Milind Tailor: Rethinking Procurement from Spare Parts to Strategic Power
Milind Tailor doesn’t believe procurement is a support function. He sees it as a growth engine - where uptime, customer experience, and strategic design come together. At Diebold Nixdorf, he leads a $300M+ global sourcing operation for resale tech, spare parts, and repair services, ensuring continuity, speed, and resilience across every customer touchpoint.
Tell us about your current role and scope.
I lead global procurement for Diebold Nixdorf’s Resale Products and Spare Parts & Repair Services portfolio. That includes third-party tech bundled with our own hardware or sold directly to clients, plus the entire lifecycle of parts and repair logistics. It’s a cradle-to-grave model where uptime is everything.
My team—25 strong across global hubs—manages over $300M in spend. We’re not just sourcing. We’re safeguarding revenue, managing risk, and building resilience into every customer interaction.
How did you get into procurement?
I sprinted toward it.
As an intern at an electronics plant, I watched a full production line shut down because one small component didn’t arrive. It wasn’t a machine failure. It was a supply chain failure. That moment stuck.
It showed me procurement isn’t a back-office function. It’s mission-critical. That drove me to pursue a Master’s in Ops & Supply Chain, and I’ve stayed in procurement ever since—because it offers both impact and evolution.
What do people misunderstand about your job title?
They hear “resale” and assume I’m managing used hardware or running a parts garage.
The reality? I’m orchestrating a global ecosystem that enables uptime for our customers. One day I’m sourcing third-party tech to complement our portfolio, the next I’m tracking a legacy part across continents to hit an SLA.
I’m not in a garage. I’m in the engine room of a $300M+ operation, keeping things moving.
What’s a unique practice your team uses that others might overlook?
We go on offense.
Too many procurement teams operate in defensive mode—cut costs, chase parts, contain chaos. We embed upstream with product, service, and commercial teams. We shape solutions before problems arise.
We don’t respond to risk. We redesign around it.
What’s the biggest challenge facing procurement right now?
It’s a mindset and a model problem.
Externally, procurement’s being asked to do more—but the enterprise still treats it as tactical. Internally, we’ve been too quiet. We’ve accepted the role of cost cutter when we should be value creators.
I’m pushing both sides. More strategic influence. And a new story around what procurement is.
What’s still broken in procurement today?
Three big things:
We’re brought in too late—after the damage is done
We’re seen as a cost center—not a growth partner
We play it too safe—avoiding risk instead of managing it
To lead tomorrow’s procurement function, we have to challenge how decisions are made—and make sure we’re in the room before the design is locked.
How do you shift the focus from savings to value?
You stop talking about cost in isolation.
Real value is:
Launching faster
Designing smarter
Avoiding risk
Driving sustainability
Capturing total lifecycle cost, not just price
And most importantly, you translate it. Don’t say “we saved $2M.” Say “we enabled $10M in early revenue.” That’s a story the C-suite understands.
How do you balance price, performance, and partnership?
You don’t pick one. You build all three.
In tight markets, it’s easy to chase price. But if you do that without protecting performance or partnerships, the whole thing breaks.
You start early—challenging specs, influencing design, collaborating with suppliers. The triangle only works if it’s built on trust.
What’s your playbook when a supplier fails?
We had a Tier 1 supplier go dark overnight—zero notice.
We responded fast:
Contain: Sweep inventory, prioritize, buy time
Collaborate: Create a war room—cross-functional decision making
Design for optionality: Activate secondary supplier in 72 hours
Digitize for visibility: Launch live health dashboards and shipment APIs
Rebuild smarter: Renegotiate with new terms and stronger governance
We didn’t just recover. We upgraded the whole playbook.
What trend is most underestimated in procurement?
The data mirage.
Everyone thinks they’re “data rich” because they have ERPs and CRMs. But most of that data is outdated, siloed, and unusable.
Now Gen AI is coming—and bad data doesn’t just confuse it. It derails it.
Before chasing AI, fix the basics: taxonomy, supplier master data, linked cost-risk-ESG insights. Gen AI doesn’t solve your data problem. It amplifies it.
What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned?
Three I wish I knew earlier:
Busy ≠ Strategic: White space matters more than meetings
Data needs a story: Numbers alone don’t convince
You don’t need a seat. You need the spotlight: Influence is earned through outcomes
How would you rewrite the Procurement JD for the next generation?
It’s not about “buying things right.” It’s about changing how the business competes.
Here’s my version:
Orchestrator, not coordinator
Influencer without authority
Change agent who reinvents
Digitally fluent problem solver
Storyteller who frames value
Ecosystem builder, not gatekeeper
From compliance to foresight
And above all, this person doesn’t chase value. They design it.
Want to meet more bold thinkers in procurement like Milind?
Join The Procurist or continue the discussion on Chain.NET—our global supply chain community. Ask questions. Share your views. Shape the future.
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