Page title: The link to purchasing optimization
Content to translate:
These outsourcing relationships were nominated for the 2002 Editor's Choice Awards. www.outsourcing-journal.com Author Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
In the manufacturing industry, where companies must purchase a considerable number of components and various goods and materials, operational costs can skyrocket in the purchasing arena. The number of suppliers for these supplies may also increase significantly.
MAN Roland, which manufactures a wide range of digital web and newspaper offset presses, aimed to reduce expenses in its procurement department and also optimize its supply chain. Optimization, according to Rudolf Kohlert, the company's purchasing director, meant reducing the number of suppliers it sources from. They achieved both goals by outsourcing the purchasing process from MAN Roland to Unitec.
Kohlert says Germany-based Unitec has reduced the number of small suppliers (less than 50 euros per year) used by MAN Roland from 160 to just one — Unitec. The provider's web-enabled NetSourcing services coordinate MAN Roland orders for all suppliers into a single purchase order and have reduced invoices to just one per month — reducing the manufacturer's accounting and processing costs.
Beyond paperless purchasing, Unitec's eProcurement service includes order status tracking and rush delivery options. The website's database includes over 44,503 products from 3,240 suppliers, with multilingual descriptions.
In addition to eProcurement services, Kohlert says MAN Roland chose Unitec as its outsourcing partner due to its expertise in C-parts and efficiency management concepts. The company's activity-based cost analysis defined "C-shares" as those representing five percent of total purchasing volume but having a high purchase order rate.
MAN Roland transitioned the work to Unitec over a two-month period, in phases according to different procurement departments and merchandise groups. MAN Roland's return on investment was more than cost reduction; freed from administrative tasks, its procurement team was able to focus on more important activities.
