Lost in Translation: A 2026 European Procurement Survey

A 2026 European procurement survey by SPL Partners. Published June 2026.

Procurement is being asked to do more, and most senior leaders feel the function is gaining ground. The scorecard they are held to has not moved with them. For this report, Miroslav Pitlanic, founder of SPL Partners, asked 21 senior procurement leaders across the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland what is really going on in 2026. Most run direct and indirect procurement in manufacturing and industrial businesses.

What the report covers

• The measurement gap is real. Most leaders are measured on savings, and most do not believe savings is the right measure. The board and the buyer are looking at different scoreboards.
• Cost has not gone away. Cost savings is still the pressure named most often, ahead of talent and capability, digital and AI, and supplier resilience. Sustainability and ESG sits last.
• Cross-border friction is about pace, not price. When European teams work together, friction shows up first in the speed of decision-making, then communication style and compliance. Definition of savings comes last.
• We misread each other constantly. UK teams are seen as transactional but call themselves commercially sharp. German teams call it a marathon, not a sprint. Central and Eastern Europe feels underestimated.
• The mood is cautiously up. More leaders feel procurement is gaining influence than losing it. The recognition has not reached the scorecard yet.

About SPL Partners

SPL Partners was founded by Miroslav Pitlanic, who has spent 17 years in procurement and supply chain leadership across European manufacturing, with Honeywell, Eaton, Terex and Kymera, building and transforming procurement functions in the UK and the DACH region. He works in five languages and across the markets this report covers.

SPL Partners helps manufacturers build, fix and run procurement functions that remove friction rather than add it. Instead of long transformation programmes, SPL Partners intervenes where friction matters most: accelerating the decision path, bringing procurement and suppliers in at concept stage rather than at tender, and leadership-led procurement resets. Visit spl-partners.co.uk or follow SPL Partners on LinkedIn.