Department strategy and supplier management

Keep costs under control

Experience shows that spending on production materials, merchandise, payments in kind, services and investments make up two thirds of a company’s overall costs.

The challenge of purchasing is fulfilling the following tasks in tandem:

Serve international customers and heterogeneous distribution channels with inexpensive, flexible logistics
Use service providers flexibly for a comprehensive service package (from investment in new distribution centres through to takeover of seasonally changing co-packing activities)
Integrate divisions responsible for purchasing and procurement in all selection processes early on
Continually optimise suppliers
Guarantee uniform and efficient processes for purchasing and procurement at all sites
Fulfil all legal and customs requirements
Observe all compliance requirements (two-man rule)

Metroplan - Approach and methodology

We support our customers in the overall optimisation of purchasing and procurement, or with regard to individual elements. The following three-stage comprehensive optimisation procedure has been proven to work:

Purchasing audit and analysis phase

Purchasing audit using approx. 100 company-specific questions in the field of purchasing and procurement at the production sites
Access to ERP master and transaction data using (SAP-certified) interfaces to derive purchase volumes for the product group structure etc.
Analysis using professional software (inter alia network analysis/design, purchasing control)
Analysis of optimisation options within the existing contract structure with logistics service providers (including pallet management)

Optimisation and implementation

Transfer of best practice approaches from other companies and fields
Potential workshops per commodity group to identify concrete optimisation methods
Optimise the purchase of logistics services in a long-term supply chain strategy (with regard to warehouse location, transport costs, storage costs, purchase of value-added services)
Identify methods for optimisation in IT systems (SRM, Spend Cube or SAP functionalities such as vendor evaluation system etc.)
Implementation of pilot projects to show the feasibility in the short-term
Adjust the structural and operational organisation in purchasing and logistics

Reporting and roll-out

Implementation of supportive tools (in ERP/SAP system, but also with standard MS Office programs)
Implementation of a reporting system with monthly reports (including management summary) which clearly show changes relating to target achievement
Takeover of ongoing analysis as a managed shared service for Metroplan customers (e.g. for purchasing control, selection of carriers)

Customer benefits

Compare the purchasing strategy with the supply chain strategy
Identification of potential for variabilisation and reduction of storage, transport and value-added service costs
Improvement of purchasing conditions in direct purchase (production and packaging materials), indirect purchase (transport, warehouse services and merchandise) and investments (central warehouses, storage and materials-handling technology, IT systems, etc.)
Align the purchasing organisation and purchasing/procurement processes with future requirements
Reliable integration of purchasing with regard to the requirements of logistics, scheduling, maintenance, etc.
Coordinated specifications and IT systems contribute to the more efficient design of procurement and purchasing