save money and cut costs.
Troy said he does like his position at UTA
because it is challenging and always different. He
works with several different vendors and internal
employees. Troy said, "It is very rewarding to be abel
to save money for the organization." He likes
purchasing and has always been good at negotiating
deals with people.
This position requires someone who is
friendly, outgoing, motivated, and is not afraid to
confront others on issues. Troy states the a bachelors

degree in business is required to attain this job but a

MBA is recommended to help with his tasks. It is very
important to be bale to communicate well with
others in this position. Communication is key to being
able to develop working relationships with vendors
and internal customers. Negotiation is another treat
that is critical in this position. It is important to be
able negotiate the best value for an organization.
"Without negotiation skills, it is almost impossible to
obtain the best value." States Troy. These skills aren't
always easy to learn Troy suggested that it would be
beneficial for someone interested in this position to
take some negotiation and communication classes.
"Then it's just a matter of doing it and learning from
each negotiation." Troy, said. He said the more you
do it the easier it becomes.