Case Study
Optimization of purchasing at listed automotive supplier in Germany
Optimization of the strategic and operational orientation of purchasing
Company Details
- AG based in Baden (Germany)
- 8 production sites worldwide
- 3,000 employees, turnover EUR 500 million
- Products include seat constructions, safety technology, chassis parts, cross members
Situation and Challenge
- Purchasing worldwide approx. 35 employees, 270 million EUR purchasing volume
- Focus on raw material steel & aluminium, purchased parts, surfaces
- The head of purchasing had been clear since 10/2020, but the search for a successor started very late
- Completely unpredictable: consequences of the Ukraine war and energy crisis
Objective and Task
- Stabilization of the situation in purchasing
- Start – Building a Lead Buyer Organization
- Ensuring “back-to-back” synchronization between customer and supplier contracts
- Ensuring a high contribution of procurement to ESG issues
- Structure of reporting and KPI dashboard
Measures and Procedures
- Creation of a lead buyer profile
- Selection of lead buyers in the worldwide organization, training, coaching, regular reviews
- 2 Lead Buyer Workshops
- ESG: Development of an action plan for procurement: Identification of key suppliers for CO2 emissions
- Development of new supplier questionnaires on ESG and Supply Chain Law
- 1. Steps towards “green steel”
Results and Achievements
- Situation (purchasing staff) stable: risk due to capacity bottlenecks
- Lead buyer organization started with 6 raw materials
- Degree of synchronization steel worldwide at 95% (back-to-back)
- Success in education and training
- Success: no supply bottlenecks, price negotiations: damage limited
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